Just two summers ago (July, 2008), Newsweek magazine printed a story about the most amazing exploit of tight-rope walker, Philippe Petit. They titled the story Man on Wire¸ and it described Petit’s secret plan in 1974 to extend a steel wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York. At the time, the towers were still under construction.
After much planning and practice, the day arrived. Petit and his fellow conspirators snuck to the top of the buildings, shot a wire across the vast, quarter-mile-high canyon that separated the North and South Towers, and Petit went to work. When all was said and done, Petit was on the wire for 45 minutes. Thousands gathered below to watch him. On each end of the wire, police waited for him to finish. Petit made eight passes before finally coming in. To this day he insists the stunt wasn’t for publicity or even to see if he could do it. “The path is as important as the result,” he told a Newsweek magazine reporter.
Petit now lives in New York’s Catskill Mountains. A wire stretches across his yard, and he still practices several hours a day. Petit told the same Newsweek reporter that it “never occurred to him to use a safety net” when walking the wire. Then he added something that really struck me funny. He said, “I never fall. But yes, I have landed on the earth many, many times.” (Jennie Yabroff, “He Had New York at His Feet,” Newsweek magazine, 7-28-08, pp. 50-51; www.PreachingToday.com)
I laughed at that, but then I thought, “How descriptive of my life in Jesus Christ.” There are many, many times I find myself in trouble; but even in those times, I never really fall so as to ultimately hurt myself. It’s the experience of every believer in Jesus Christ. We are not immune from trouble, but God is right there to “keep our feet from striking against a stone,” to use the language of Psalm 91 (vs.12). “I never fall, but I have landed on the earth many, many times.”
So what do we do, as believers, when we “have landed on the earth,” so to speak? How do we handle it when we find ourselves in trouble? What should be our response when difficult times come?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 26, Genesis 26, where Isaac, an Old Testament Believer, found himself in a bit of trouble.
Genesis 26:1 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the earlier famine of Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. (NIV)
Isaac did exactly what his father, Abraham, had done 80 or 90 years previously. During a time of drought and famine, he went to Gerar on his way to Egypt in search of greener pastures, but God met him along the way!
Genesis 26:2-5 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.” (NIV)
This is the same promise God made to His father, Abraham, on Mount Moriah, the place where Isaac was nearly sacrificed to the Lord. It was a promise of land, seed, and blessing even in the place of famine and sacrifice. The question is: Would Isaac believe God, like his father did, despite his circumstances?
Genesis 26:6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar. (NIV)
Isaac did indeed believe God. That’s why he did exactly what God told him to do – Isaac stayed in Gerar. Isaac trusted in the Lord in his time of trouble, and that’s exactly what we need to do in our times of trouble, as well. We need to...
TRUST IN THE LORD.
Like Isaac, we need to rely on God’s promises. We need to depend on God’s Word, enough to do exactly what God tells us to do.
Van Morris, from Mount Washington, Kentucky, recalls a recent visit to the zoo with his daughter and grandchildren. They visited the orangutan exhibit, where the only thing separating them from the orangutans were thick panes of glass, each 20-feet tall. Those awesome creatures possess the strength of at least five men, and Morris’ 2-year-old grandson, Trevor, was amused at first by their antics. Then one of the hairy beasts suddenly began to beat on the glass. Trevor leapt into the arms of his mother, crying, “I scared! I scared!” His mother tenderly took him, placed his little hand on the glass, and showed him that the glass shielded him from the animal, so there was nothing to fear. Afterwards, any time Trevor seemed uncertain, his mom would simply say, “Remember the glass.” (Van Morris, Mount Washington, Kentucky; www.PreachingToday.com)
God’s promises are like that glass for the believer. When we go through scary times, God’s Word assures us: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you (Hebrews 13:5); My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19); or The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast (1 Peter 5:10).
It’s like God is saying to us, “Remember the glass; remember the glass.” When life comes flying at us like a harry orangutan, God’s promises are like thick panes of glass if we choose to trust in them; if we choose to believe them enough to do what God says.
It didn’t make sense for Isaac to stay in Gerar during a time of drought when the fertile valley of the Nile lay right before him, but Isaac stayed in Gerar, because God told him to. He trusted God enough to do what God said, and God provided!
Alison Ritch, of Birmingham, Alabama, talks about a time when her husband and she were about to start grad school. As she put it, they were “hoping to squeak through school together living on love and Taco Bell.” She was in desperate need for new computer, so for her birthday that July, they decided to ask their families for money for a new laptop. They were quite generous and Alison received $720, enough to buy a nice, new computer.
In the meantime, their only car, an old Nissan pick-up truck, broke down. They left the truck with a mechanic who later called with an estimate for fixing the truck. It was more than they had expected, and they didn’t know where they would get the money.
Soon after that, Alison told a friend about her plans to buy a laptop computer with the money she had received for her birthday. As it turned out, Alison’s friend had recently purchased a new computer, so she offered Alison her old laptop. Alison thanked her but dismissed the offer. She had her sights on a shiny, new computer and was not interested in used one, even though it was more than adequate to help her with her research in graduate school.
That night, Alison and her husband were trying to figure out how they could scrape some money together to fix their truck. Then it dawned on Alison that she could take her friend’s old computer and use her birthday money to fix the truck. Alison really didn’t want to do it, but she said, “I knew the Holy Spirit was telling me to surrender my plans, and I knew that insisting on my own way would be saying no to him.” So she yielded to the Spirit’s prompting, and as soon as she did, she suddenly remembered the number she had jotted down from the mechanic: $720. God knew she needed a computer. He also knew she and her husband needed a repaired truck, so He gave them both. God provided a free computer, and He gave them the exact amount of money – to the dollar – that they needed to fix their truck.
Alison just had to surrender her own selfish desires and accept what God had to offer. She writes, “God wanted to bless me. He provided just what I needed in ways I couldn’t have anticipated, but my greed almost kept me from receiving that blessing.” (Alison Ritch, Birmingham, Alabama; www.PreachingToday.com)
How many times do we miss out on God’s blessing because of our greed or because we insist on having our own way? No! In times of trouble, we need to depend on God enough to do it HIS way even if it doesn’t make sense to us. We need to believe God enough to do what He says. When difficult times come, like Isaac, just trust in the Lord. But unlike Isaac…
DON’T TRUST IN A LIE.
Don’t rely on your own manipulative schemes. Don’t depend on deceit and duplicity to get by. You see, even though Isaac trusted God enough to stay in Gerar, he found himself in the middle of Philistine territory where he feared for his life. So Isaac lied to protect himself.
Genesis 26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.” (NIV)
Does that sound familiar? It’s the same thing his father, Abraham, did not once, but twice! – 1st, when he was in Egypt (Genesis 12); & a 2nd time, when he was in this same place, in Gerar (Genesis 20).
Fathers, be careful what you do, because your children will do what you do more than what you say. Isaac was afraid, so he lied to protect himself, a lesson he learned from his father.
Genesis 26:8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. (NIV)
Now, that word for “caressing” is an interesting word in the original Hebrew language. It’s a word play on Isaac’s name and comes from the same root. The word actually means “to laugh,” and in this context it describes the fun Isaac and Rebekah were having together as they were getting ready to make love. In another context, the same word describes the laughter of ridicule and derision. The last time we saw this word in Genesis, it described Isaac’s step-brother, Ishmael, who was mocking him (Genesis 21:9).
Now, in a sense, Isaac is mocking God. God had just promised him land, seed and blessing, but Isaac’s lie makes a mockery of that promise. It’s as if that promise was worthless in Isaac’s mind, because Isaac resorts to deceit to protect himself, rather than trusting in God’s Word.
Well, Isaac is only fooling himself. Abimelech, the Philistine king, sees right through Isaac’s charade and confronts him with it.
Genesis 26:9-11 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” Then Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
"Be sure your sin will find you out" every time! (Numbers 32:23). Abimelech acted with more integrity that Isaac did, and it really put Isaac in a bad light. But it was all unnecessary, because Isaac had the promises of God.
My dear friends, when you find yourself in trouble, trust in the Lord; don’t trust in a lie like Isaac did. Don’t lie to protect yourself, because it is absolutely unnecessary when you have the promises of God.
We may not fear death, like Isaac did, but so many of us fear rejection or ridicule or simply the negative opinions of others. So we lie to protect ourselves from those negative opinions. We try to cover up our mistakes, or we make commitments we cannot keep, because we don’t want people to think we’re not committed. And then, when we don’t get it done, we make excuses all in an effort to make ourselves seem less culpable than we really are.
I like Vance Havner’s definition of an excuse. He says, “An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” He’s absolutely right, and such lies make a mockery of our God, who has promised to take care of us no matter what.
There’s an old story about a bank, which employed four young men and an older man in their trust department. The directors of the bank had decided to promote the older employee and put one of the younger men in charge of the trust department with a substantial increase in salary. They decided to notify the young man of his promotion at 4 o’clock that afternoon.
At noon, the young man went to a cafeteria nearby for lunch. One of the directors was behind him in line with several other customers in between. The director saw the young man select his food, which included a small pad of butter, which he flipped on his plate and covered with some food. That way he wouldn’t be charged for the butter.
Now, there was no reason for that young man to do that. He had a good position at the bank. He was on his way up. He was respected by his co-workers, and he had job security! But he made a mockery of it all when he hid the butter. He never would have missed the few cents it would have cost him, but he lied about it anyway.
That afternoon, the directors of the bank fired him instead of promoting him. They couldn’t trust a man who lies to work in their trust department, much less head it up.
That’s the way lies work. They make a mockery of our God, who promises us eternal security in Christ, and they end up doing us more harm than good.
On August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley brought fierce destruction to areas of Florida. During the storm, 25-year-old Danny Williams went outside to seek protection under the branches of a 55-year old banyan tree. It had been a favorite, peaceful place for the Fort Meyers man, but on that day, his place of safety became a death trap. The tree fell on Williams and killed him. (Palatka Daily News, 8-18-04; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s the way it is when we seek protection under a lie. In the end, it becomes a death trap. It kills our integrity. It kills our reputation, and soon people learn not to trust us at all. After a while, just like Abimelech did to Isaac, people see through the charade and they want to stay away. Lies always backfire on us, so don’t depend on them.
I love the scene in the movie, Flywheel, where Jay, a church-going, used-car salesman sells his own pastor a car. The pastor comes to Jay looking for a car for his daughter, and Jay promises to give him a good deal.
Two salesmen are watching from inside the office, and they place a $20 bet on whether or not Jay will swindle his own pastor like he has so many other people. They see Jay and his pastor looking at a Camry and check the files to see its listed price. The Camry is worth $6,500.
The scene shifts back to Jay and his pastor. After answering his pastor’s questions about the Camry, Jay says, “I’ve got $8,500 in this car. If you want, I’ll give it to you for $9,000.”
Thinking it over, Jay’s pastor decides to take it for a test drive. When he comes back, he buys the car, and the salesmen are surprised to see that Jay sold the car for so much – $2,500 more than what it was worth.
Before Jay’s pastor leaves, he says, “Jay, thanks. You’ve treated me so well today. I would like to do something for you. I’d like to pray and ask God to bless you and your business.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Jay stutters.
“Let’s pray,” the pastor says and puts his hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Lord, today I come before you and thank you for this day. I thank you for Jay and his business. I thank you for the car for Lindsay, and I ask that you protect her and give her grace as she drives this car. And Lord, I ask that you treat Jay just like he treated me today in this deal. In your name I pray, Lord, Amen.” (Flywheel, Chapter 8, 00:23:00 - 00:28:14, Sherwood Pictures, 2003, directed and written by Alex Kendrick; www.PreachingToday.com)
Jay’s been had, and he knows it!
A lie will always turn around and bite you in the end, so when you get in trouble, trust in the Lord; don’t trust in a lie. Just believe God enough to do what He says, and He will take care of you.
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief nor a loss, not a frown nor a cross,
But is blest if we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey. (John H. Sammis)
