Sermon Central
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God's Errands
Contributed by Terry Spriestersbach on Jun 14, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “Difficulties are God’s errands and when we are sent upon them, we should esteem it a proof of God’s confidence.”
GOD’S ERRANDS
Who runs most of the errands at your house?
Who is the one most likely to take that “short journey” to deliver something or pick up something?
It seems as if a number of the errands one might run are often for someone else.
We can spend more than half of our free time out running errands.
The overwhelming amount of time we spend running errands is seldom ever fun.
We take on those tasks mostly by necessity.
The errands are like trials.
Sometimes, however, we have a great reason to be happy about our errands.
Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “Difficulties are God’s errands and when we are sent upon them, we should esteem it a proof of God’s confidence.”
WHAT?? ESTEEM DIFFICULTIES??
Yep. That’s the key.
God has work for us to do.
If we think that work is going to be easy and trouble-free, think again.
Anyone who has ever tried to fix anything knows how that 10-minute job can become an all-day headache.
The only relief comes from making those three trips to Home Depot or Auto Zone!
God has sent His people on errands since the beginning.
When God set Adam and Eve in the garden He gave them the errand of tending the garden.
Things were going well till Satan decided he’d “help”, and the rest is history.
God spoke to Abraham about taking a road trip.
Along the way, there were some adventures, but Abraham was up to the task.
If ever someone was entitled to ask, “Are we there yet?” it was Abraham.
In Genesis 12 we find the accounts of Abraham’s errands.
In verse 17 is the adventure of God plaguing Pharaoh’s house because of a “misunderstanding”.
Abraham asked Sarah to tell Pharaoh she was Abraham’s sister.
The difficulties created from that situation caused Pharaoh to return Sarah to Abraham and send him on his way.
Then there is the difficulty caused when Abraham and Lot decided to part company.
Each had many animals and servants and money, and the land where they were couldn’t support them both.
Lot chose to head east toward the cities of the plains and Abraham stayed in Canaan.
Lot had more errands waiting for him in Sodom and Gomorrah, but that’s another difficulty.
I mentioned to you before about how God works.
He provides us with the tools we need to do the job He calls us to do.
God says go and do.
If He says, go and do, we either have or He will give us the tools to use.
Sometimes, however, we have to look for them.
The tools are right there in plain sight, but we don’t see them.
God told Abraham to go and explore the land He gave to Abraham.
It was all part of the errand God designed for Abraham and his seed.
GENESIS 13:15 – 16
15 FOR ALL THE LAND WHICH THOU SEEST, TO THEE WILL I GIVE IT, AND TO THY SEED FOREVER.
16 AND I WILL MAKE THY SEED AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH; SO THAT IF A MAN CAN NUMBER THE DUST OF THE EARTH, THEN SHALL THY SEED ALSO BE NUMBERED.
Abraham had God’s promise that he would live in the land forever.
Not Abraham only, but all of Abraham’s seed, forever.
This was a huge errand, but Abraham knew that if God promised, God delivered.
When we are running God’s errands, we can be sure of the same thing.
We look by faith to see beyond anything that is causing us issues now, to see how we will complete God’s tasks.
There are many others who God sent to run errands.
We can name Noah and Jeremiah.
There is Isaiah and David.
But of any that God sent to do errands, the one with the largest list was His Son Jesus.
And that stands to reason.
We have friends and neighbors who might help us from time to time.
We may have them pick up a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.
When the list is long, however, if we don’t or can’t go ourselves, we send the kids.
After all, we feed them, clothe them, and give them a warm place to live.
It’s not too much to ask of our kids that they drive our car, burn our gas, and spend our money on things we need for the family, of which they share, right?
With God and Jesus, it’s a little more complicated than that.
But the principle is the same.
God the Father needed something done.
To accomplish the task, God needed the perfect runner.
The perfect errand runner was Jesus.
Ever since the garden, God was preparing His Son for this trip.
15 AND I WILL PUT ENMITY BETWEEN THEE AND THE WOMAN, AND BETWEEN THY SEED AND HER SEED; IT SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD, AND THOU SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL.
