It makes me wonder if one of the reasons we get dry inside is because we need to
stop saying so much about what we see and start saying more about what God says.
The structure of this is really helpful for your daily life, because there's what he sees
and there's what God says. Twice he says, "Thus says the Lord."
In verse 16 he says, "Thus says the Lord." In verse 17 he says, "Thus says the Lord."
You might be in a situation where you're like, "This is terrible, but thus says the Lord.
This is painful, but thus says the Lord." "Are you teaching us to live in denial?" No,
I'm just teaching you not to live in dryness. It only makes it feel drier to drive down and
dig down deep into the things you see when what you see doesn't match what God says.
Now, this is where I lose a lot of people. I can always feel I lose a lot of people here,
because they think this is the "abracadabra," "hocus pocus"
part of the preaching of the Word of God, and it's not. This is the greatest skill
I would get you to learn in regard to dealing with the disappointments in your life, the dry
places in your soul, and even the needs you have that you tend to meet in all of the wrong ways.
I didn't plan any of this, but this flows how it's supposed to when it's supposed to,
and I told you to let it flow, so I'm going to let it flow. "This is…thus says."
That's a shift I want you to begin to make. "This is…thus
says." Both are important. The this is enables you to deal with where you are.
The thus says, when you get a word from God and hold on to it and believe God for it and walk in
it and work with it… The "Thus says the Lord" is what gets you from this is to what can be.
I believe there are some people who are sitting under this message
today who have been so stuck in this is you forgot thus says.
When you don't feel like a conqueror and you make yourself a victim
and forget he called you a victor, it is just a matter of time before you feel very dry.
So, this is the switch you have to make. "This is unfair." Victim language. "Thus says the Lord,
he will repay me double for my trouble, and no weapon…" The thing about God is he will tell you
to do crazy stuff that completely contradicts what makes sense in your logical mind. I'll prove it.
This is what the Lord says. Verse 16. "Thus says the Lord: 'Make this valley full of ditches.'"
A ditch for what? It's dry. I don't need a ditch in a dry place. Not yet,
but thus says… This is a "getting ready" moment for you. "Thus says the Lord."
I love the Word of God. How about you? It's what God uses to dig in my spirit
to prepare me to receive what he's bringing by his hand into my life.
No, digging doesn't feel good, not for the digger or the dirt. Trust me,
I know. Don't you remember my story from a few weeks ago, how I used to dig graves for dogs?
Did you hear that story? Were you here? I had a job digging graves for dogs and cats,
and that prepared me for ministry. I believe it did. It prepared me for parenting.
I told Abbey the other day, "Hey, I want you to memorize this. If a boy ever wants to date you,
here's your opening speech: 'Hey, before you date me, you just need
to know my dad has experience doing weddings and digging graves.' Because I'm that dude.
So, tell him when he shows up, 'Before we start this relationship, you need to know,
either way it goes, my dad can do what needs to be done.' I'm the man for the job."
I told her that.
"When you start dating in about 35 years, tell your first boyfriend that…when you turn 50."
Now listen. It's amazing what God speaks. He says, "There's going to be water flowing
from the land of Edom." Isn't that a crazy place for water to flow from, the same desert
they marched through to begin with?
Isn't it crazy how sometimes God will bring the greatest blessings from the driest places?
The same desert you just marched through for seven days, and became dehydrated as you did,
is the same place the blessing is going to flow from. Thus says the Lord. The
same comfort with which God is comforting you through this crisis in your life is going to
be the same comfort you are going to give to others when you get to your place of service.
The same lessons you're learning through this breaking season are going to be the
same lessons that turn into blessings for the people you help when you get through it.
That's amazing. It's amazing what he told them to do…dig ditches in the valley. It's debatable
whether he meant it literally or figuratively. I really don't care. It speaks to a mindset for me.
Whether they really started digging all night to get ready for the rain or whether he was
just kind of saying it like, "Fasten your seat belt; it's going to be a bumpy ride…"
That doesn't necessarily mean there is an actual seat belt involved. It's a saying. I think maybe
"Dig ditches in the valley" was a saying, but I know for a fact it was an expectation.
He tells him to do that. "For thus says the Lord: 'You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain;
yet that valley shall be filled with water…'" He also tells him what God intends to do.
The thing he didn't say that I found almost as interesting as what he did say
is how it would happen and when it would happen. That's interesting.
If you went seven days without water, that's long enough to be desperate.
Seven days is a long time. I don't even know how they've stayed alive these seven days
if they passed through their rations. We're talking about water, not Wi-Fi.
How many of you think you would go on a fast… Seven days without Wi-Fi would
be enough to drive you to sackcloth and ashes, just seven days without an Internet connection.
We have to realize how weak they were in this moment to really appreciate the value of the word
God gave. There's always this part of us that will listen to a little faith message like this and go,
"Yeah, but my situation…" Nuh-uh. We're talking about water. No water.
I don't care how many awards you win. I don't care how many great
things you accomplish. I don't care what number your net worth says. No water?
It's over. That's how bad it is. So, if it's that bad and God's word comes, the way we would expect
to read this verse is "The hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he began to prophesy.
And when the hand of the Lord came on Elisha and he began to prophesy,
'Make this valley full of ditches,' all of a sudden,
water came." All of a sudden, the thing I need will be released in my life.
But the Bible doesn't say the water suddenly came. The Bible says an instruction was given.
Now, sometimes before the intervention of God there is an instruction to you.
I'm wondering, what is God calling you to dig today? I thought about this sermon from
multiple levels. My buddy who wrote 300 songs who showed up and dug every day.
My friend who sold a business for over $100 million last year
who had to go back to being a substitute teacher and was waking up at 5:00 in the
morning and going to sleep at 2:30 in the morning to build his company in the beginning in order to
get to the point where he sold the company. When I see somebody God did something great for, now
I've learned to ask a secondary question. Not only what God did for them. That's my first question.
The second question I ask is "I wonder what they dug for God to do that.
I wonder what God dug for them to be able to have that kind of relationship."
When I see families that are really happy… I don't just mean happy in a picture. I mean families that
are really together, and they've survived some tough seasons. One of their marriages ended,
and one of their kids is in a bad spot, but they're praying for it and all coming back around.
I don't just wonder what God did for them anymore. I wonder, "What did they have to dig through
to get to this kind of family strength?" You do yourself a real favor… When you see somebody God
did something great for and you want God to do that for you, if you get a chance,
ask them, "What did you have to dig for God to do that?" Because the water came suddenly.
If you only showed up in the sunlight of the next day, you would have mistakenly believed the water
just came when the word came. If you just think everybody who's blessed and everybody who has
peace and everybody who's free and everybody who's walking in a measure of the favor of God
and everybody who has influence… If you just think God did it, then you miss the point.
God did it when they dug it. That's why I love this passage.
It means that God is sovereign. He did it. Nobody else can make it rain. Nobody else can
tell the sun, "Come up now." Nobody else can drive back the darkness but God. God
did it, but they dug it.
God didn't write 300 songs for Ingram. If he did, all of them would have been smash hits.
They would have all been number one first day out. Can you imagine God writing a song? It
would dominate the charts. You could dance to it. You could sway to it. You could cry
to it. You could laugh to it. No. He wrote 300 songs. He dug it and God did it…in that order.
It didn't flow the moment the prophet spoke about it. "Thus says the Lord, 'Water,
flow.'" No. Water will flow when you dig. "Dig where?" This valley. "Wait. A valley that's dry?
A valley that's low? A valley that's painful? A feeling I can't shake?" Yes. The lower and the
deeper the valley the more water it can hold. I am telling you that this is not your breaking; this
is your breakthrough. This is it! Thus says the Lord. This is a valley, but thus says the Lord.
He is my shepherd. I shall not want. Thus says the Lord. He's making a table right now. Yeah!
The only thing the Devil can do, since he can't take the word of God away from you,
is to get you so weary and discouraged you stop digging because it's dry.
"You can't dig. You're dry." "That's why I'm digging: because I'm dry. That's why
I'm praising: because I'm dry. That's why I'm doing it: because I'm dry."