Return

Return—Sometimes you have to go back.

 

Arnold Palmer is a name many of you will recognize as one of golf's most popular stars from the previous generation. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf. He won numerous awards in his career, including the PGA Tour Lifetime achievement Award in 1998. In 1974 he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
But even the greatest among us have bad memories they'd just as soon forget. We all have low points—humiliation and failures we'd just as soon sweep under the rug. But when that happened to Arnold Palmer, on what may have been the worst hole of his professional career, in 1961 when he was named "Golfer of the Year," they wouldn't let him forget it. Instead, they erected a plaque to commemorate his humiliation. Today it still stands to encourage other golfers who have a bad game. http://www.grouchygolf.com/2009/05/rancho-parks-arnold-palmer-tribute.html
Palmer needed a par 5 on the 18th for a 69 in the second round. After a good drive, instead of laying up with an iron for the tight second shot, he went for a birdie and pushed a 3-wood out-of-bounds onto the adjacent driving range. He paused briefly to regroup and then hit another 3-wood. This time, he hooked it onto Patricia Avenue. Stubborn, Palmer hit the 3-wood yet again, and again hooked it out-of-bounds. On the fifth try, after four straight penalties, he finally put his 3-wood on the green and went on to make a 12.
Asked by a reported how he managed to make a 12, Arnold replied, "I missed my putt for an 11."

The plaque reads: "The first day of the 35th L.A. Open, Arnold Palmer, voted Golfer of the year, took a 12 on this hole. As an inspiration to all Golfers The L.A. Jr. Chamber of Commerce dedicate this monument. Palmer hit a fine drive. He sliced his next 2 shots into the driving range, then hooked two more onto Patricia Ave. Hit the green with his sixth shot, and two putted. Eight strokes plus four penalities add up to 12."

If Arnold Palmer has to own up to his mistakes, then I guess we can admit ours.

In this series of messages called "Turning Points" we've looked at some of the different ways God redirects us, turning us in new directions. We've talked about U-turns, downturns, upturns, and overturns.

Turning points are the crossroads of life—the intersections where people make critical decisions, events that spark change and take people in a different direction. We need God's help to change because so often we get stuck in the regular, ordinary stuff of life—the endless series of routine activities.

The truth is, God wants to do something new in your life. He wants to work in you. God wants to stir your soul, to awaken your spirit, to light your fire, to energize your life! And God comes into your everyday life to do it. He will lead you and guide you if you're ready to allow him to.

Many of us, however, don't believe in ourselves as much as God believes in us. We've accepted limitations—placed a ceiling on what we can do. We let our past dictate our future. Our past mistakes, failures, problems, background, or family upbringing are seen as limitations that hold us back.

God wants to push us further in our walk with him, to help us grow deeper and stronger in our faith. He wants to teach us more. He wants to give us a new perspective. He wants to lead us in a new direction. He wants to refine us or shape us so we can meet new challenges or seize new opportunities.

God wants us to overcome our past. He wants us to define our future by his promises, not our past. He wants us to break free from our mistakes. He wants us to overcome our history.

Eph 3:20 — God "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."

We need to see God's new opportunities—turning points. To recognize times God molds and shapes us. We need to see better how he is working and what he is doing. Then we can leave our past behind. Then we can let go of our doubts and fears.

That's what happened to the man in our Bible story today.

It was a day like all the others, nothing out of the ordinary. He was just doing his job—and it wasn't a glamour job, either. Nothing exciting. Nothing thrilling. Just out working in the field, soaking in the sun, taking care of the animals, making sure they had enough to eat and drink.

His job didn't require any special skills or training, really. After all, it wasn't like being a rocket scientist or anything. I'm not even sure he gave his job much thought at all. He could do it without even thinking about it, automatically. After all, he'd been doing this job for 40 years!

Forty years—day in and day out—filled with monotony and boredom. Most of the time he hardly saw anybody else he could talk to. It was just him, alone, out in the field with all those dumb sheep—and they weren't even his sheep! They belonged to his father-in-law.

Once in a while there would be a small ripple in the monotony when one of the sheep would get into trouble—maybe get stuck in the mud down at the watering hole, maybe spooked by a snake or tangled up in a patch of thistles. Occasionally there might be a coyote or something prowling on the edges of the flock, but that was about as exciting as it ever got. Basically, life was the same old thing, day after day. The dull routine never seemed to change.

Until one day—right smack dab in the middle of his ordinary, boring existence—when an unusual event became a turning point that started a chain reaction and eventually changed everything.

Moses was walking along, leading the sheep as usual, heading toward the far side of the desert. They had grazed over the fields closer to home, leaving very little grass to eat. So he hoped to find a little more grass further away. The sheep moved slowly, methodically, bleating their whiny voices as they traveled.

And that's when he saw it—a bush on fire. Occasionally there were spontaneous fires out in the wild, most likely sparked by lightning or possibly even static electricity generated from the blowing dust. But because the vegetation was so sparse, those spontaneous fires didn't get very far. They usually burned out on their own pretty quickly. So at first Moses wasn't too alarmed when he saw this burning bush.

But something made him look again. This fire wasn't like the others. This fire was unusual. There was something strange about it. It wasn't getting any smaller. It wasn't burning out. Surprisingly, it kept burning...and burning...and burning. It didn't seem to get any bigger, as though someone were adding more fuel to the fire. But it didn't get any smaller either; it just kept burning continuously.

"I wonder what's going on," Moses must have said to himself. "I think I'll go have a look and check it out. I want to see if I can figure out why this bush keeps on burning, but isn't burnt up."

And that was the moment God had been waiting for. God was calling Moses, but he needed Moses to break away from the ordinary routine of his everyday activities. When God saw that Moses was willing to investigate something new, God knew he finally had his attention. He knew he could finally begin to speak to him.

Exod 3:1-6 (NASB) ¹Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. ³So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." ⁴When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am. " ⁵ Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." ⁶He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The first thing we learn from Moses' experience at the burning bush is:

1. Turn aside. (v 3) Take a break. Step away from the ordinary. Investigate God's mysterious ways.

We often miss what God wants to say to us or what God wants to do in us!

Why? Because we're too wrapped up in our ordinary routine! Because we're chained to our everyday lives. Because we're stuck in a rut, taking care of business, meeting our obligations. We often miss what God wants to say and do, because we don't take time to turn aside. We don't give God a chance.

In the middle of Moses' ordinary routine, out on the far side of the desert with sheep and rocks and dry grass all around, God showed up. It wasn't in church or at the altar or in special meetings with a special speaker that God spoke to Moses. It's good when we go to church, but God doesn't need what we consider to be a religious atmosphere in order to speak to us!

No, God interrupted Moses' normal, everyday activities. God invaded Moses' routine. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush and Moses' life was never the same after that. It was a defining moment. It was a turning point.

To understand how significant that change was for Moses, you would need to go back and review his early life. You'd need to see where he came from and what his life had been to that point.

God's hand of protection was upon Moses early. He was not slaughtered at birth like other male babies. He was found by the Pharaoh's daughter, the princess, floating in a small basket in the marshes along the Nile River. She took the baby home with her and raised him as her own. And so that's how Moses, a Hebrew child, was given special privileges in Pharaoh's house and raised with the best Egypt had to offer.

It was fairly obvious to anyone who was watching that Moses had been spared for a purpose. It seemed clear that his unique position presented him with wonderful opportunities—perhaps he could even be part of God's plan to rescue his people.

But it didn't work out that way. Apparently, Moses became a bit presumptuous—too eager. He tried to take matters into his own hands. Instead of relying on God, Moses tried to help the Hebrews using his own resources and wisdom. It seemed that he wanted to rescue his people from Egyptian tyranny and slavery, but he got ahead of God's timing and God's plan.

In the process, Moses ended up killing an Egyptian. He tried to cover up his crime, burying the body in the sand, but news of what he had done leaked out. Even some his own Hebrew people lost respect for him.

With the secret out and facing severe consequences, Moses ran for his life. And he didn't stop until he was far away in the land of Midian. There he hid, self-exiled, living undercover as a shepherd. He was no longer a prince in Pharaoh's court. He was no longer the best hope for rescuing the Hebrews. Moses' mistake had sabotaged his potential to do anything for his people.

For 40 years Moses lived in the land of Midian—the prince of Egypt had been brought low. Instead of living in a palace, he lived in a tent. Instead of being waited on by servants, he served his sheep. Instead of enjoying a life of privilege, he spent long, weary days deprived of comfort, camping out in the dry fields with a bunch of sheep.

What Moses once had been or what he might have become was completely eradicated. The prince of Egypt had become an ordinary shepherd. For 40 years, he must have replayed the events that brought him so low. For 40 years, he must have beat himself up with "what-if" and "if-only" and "why didn't I?" And after 40 years, he had convinced himself that he really was a nobody. He was a screw-up. He would never accomplish anything because he had blown the one opportunity he had had.

Talk about a mid-life crisis! At age 80! Because that's how old Moses was when he turned aside to investigate a burning bush out in the middle of the desert.

So there he was standing in his bare feet next to a burning bush. There he was—riddled with self-doubt, struggling with feelings of inadequacy, convinced he was disqualified because of his past failure. There he was—inhibited, fearful, anxious, and unable to overcome disabilities (speech impediment)...

But in spite of all his doubts, God had a plan for Moses. God appeared to Moses so he could experience a dramatic turning point. God wanted to bring him back to the beginning so he could start fresh all over again. God wanted Moses to be the leader he was meant to be—the person to rescue the Hebrew people.

Exod 3:10 (NCV) "So now I am sending you to the king of Egypt. Go! Bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt!"

This leads us to our second lesson from Moses...

2. Turn back. God called Moses to return to Egypt. To go back to the place where he'd made his mistakes. Back to his failure and humiliation.

Before he could go forward, Moses had to confront his past. Before he could take the people to the Promised Land, he had to return to Egypt.

The same is true for us. We have to come to grips with our past—with our sins and our failures. To confess. To come out from hiding. Before we can move forward, we have to go backward. God wants to bring us back so we can have a fresh start. So we can begin all over. So we can be born again!

Prov 28:13 (CEV) If you don't confess your sins, you will be a failure...

Prov 28:13 (NCV) If you hide your sins, you will not succeed. If you confess and reject them, you will receive mercy.

To receive mercy and hope for the future, we have to confront our past. We have to renounce our sin. We have to deal with our failure.

Carrying the baggage of 40 years worth of doubts and fears, however, Moses had nothing to give God except excuses and objections. Even though he was at a turning point, he found it difficult to imagine he could make a turn. Return to Egypt? Go back to where it all began? Return to face his failures? Return to deal with consequences? For Moses, beaten down and defeated, it was unthinkable. So Moses argued with God. He came up with one excuse after another—five reasons why he could NOT do what God was calling him to do.

• But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (3:11)
• "[If] they ask me, ‘What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" (3:13)
• Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you'?" (4:1)
• Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." (4:10)
• But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." (4:13)

Maybe you, like Moses, have very reasons why you can't answer the call, why you can't overcome your past. If so, you need to learn one more lesson from Moses...

3. Turn over. Turn over all your excuses to God. Give up. Stop fighting; stop resisting God. Surrender to his plan. Yield your life to the Lord. Stop making excuses.

We all have had doubts or excuses at one time or another. The problem, though, is not the fact that we have doubts or excuses. That's part of the human condition. The question is: What will we do with them when they come? Do we allow doubts and fears to shut us down? Do we let our discouragements or failures paralyze us? Do we let fears suffocate our faith? Or do we use the frustration of our past mistakes to see our inadequacies in the light of God's adequacy? Can we turn away from our weakness so we can turn to God's power?

2 Cor 3:4-5 "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God."
(NCV) "...It is God who makes us able to do all that we do."
(NLT) "...It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God."
(NASB) "...Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God."

If you think your mistakes or deficiencies disqualify you for God's use, think again!

"Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid. That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you, too, if you stop making excuses." [Rick Warren, Purpose-Driven Life (Zondervan: 2002), p 233.]

Moses had to surrender his past to God. So do we.

Moses had to surrender his failure to God. So do we.

Moses had to surrender his weakness and inadequacy to God. So do we.

Moses had to return and deal with his past so God could give him his future. So do we.

Many centuries after Moses another man also learned to surrender his weakness to God. Paul, the apostle wrote:

2 Cor 12:10 (NLT) "Each time [God] said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Return. Go back to your past so you can deal with it. You can't undo the past—Fred talked about that last week. But you must confront your past! You must confess your sin, face your mistakes, learn from your failures.

There's an irony here: if you don't go back the past, you'll never escape it. You have to go back to your past so you can confess, be forgiven—and finally escape your past.

There is a Promised Land waiting for you if you're willing to let God take you back to Egypt. If you're willing to return, you can go forward.

Moses had all kinds of excuses why he couldn't return. But God had an answer for Moses' excuses. He said:

Exod 4:12,15 "I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say... I will teach you what you are to do."

In the end, Moses was left without excuse. The burning bush became a turning point that caused him to return to Egypt.

Exod 4:20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.

This is your turning point. This is your burning bush. This is your invitation to return and finally confront the doubts and fears and limitations of your past. Bring your excuses and turn them over to God.