Breaking Out, Entering In
Bible Text: Deuteronomy 32:9-12 | Speaker: Pastor Jerry Irwin | Pastor Irwin teaches us our uncomfortable situations are meant to help us move us from our current comfort zone into God’s purpose and plan for our life.
Deuteronomy 32:9-12 For the Lords’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
In order for Israel to succeed, they had to realize that there was much greater in them than they had manifested to this point! And so it is for us; every painful episode is used by God to prepare us for a greater and more excellent time of blessing and deliverance.
God took His children to Egypt to:
feed them.
nourish them.
grow them.
For Abraham the offering of Isaac made him the father of all the faithful.
For Solomon the mockery and shame made him more victorious than any other event in his life.
For Joseph the prison became an academy where he learned patience and faithfulness that prepared him to be king.
For the Hebrew children the furnace became a place of trial where they learned boldness to declare God’s glory.
For Daniel the lions den became a place of resting in God’s care and protection.
For Ruth, joining herself to a woman whose name meant bitterness brought her love and joy.
For Esther, her willingness to intercede for her people brought her to a queen’s throne.
The Apostles went through the fear and disappointment of the crucifixion of the Savior but persevered to become filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and witness to Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world.
Peter and John, arrested and thrown in jail, only to become pillars in the church.
John banished to the isle of Patmos, a barren rock where not even a blade of grass would grow, was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and beheld the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
In order for you to make it through the mess, you’ve got to know that this present chaos is not permanent! It’s temporary! You may be in it, but you are not of it. Don’t let it define you. The gas tank may be empty, the power may be cut off, the water may be cut off, but you need to stand up and proclaim, “I’m in it, but I’m not of it. I’m coming out of it. My God shall supply all my needs.”
Through a series events and conversations, satan has almost convinced you that this is that. It’s hopeless. Satan has worn you down, and you’re ready to quit. But this is not that, it’s not God’s will, it’s not what God wants. O, it means that you have to die daily, deny yourself, take up the cross and be a witness. You have to believe that the season will change, and you will rise from this chaotic, painful snare of the devil. But only God’s grace will be sufficient to bring about a breakthrough. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!
Were you made to be depressed? Were you made to be defeated? Were you made to feel sorry for yourself? Were you meant to be busted and disgusted, sad and discouraged, sick, broken, and battered? No! Then you must realize that you can’t stay in the mess! You can’t be satisfied to just exist and not live your life. There has to be a breakthrough for you. Yes, it was designed to be an experience but not a lifestyle. Yes, it was a visit but not your permanent place.
The eagle mother does nothing to break the eaglet out of its egg, but she does everything to break him out of his nest. Yes, it is comfortable in the nest, warm and soft, Open mouth and food is dropped in it. The problem is that comfort also is a season, and the time will come when, for your own good, a faith event will occur.
You see, whatever you adjust to you won’t leave it. The trouble comes when you get adjusted to your surroundings and the present situation. You make whatever adjustments you have to make to be comfortable in the dilemma. It’s very hard to get people to breakout of a mess they have become adjusted to. You will own it! You will accept it! To leave your comfort zone, you have to be challenged.
The mother eagle makes the nest less comfortable. She’ll take out some of the feathers, exposing the jagged end of a stick. Where the nest had been so hospitable, now is becoming a place of discomfort. Every way you turn, people who use to be friends and trusted, places where you used to sit, places where you use to lie down, you can’t turn to the way you use to turn, because God has stirred the nest. Getting laid off, unexpected car repairs; you called it bad luck, but God was just stirring up the nest. You had rather sit in the nest than soar through the skies. God wants you to mount up with wings.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.