Nothing Just Happens
Ruth 1; 6,18
6: Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might
return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of
Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
7: Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and
her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return
unto the land of Judah.
8: And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each
to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt
with the dead, and with me.
9: The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the
house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their
voice, and wept.
10: And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto
thy people.
11: And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with
me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your
husbands?
12: Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to
have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an
husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
13: Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay
for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me
much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.
14: And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah
kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.
15: And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her
people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
16: And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return
from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where
thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God
my God:
17: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the
LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
18: When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her,
then she left speaking unto her.
"Three women - Naomi, who is the older woman, and Ruth, who was her daughter-in-law, and Orpah, who was her other daughter-in-law.
Three women who’s commonality was pain,,, Pain is a strange company keeper,,, It,,, It brings the oddest people ,,, together.
There is a secret fraternity that exists amongst those who have been in pain that,,,that is mind-boggling,,, It transcends the color of your skin.... It transcends your background.... When you have been through certain things, you feel for other people who have been through those things, because you ,,,you, can relate to them.
I myself,,, personally don’t like to have a whole lot to do with people who have not been through pain,,, It’s,,, It’s nothing against them, I’m not jealous of them, I just can’t relate to them... I can’t relate to them ,,, and I am sure that they will not be able to relate to me....
The parts of me that I need to have known,,, that I need to have touched,,,, that I need to have fellowship,,,, are tied up not in the successes of my life,,,, but in the struggles of my life...
For God has done more through my struggles,,,
Uhh,,,uhh,,, He’s done more through my struggles then he’s ever done through my successes,,, And if you look carefully,,, at my successes,,, my successes are made out of the ingredients of my struggles.....
And you can never know my successes until you understand my struggles,,,because,,, because my struggles are the pathway that led me into my success.... (Are you hearing what I’m saying?)
And so if you are going to fellowship with somebody,,, you have to choose your friends and make sure that they’ve had something to die in their life,,, If you’ve never had anything to die in your life, you have the kind of optimism that is annoying....
If you’ve never had anything to go wrong in your life, I don’t like to hear you preach, it aggravates me, it gets on my nerves because your preaching has not been balanced by failure...
If you’ve never had anything to die in your life don’t counsel me, because you really don’t understand me because you don’t know why I am like I am,,, until you’ve been where I’ve been,,,you can’t go where i’m going,,,
If you’ve never had anything to die in your life don’t sit there and tell me be a man, take it, don’t cry. You don’t know what I’m taking, you don’t know what I’m enduring, you don’t understand...
Listen, just because you read some books and took a psych class doesn’t mean that you are ready to deal with the issues of my life ...
There is something about going through death and loss and pain and misfortune and adversity.... There is something about going through things that don’t seem fair to you....
You need to understand that once you go through them you need to make sense of the madness in your life since you can’t change what happened and you can’t alter what you’ve been through,,, at least you need to be able to think that there’s some greater good that’s going to come out of it...
It’s ,,,it’s what they call ,,, bringing closure.
To bring closure to it; to justify that I didn’t go through this kind of pain for nothing.... I need to be able to feel like something good is going to come out of this. If I can’t do that then I feel like I’m a victim. I feel like I’ve been victimized and I forever feel sorry for myself and I’m not free to go on with my life,,, and I’m not safe to remarry again, and I’m not safe to get another job again, and I’m not safe in another church again, because I have unresolved issues out of my past; and I’m not ready,,,, to go forward with my life because I’m still tied up with where I came from.
I need to know if I’m going to continue to worship God, I need to know that some demon didn’t get loose in my life and wreck my life. It’s not a mistake, it’s not an accident, God didn’t fall asleep on the job and the devil came in and wrecked the car....
No,no,,,no, God never sleeps and he never slumbers. He’s in complete control and he knows where you are, and he knows how old you are, and he knows how much time you spent, and he knows what happened to you, and he knows who walked out and left you, and he knows who betrayed you, and he knows who molested you, and he knows who raped you, and he knows who rejected you, and he knows where you are in life, and he knows about your bills, and he knows about your degree, and he knows you dropped out of school, and he knows about what you didn’t get, and he knows about the health of your child, and he knows about the condition of your neighborhood....
Understand that and tell yourself nothing just happens...
And so Orpah ,,, walks away. She walks away. I might have to turn this thing into a series because I can’t get out of this. Orpah walks away, and she cries and she goes ,,, back.
There are people who can walk away from you.,,,And hear me when I tell you this - when people can walk away from you: let ,,, them ,,,walk....
When people can walk away from you: let,, them,, walk.
I can sit down now; I’ve already preached. I can sit down right now ,,, I don’t need to make an altar call or nothing. I don’t have to hoop, I don’t have to make you shout, I have just preached ,,,
Listen ,,, when people can walk away from you: let them walk. I don’t want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you....
I mean hang up the phone...
When people can walk away from you,,, let ,,,them ,,,walk.
Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left. The bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not of us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1Jo 2:19] (amen)
People leave you ,because they are not joined to you, And if they are not joined to you, you can get super glue,,, and you can’t make them stay. Let,,, them,,, go.
Now,,,noww this doesn’t mean that Orpah was a bad person ,,,it,, it just means that Orpah’s part in the story is over....
And you’ve got to know when people’s part in your story is over,,,so ,,, so that you don’t’ keep trying to raise up the dead.
You’ve got to know when it’s dead, it’s dead,,, Pastor.
That’s what they told David when your boy is dead, wash your face and have another baby....
You’ve got to know when it’s over.... Let me tell you something.,,, I’ve got the gift of goodbye. I mean I’ve got the gift of goodbye. It’s the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in goodbye. It’s not that I’m hateful, it’s that I’m faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have he’ll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don’t need it. Stop begging people to stay. Let them go!!
Ruth here, on the other hand, coming to the crossroads, she looks at Orpah who left. Ruth turns to Naomi and says, as the Lord liveth I shall not leave thee...
She ,,, she,,,she makes a statement to this woman that sounds ,,,somewhere in between poetry, intimacy and borders on lesbianism.
People don’t even know how to explain what Ruth said to Naomi. It makes them uncomfortable, they are afraid to talk about it, they don’t want to teach on it. The same thing with David and Jonathan. Whenever same sex relationships get too close people don’t even know what to say because people are so carnal ,,, they think the only thing that can tie you to somebody is flesh to flesh ....Yall aint got say amen , I no I’m right about it)
Understand something ,,, Naomi was an older woman. She was old enough to be Ruth’s mama. She’s not attracted to Naomi’s flesh. Some kind of way Naomi’s spirit has gotten in her spirit....
There is something that happens to you occasionally where you can meet somebody and you sense,,, you sense, you sense that your destiny… oh God, oh God… your destiny is tied to that person,,,
Do you understand? Do you understand what’s happening to us? Do you understand that we are spending our lives together?
Has it ever crossed your mind that we are spending our lives together? That we will die after this, and that we have been joined together,,, and we are spending our life together?
Have you ever realized you can spend your life anywhere with anybody doing anything, but something happens inside of you where you sense that your destiny is tied to a ministry or to a vision and you decide to spend your life entangled …
People keep talking about other folks spending ,,, their money ,,, and using them. That ain’t nothing. I can spend my money and live in Miami. But when I spend my life with you, that’s all I have.
I don’t think that hits you,,, We are spending our lives together ,,,, You will not be able to write your story and leave me out Pastor,,, We are spending our lives together Elder,,, There is no greater bond possible....
Occasionally in scriptures in the whole bible you see it happening with people who are not even blood related spend their lives together in the most intimate connection possible... And theologians and scholars and preachers stumble about it because they don’t know how to talk about it because they don’t understand the power of being joined together.
How can we explain what made Elisha leave his natural mother and father and run after Elijah to wait on him? To clean his clothes, to pour water on his hair, to set up his tent, but some kind of way Elisha sensed that his destiny was tied to Elijah,,,
How can we explain Timothy, who walks away from everything that he owns to hang out at the outside window of a jail cell as an old man prepares to be beheaded? ---He peeks in the window , handing him books and blankets ministering to him.--- The young man understood, I’ll never be who I was meant to be without you in my life... Do you hear what I’m saying?
There is something, there is something about the way you talk it feeds me. It’s something about the way you speak that changes me. There is something about your spirit that motivates me and I’ll never be completed without you and I didn’t meet you by accident,,,, I didn’t stumble up and meet you. This didn’t just happen. There is a reason that I’m in this place. I’m so sick of talking to people who think that everything just happens. I guess I’ll go to church. I guess I’ll get saved. I guess I’ll stop selling drugs. I guess I’ll move to Lakeland. That’s not how it is. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,,, Brothers and Sisters ,,,I stop by to tell you ,,,your steps were ordered.
If you hadn’t got up this morning when you got up like you got up , you wouldn’t even be here right now. If you hadn’t made the turn that you made yesterday you wouldn’t experience what you are experiencing today. God has been behind the curtain like a puppet master pulling strings in your life,,,
It’s not that you’re smart, it’s not that you’re great; it’s not that you’re holy; it’s not that you’re perfect; it’s not that you’re good; but God winded you up; pointed you in the right direction; released you into your destiny; and you are here and you can’t get away.
Slap three people a high five,,, and tell them ,,, nothing,,, just happens.
Listen , I’m going to my seat now ,,,,But can I talk to you a few more minutes?
This means, this means, this means that I’m up under the banner of his will,,, I’m up under the banner of his will,,,, Even in the midst of death,,,, I’m up under the banner of his will,,, Even in the midst of pain, I’m up under the banner of his will,,, Even in the midst of separation and disappointment ,,, I’m up under the banner of his will,,,
Can I take you to the next level? Jonah ,,,, was sent to Nineveh, went to Tarsus, headed for Tarsus,,, not obeying God, got thrown off the boat,,, into the belly ,,,of a whale , swallowed up for three days.
Even though God told him to go to Nineveh, and he didn’t go, he was still in the will. I’m not sure you can handle this. He went the wrong way and he was still in the will,,, (yall do’nt here me )
They ,,,they threw him off the boat ,, , and he was still in the will. I’ll prove to you he was in the will. It just happened to be a big fish.
See,,, See it just happened to be a big fish swimming beside the big boat ,,, so that when men dumped him over,,, the fish just happened to…to,,,, this is too strong. You can’t take this. The fish carried him down to the bottom of the sea with seaweed wrapped around its neck,,,
He’s thousands of feet below sea level and God sustained him,,, Sustained him ,,, not one day, not two days, not four days, but three days,,, Nothing just happens.
And on the third day… on the third day the backslidden, rebellious, reprobate, disconnected, disjointed preacher comes up out of the water,,,, (yall don’t here me ) ,,,, and thousands of years later ,,Christ says even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish ,,, three days so shall,,, the son of man,,, be in the grave....
He had to get up when he got up,,, and he had to go down when he went down,,, because nothing just happens,,, (Good God Almighty),,,
Your mistakes were in his will,,,Your trouble was in his will,,,Your pain was in his will,,,, I don’t care what you went through,,,
David said if I make my bed in hell, thou art there,,,, If I take the wings of the morning ,,, and ascend ,,, unto the uttermost parts,,, of the earth,,, God ,,,,is still there ,,,Say Yes ,,, Say Yes ...
He was with you in the middle of your trouble,,,, He was with you in the middle of your pain,,, That’s why Paul said, I’ve learned whatever state I’m in,,,, therewith to be content,,,, I know how to be rich,,,, I know how to be poor,,,, I know how to be free,,,, I know how to be bound,,,.
You ought to shout,,,, I don’t care where you are because,,, nothing just happens!
And no devil in hell has ever been able to abort the purpose of God,,, No not once,,, And yes,,,, God gave you a human will,,,, and you are a free moral agent; but if you think that your human will,,, is strong enough ,,,to change his divine will ,,,you are tripping. You are out of your mind. God is God.
The reason we worship him as God is because he is the CEO. He is in charge. He runs the universe. And when God gets ready to make you,,,, and when God gets ready to break you,,,, and when God gets ready to take you,,,, he has never been without the power,,, to make you yield to his will,,,He’s never, not one moment or time, not been able to orchestrate,,, your affairs and anointing in your life.
Think about the most damnable thing that ever happened and shout ’nothing’!
Think about the most embarrassing thing that ever happened in your life and shout ’nothing’!
Think about the most impoverished, financially depleting thing that ever happened in your life and shout ’nothing’!
Think about the worse scandal that you ever went through in your life and shout ’nothing’!
Think about people who loved you and walked out and left you and shout ’nothing’!
Think about betrayal on the highest level of your life and shout ’nothing’!
Think about the struggle going on on your job right now and shout ’nothing’!
Think about the attitude of your kinfolks and your family members and shout ’nothing’!
Think about how your boss is treating you on your job and shout ’nothing’!
Think about that disagreement between you and your children and shout ’nothing’!
Think about your past life of sin, your whoremongering, your inappropriateness, your attitude, your dysfunction and shout ’nothing’!!!! Shout ’nothing’!!!
Let the devil hear you say nothing,,, Yes ,,, Good God Alimighty ,,, That devil will think he won ,,, if you don’t shout nothing.
The devil will think he’s in charge if you don’t shout nothing. He’ll think he’s going to win but you’ve got to shout ’Nothing’!" ’Nothing’!" ’Nothing’!"
Min. Johnathan Hester
