Get To Digging

I'm going to talk today to you about one of the lesser known stories in scripture. We're going to go to Second Kings chapter three, and uh, I feel like you will, some of you may know this story well, some of you may not. Maybe, maybe you've heard it, just don't remember it, or maybe this is your first time to hear it, but I feel like God has a word for us today. Here in Second Kings, we're gonna see that there were three kings that decided to join up together and come against a common enemy named Moab, and in the process of rallying their troops and making battle plans and putting everybody together, they run into a serious problem, for they could find no water for the army to drink, no water for their horses, no water for the cattle. So the kings began to try to come up with a plan, and somebody decides, Well, maybe we should seek out God. So we're going to read as they go to a prophet. They go to Elisha to seek counsel. We're going to read about the response that comes back from the man of God in Second Kings chapter 3, verse number 15. It says: Now bring me a musician. And while the musician played, the Lord's hand came upon Elisha, and he said, This is what the Lord says: Dig a ditch after ditch in this wadi, what is just a fancy way of saying valley, for the Lord says, You will not see wind or rain, but in the wadi will be filled with water, and you will drink, you and your cattle and your animals. This is easy in the Lord's sight. He will also hand Moab over to you.

And for a little while, in my best southern vernacular, I'm going to preach, Get to digging. Say that to you neighbors, say, Get to digging.

Now, y'all need to loosen up a little bit, because I feel fully rested, and I don't know where we're going to go, but we're going to hang on tight and let the Lord do work today. Y'all with me? Y'all with me? Amen, amen.

Let's pray. Jesus, I thank you so much for your presence. It is here. I thank you, Lord, for your word, and I ask, God, that you would anoint us to receive it today. God, I turn this over to you. Have your way in this place. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

I want somebody to know that what you're going through in your life today is an easy thing for God to handle. It's easy. Now, that's not him making fun of your troubles. He is just declaring his greatness right from the beginning, and I love that he doesn't make any bones about it. He goes ahead and declares, I am great, and if you trust in me, I can do great things in your life. God is able to handle your biggest problem. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is really able to handle your biggest problem? Now, I'm going to ask you a question: Do you live like God can handle it? Oh, it got a little quiet, didn't it? Gotta look quiet. It's okay, I'm not afraid of quiet. Do you believe God's able to handle your biggest problem? Then what is preventing you from living like he can handle it today?

I'm preaching this message to all of us. We are all either currently dealing with, or have dealt with, or will deal with unforeseen problems in life. Life just seems to happen to us all, and it usually happens while we're not paying attention. Life happens. I feel like most of us are a little bit gun-shy, a little bit reserved after this past year. I'm tired of mentioning 20 20. I'm tired of the word cove, and I'm tired of saying it. I just feel like I don't even, even use it anymore. I'm just going to say that thing, that thing that happened. I'm ready to move past the thing. I'm ready to get over it. I'm tired of using it as a crutch. I don't want to use it as the excuse. My God is able to handle every problem that comes my way. I don't even want to label it anymore. It's just that thing that annoyed me last year. I'm tired of it. We're going to move forward. I want to go ahead. I want to move into what God has for me next. I don't want to live in the past. I can't do anything about it. I can't change one thing. I can't go back if I wanted to, if I had paid millions of dollars, if I had the ability, I can't go backwards. But I know what this word says about my future, and it's bright. Oh, it may be a lot of work between now and then, but it says I have an expected end if I will trust in God. I don't know about you, but that excites me a little bit, that I haven't expected in, not of my own doing, but God has already placed it there for me. So I am declaring, he's big enough to handle my problems, and he has an expected end just for me, and that makes me excited. It ought to excite you. It doesn't matter what's happened. What matters is the moment I'm living in right now. And my God is good. My God is alive. My God is faithful. My God is able to handle anything I get myself into. Well, hallelujah.

Welcome to Center Point Apostolic Church. I'm so glad you guys joined us today. And some of y'all just woke up.

Most of us in the room have lived long enough to know that we experience down times. Anybody had crop failure before? It's okay, I'm not signing you up for anything. Anybody ever had crop failure? What I mean is, you, you spent the time tilling the soil, selecting the seed, planting it in the perfect location, making sure that you watered it just right, you did everything that you knew to do to ensure that you had a bumper crop, only to gain nothing. Anybody ever done that? Yeah, crop failure happens in life. Sometimes the best laid plans fail. It doesn't make us happy. It doesn't make me excited. I don't like having bad days, but regardless of whether I like it or not, bad days come.

Here in this story, we see the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom have joined forces to fight against the king of Moab. They have marshalled their armies. They have set out with great pomp and circumstance. They have pride that leads them into battle. They feel like their combined forces, their battle strategy and plan, is going to ensure that they're going to have a swift and a quick victory in their life. Now, I'm a planning person. I like making plans. I like having a plan, but sometimes plans get wrecked. But I can identify with these kings who are getting together and say, You know what? I feel like if we join our three armies together, we have a wonderful opportunity at defeating our enemy. Hank, I like a good plan.

So this story starts off real good, because I feel like they're going through their checklist. Anybody have checklists? Yeah. Anybody put on your checklist, make a checklist? So they're going down and they're preparing for battle. They're going into the fight. So they're going there, finding other they're good warriors, are saying, Hey RJ, I need you on my team. Mike, you big guy, I need you there. Wesley, I need you on my team. They're going down, they're planning, they're making their strategy, they're coming together, they're drawing up battle plans, and they're saying themselves, We can't forget the swords. We've got to have swords, right? We're going to fight, we got to have a sword. To get the sword, and somebody get the spears, and somebody get the shields, and making sure we get all this stuff together. Somebody make sure that we have enough feed for the horses when we go out there, because we don't want our horses to not have everything they need. And hey, look, we get hungry out there, so you know what, make sure we got enough cattle to go with us, because in those days they didn't have those, was it MREs, meal is ready to eat? Did I get that right, for all the army folks that said, We're Sean Long, is that what they are shown? Are those delicious? Wonderful. Yeah. Did you feel that conviction in his voice when he said that? Well, they had their meals ready to eat. It moved, and they walked behind them. So they took their cows with them. They mark, they're making every plan they can possibly make. We don't want to forget anything, because the last thing we want is to get out there and to be like, Oh man, we forgot to bring the shield. We forgot to bring the spear. We forgot to bring this. So they are making their plans, and they are detailed, and everything is spelled out just the way it needs to be. And I don't know about you, but something inside of me is happy about plans being made, but even the best laid plans sometimes don't always work out the way they should.

So I see them as they're marching out of the city, and they're heading out, and they got their heads held high, and all the lady folks got the hankies out, waving at them, and you know, they're, they're strutting out there. So we're going to battle. And I hear a drum beating in the background, and to just see this great parade, this massive army, as it is, is heading out of the city. It is going out to defeat the Moabites. Anybody see that with me? Am I the only one with the big imagination today? Can you see me? Y'all see them? Yeah, you'll see them right there. They're marching. They get out there a little ways, to start marching on, and they're, they're just feeling like victory is theirs. Man, I've had days like that, right? I left the house, everything was prepared, everything was put together, everything was just the way it was supposed to be, and as I was heading to my destination, I had full confidence that I was going to conquer the day. And then, anybody have an end then moment? Oh, and then it happens. And we could all fill in the blank with what it was. But in their case, they get far away out there, marching with all the confidence, with all the armor, with all the gear, with everything they needed to win, except water. Somewhere along the lines and drawing up the battle plans, nobody thought about water. Now, you would think reasonably intelligent people would think at some point, we're going to get thirsty. You would think that in the battle plan and strategy of putting this all together, somebody would have said, Hey, where's the closest water location or reservoir? Are we going to pass by well at some point? Because we have all these thousands of soldiers, and we have all these horses, and we have all these cattle, that they're going to get thirsty at some point. And we read here in this chapter that they're heading into a dry place.

I know about you, but if I'm heading to a dry place, immediately I get thirsty. I like to jog. I talk about that quite often in my preaching. I enjoy jogging. Without fail, two things happen every time I lace my shoes up and I get ready to start the run. You know what the two things are? You can probably guess what one of them is, right? I get thirsty. Ralph's are bad. I could have just drank three bottles of water and go out there, and immediately I'm like, Man, thirsty, I need one more drink. And the second thing is, I feel like I need to empty my bladder every time. It doesn't matter. I mean, I can come out of the restroom and go run, and I feel like I should go back in the restroom. Now, that was more information everybody need, I guess. But they're heading out there into a dry place. And I feel like in my spirit, if I'm making all these plans and all this preparation, somebody, somebody there should have said, Hey, just, just curious, have we thought about taking water with us? Because the route we're taking is heading to the dry place. But for some reason, that memo didn't make it way up to the command. They head out there with everything. They get, they're, they're moving forward. They have medics and aids and armor bearers and horses and cattle. Everything's prepared, but they ran out of water. They ran out of refreshment, and they could not find anything for themselves. For seven days, men are searching in every direction, trying to find water, only to come up empty. And we see these three kings who seemingly have prepared for every possible scenario and situation, being held up by something that is out of their control, because they have no control over the weather and no control over the water supply. And in the reality of circumstances, the overwhelming feeling of despair sets in, and they find themselves blaming each other, which only leads to them actually ending up blaming God, saying these words, God has done this to us. Man, in it interesting how easy it is to slide down that slippery slope? Well, it's your fault. Well, he was supposed to bring in. Well, I thought this was yours. Did you not plan? Who was, who was responsible for this? And before long, all the finger pointing ends up, the pointing fingers, to saying, This is God's fault. God has brought us out here, and now the Moabites are going on, going to overrun us and defeat us, because we are going to be too weak to fight. And it feels like all hope is lost and gone for them, and they found themselves in the midst of a drought they could not control. Their pride was humbled in this moment, and now their plan seems to be lost, and their mighty army is paralyzed by the lack of water.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, when the simplicities of life fail us, we become desperate. When what we have always counted on as being there and available to us has been stripped away, we find ourselves feeling lost and wondering what it is we should do next. And in the presence of a drought, their riches in power became useless. In a drought, the might and strength of the army could only sit still in a barren land. They had marched a long way into a desert place, a place with no water, no brook, no stream, no whales. And the scripture study tells us that this land once flowed with water. It once had green pastures and golden fields of grain, but in this moment it was all gone. No gold grain, no green pastures, no babbling brook.

We, every one of us, had felt times in our own little personal worlds just like this army did, where the basics of life seemingly has caused us to stumble. Oh, how quickly life can turn when we're marching off thinking to ourselves, I'm going to fix the problem. I'm going to conquer the enemy. I'm going to set the record straight. I'm going to fix it and make sure everything is exactly the way it needs to be. But then we run headlong into a problem we never intended or planned for. We didn't factor it into our equation, and this surprise knocks us off our feet. This is exactly what happened to these three kings. They had anticipated everything possible. They prepared for the battle. They had enough weapons, enough armor, enough cattle, but they didn't have enough water. And it didn't matter the wealth they had. It didn't matter their money. They could not buy water in a dry place. It was not a matter of power. They could not leverage himself into water. It was not a matter of influence. They could not speak a word that was going to help them acquire the water that they need. And in their desperation, they counseled and decided to call for a man of God.

I find it interesting how many times people want to bring the preacher into their situation after they made a complete mess of everything, and now they're desperate. Sometimes I feel like my phone ringing is 9-1-1. Like I should answer the phone and say, 9-1-1, how can I help you? Like a fireman, the alarm goes off and the phone rings, and put my hat on, slide down the pole, put my boots, and let's head out. Why is it we wait until we have exhausted all of our resources, and then we decide, Hey, maybe we should ask God? Well, maybe you should ask God before you left. But here they are.

So they're standing before Elisha now. There's a whole lot in this chapter, and you got to go slow when you read it. So I invite you to go back on your own time to read through this chapter. But Elijah gets a little salty at first. In fact, he looks at one of them, says, Why are you even talking to me? Why don't you go back to your daddy Ahabs? Once you go talk to them prophets. In fact, he says, If it wasn't for the king of Judah, I wouldn't even talk to you right now. But he says, All right now. Like any good preacher, he knows when he sings song, we need to sing. We need to worship, is what he was saying. He knew why Elisha needed to worship, because he had a bad attitude. Can I be honest and transparent? Sometimes preachers get bad attitudes. We do it. Sometimes it settles on us, and that's why it's important that we enter into a time of worship, because it helps us all have the mind and heart of God. So Elisha knew this about himself. He was a little frustrated. They decided to join him, to, to, to ask him, so he says, You know what? Best thing we can do is worship right now. In the, in the scripture that I read you, says, as they sang, as they begin to worship, as the instrument played, the hand of the Lord came upon the man of God.

Elisha listens. He studies. He, he, he reaches out, and in the middle of this, he says, This is what God says: Make a valley full of ditches. Now, I don't know about you, but there are so many times when I read these scriptures, when I wanted to be there. I just wanted to be there, because I want to see their face, and I want to know what it looked like. I want to know what those three king's face look like when the man of God turns around and says, You know what? God says you need to dig a ditch. In fact, he says you needed a bit to, to go out there and dig a whole bunch of ditches. And I'm sure they're sitting there going on, I, I'm, I think I misunderstood what you said. Do you realize we're in a desert and there's no water? And the reason we're here is because we're coming to you to see if God might help us with our problems, and you're going to tell me that the response from God, in the middle of a desert dry place, is to dig a ditch? And in my mind, I see him going, Yep, that's what God said. Dig a ditch in the middle of the valley. Dig a ditch in a drought, when there's no water, no water in the brook, no water, no well, no water anywhere. God, you want me out here in this old hard ground to dig a ditch? Yes. I promised you this: the last thing they expected to hear was the man of God telling them to dig a ditch.

You know, God's ways are usually, for most of us, we struggle to make sense of them at first. We seem to do better when we look back from where we came, and when we see that what God was telling us makes sense on the aftermath. Often God gives us commands that on the surface don't seem to make any logical human sense, just like this. Why would somebody go and dig a ditch in the middle of a dry place? We make a habit of looking forward and living backwards. I'm going to say that again: We make a habit of looking forward, or looking forward, to living backwards. What seems to make no sense is often the way God takes when he's working something out for you and I. And I can only imagine the conversation and how it went when they went back to their armies and said, Hey look, the kings are showing up. They went to go seek counsel from God. They went to go see the prophet, the man who poured water on Elijah's hands. Surely there's going to be a victory coming our way. And as they sat down there, and all the armies sit down and random, everybody gets real quiet, says, All right, listen, listen, listen, listen, let's see what we need to do. And the kings go up and say, All right fellas, we got instructions from God, and here's what we need to do. And I can see the guys going, Man, we're so thirsty, just tell us what we got to do. Dig a ditch. And I see some little lonely private raising his hand, going, Excuse me, do you want us to honestly dig a ditch? Yes, the man of God said that the Lord wants us to dig a ditch. You will not see wind. You will not see rain.

I don't know about you, but there's so much being said here, because it'd be one thing if I go out there and I get my little army-issue shovel, and I get instructions from command that says, We gotta go dig a ditch. It's one thing, Sister Kennedy, if I hear thunder in the background. It's one thing if I see lightning flashing off in the distance, because of like, Okay, I see it's coming, and I got to have something to collect it in, so this makes sense that the man of God said we need to be digging ditches. But the man of God also said, You're not going to hear any wind or any rain. I don't know about you, but this is as bad as it gets. It's hot, it's dry, it's nasty. My mouth, my tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth, and you want me to take a shovel in a bunch of hard ground and start digging a ditch? I'm struggling, God. Now, I've said that, but is there anybody else who's ever felt just like those soldiers? Anybody ever felt like you're in the middle of a dry place, wondering where in the world God is, and, and the only response you got back through the message was that you need to be digging a ditch, and you're like, God, I don't necessarily mind digging a ditch, but it doesn't seem like that should be the best use of my time in this moment right now. God, what would be great is if you'd let a little whale pop over there. At least let me have one bottle of Aquafina. Maybe if I had just a little touch on the end of my tongue right now, I'd have a little bit more energy and be enthused about taking this shovel to the hard ground. But they didn't get any of that. The word was, Dig a ditch.

When you need a rain cloud and all you get is dust clouds, what do you do? When the only instruction you got is to keep digging, how do you prepare yourself? They would have been given a word in the valley that it was going to be full, and the instructions was to get digging in preparation. Why, why, why would God ask them to dig ditches in a drought? And I'll tell you why: because it is symbolic of a principle that runs throughout the entirety of the word of God. This is teaching them faith in the middle of a problem, expectancy in the face of discouragement. This is how our God works. He often says, I'm here to do a great work in your life, but I'm going to see if you're really going to trust me to do this great work in your life, because if you do it by yourself, you'll take the credit.

We see this principle in the conversation that Jesus had with the centurion in Matthew chapter 8. And Jesus said to the centurion, Go thou way, as thou hast believed. Nothing has happened yet. He's looking at him and saying, I see something inside of you that's having a little bit of faith, and I'm telling you, it's that right there that's going to see this thing done in your life. Oh, I'm speaking to somebody right now. Your flame has all but extinguished, and I come here to tell you today, you have everything you need to see your way through this problem in your life. It may look like it's a dry place. It may look like there's no hope. But I'm telling you today, God's saying, Get a shovel out and start digging ditches, because your promise is on the way. It was an act of obedience mixed with faith that led to a healing.

Matthew 9, verse 28: And when he was coming to the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? And they said unto him, Yay, Lord. Then touch he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it done unto you. There's some part that you and I play in what God's gonna do in our life, and I'm here to tell somebody, please don't give up hope. It may look like everything's gone, but God is still in you, what exactly you need to get through this situation. He touched him and said, According to your faith, and their eyes were open.

Matthew 15:28: And Jesus answered and said unto her, Oh woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole. I wonder about you, but I see a common thread between these stories, that was there that Jesus was pointing out what seemed to be an impossible thing, but into that equation he was letting them know, you have inside of you everything you need to see this through.

You have everything in you right now to see this through. Somebody needs to receive what I just said. You have everything you need in you right now to see your way through. If you'll bring what little bit you have and couple it with God, you can see a mighty thing happen in your life.

I'm asking you today, what do you need? What do you need? What do you need? What is your greatest desire? What is your greatest need? And ask him today. Allow your faith to connect you to a God who supplies, a God who is Jehovah Jireh. So what do you need? Have you even thought about it? Is there something beyond your wants? I didn't ask you what you wanted. I ask you, what's your need? What is your greatest need in this place today? What is your greatest need in this place today? Somebody's still not connecting with me. What is your greatest need? What is it? Think about it right now. Put it in your mind right now. Is it a deeper walk with him? Is it a healing touch? Is it for your relationship to be restored? Is it for your kids to come back to God? What is your greatest need today in this place? And I'm asking you to start talking to him about your need. As long as you stay focused on your present circumstances, you're never going to have what you need. But if you're willing to do a little bit of digging, you'll discover a God who supplies all your needs. If you're willing to spend some time praying and digging, as if you're going to see the answer, you'll find a God who is longing to show up in your circumstances and provide for you. But if you're willing, if you're willing, if you're willing.

They could have set out in the middle of that desert and just complained and died, but somewhere along the way, one of them got up enough nerve to say, Well, if the man of God said we're supposed to dig, I guess no time like the present. And they started digging. Oh, if I only get one of you on board with me today, that's all I need. If I get one of you to understand this principle in your life, that there's something that happens that is beyond comprehension when you fall down on your knees in the middle of a dry place in your life, and you grab up your shovel and you start digging, even when it doesn't make sense, even when there's dust bowl flying away. But you, God, I know you told me to dig a ditch. This doesn't make sense. I need a healing in my body. Why am I digging a ditch? What God desired of those kings was then to put into action what he spoke to them. You have to do more than just hear a good sermon. You must take the word and put it into action. You have to get to digging. It takes faith, not just words, but faith in the words you speak. Action speaks louder than words. Get to digging.

Why is it that most of us prepare for the worst? Have you noticed how we do that in life? We do. You know how I know that? Because I've been around enough of you. We'll be there working on something, something breaks. But I knew that was going to happen. What do you mean, you knew that was going to happen? I just knew it was going to happen. How do you know? Are you a fortune teller? What do you mean, how did you know that was going to happen? Well, I just know. I've, I've seen enough in life to just know that. I'm sorry, Nancy Negative, nothing against you, Nancy, she's Nancy Positive. You know what I'm talking about, those kind of folks. When you said, I'm going to do this, they look at you, go, You can't do that.

And I'm always like, Why do I have you in my life? I face enough adversity. Why are you surrounding me right now? I'm a glass half-full kind of guy, most of the time. My wife's up here. She's going to keep me straight. I'm going to come preach close to you. For the most part, I'm an optimistic guy. Now, I can have a little moment or two of realism. It comes in there. You look pretty today, say a comment, and walk away. But there are some folks, I'm not going to point any fingers, and maybe a few you in here, that doesn't matter what happens, you always put a negative spin on it. You could be a pie taster at the pie factory, getting paid to taste pie, and you'd be like, I'm gonna get fat. There's folks like that.

Why is it that we always prepare for the worst? Why can't we prepare for the best? Why is it we always have to focus on the negative news we get? I know sometimes the negative news is overwhelming, but ladies and gentlemen, look at here. This is a revelation. You ready, right back here, past the maps, concordance, notes page? Here we win. We win. All I have to do is hang on. All I have to do is make it through. All I have to do is not get caught up on all the negativity around here, and listen to what God says for me to do. And if he tells me to dig, it's not my job to question. It's my job to get a shovel and start digging.

I thought that was gonna fly off there. Lord, we'd have to have a prayer meeting and healing deliverance.

I believe that God was trying to get in the head of these kings. He was trying to ask them, What is it that you expect? Y'all okay if I slow down for a minute? Because I'm afraid our mindset oftentimes is the very thing that prevents us from moving forward. For most of you, you've heard enough. You've heard enough word preached in your life. For most of you, you've said through enough church services. You've heard enough sermons. You've had enough lessons taught to you. You've read enough devotions. You've spent enough time on your knees to be further down the road than where you are right now. Please listen to me. I'm not trying to put you down and make you feel bad, but I'm asking you, what are you setting your mind on? What are you expecting to happen? Are you always expecting for the bad or the negative to happen? Because if that's what you're looking for, I promise you, you will find negativity everywhere you look. But if you're optimistic, if you are truly saying, I am a child of God. My daddy is alive, sitting on the throne. He owns a cattle on a thousand hills. I may not have what I need right now, but any moment he's going to show up in my life. Whoo. He might tell y'all, I'm gonna tell you, I'm talking about living right now like you are who God says you are. I wish some folks would start living like waters on the way. I wish some folks would start living like water's on the way.

When you don't know what to do, get to digging. How do you dig, Pastor? How do you dig? I tell you, hey, dig. You get down on your knees. You start praying. You start asking for God to help you. Life has a way of treating us according to our expectations. That's why Jesus said to each one of them, As your faith is. Where is your faith at? What do you have faith in? What do you believe? Are you only playing lip service to God, or is he really Lord of your life? Is he really Lord of all things? Because if he is, you should start acting like he is Lord of all.

I think some of you just love complaining. It's your spiritual gift. You complain about everything. I wonder if some of you just like being in a mess, chaos, all the time. I can't live that way. You can call me crazy if you want, but I'm, I, I don't want to be caught up in that. I got too much invested in this thing. I've come too far. God's done too much for me to be tripped up and, and stumble over some little small, uh, inconvenient moment in my life. I have bad days. My head hurts every now, and I stub my toes. Some things don't work out the way I want them to, but I refuse to allow those things to detract what God has already done in my life. I know him to be a healer. I know him to be a provider. I know him to be a waymaker. I know him to be my savior. And that's too much information for me to allow some silly little thing in this life to cause me to trip and fall.

I know how this all ends. I'm not looking for the world to burn down. I'm looking for the sky to split and my savior to come back. I can't control the governments. I can't control the, the stuff and the chaos that's going on, where I, I can't control all those things. I wouldn't even try. It's beyond what my ability is. So I have reserved to just give those things over, and I pray, God, you work your will out in those situations. I'm not going to focus on those things anymore.

I'm going to tell you what I did at the beginning of the year. I cut a lot of noise out of my life. January, I cut a bunch of racket out, because it was, it was affecting me in a way I didn't like, and I realized real quick, I wasn't controlling anything anyway. It was controlling me. So I've silenced a lot of voices around me. I've, I've, I've, I've taken some stuff out. I had to have another block party on Facebook. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't need all that mess. Why would I let it come in? I don't need to sit in my mind, sitting in my brain, me thinking about all that stuff. I want to see your birthdays and your kids, and that's what I want to see. I don't want to see all that stuff. It's just a bunch of mess. Mess, I said mess from the pulpit four times. Mess, that's all it is. And it was messing with me, and it's messing with some of you too. Some of y'all need to have a little black party. Some of y'all need to throw the thing in a trash can, because it's giving you a negative outlook on life. Is he truly Lord of your life? That he is, start living like he's Lord of your life.

I'm going to make plans for God to do work in my life. I'm going to make plans, I'm telling you what I'm going to do. I make plans for God to do work in my life. I'm going to, I'm ok, I'm going to dig. It may be dry where I am right now, but I'm still going to dig. It may not be everything I want it to be, but I'm going to dig, because I got a word from the Lord who said dig. And if God told me to dig, that means there's something there. He's not just sending me out to waste my time. He's not just sending me out to give me something so I can preoccupy my mind with. If he told me to dig, there's some kind of treasure, there's some kind of blessing, there's some kind of something that's going to be on the other side of my ditch.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, it's not how you start in life, that's how you finish it. It's not how you start, fake, that's good. Look at your neighbor right now, if you're going to say, It's not how you start, it's how you finish. Some of us got off to bad starts. Some of us started pretty good, but somewhere along the way, we ran into a ditch, and it wasn't the one we were digging. But it's not how you start, it's how you finish this thing that matters. I don't care what you've done. I don't care how bad of you've messed it all up in your life. None of that matters. You have this moment. We can't go backwards, but I can move forward and trust God's going to get me through this. They started off with swords and spears and horses and shields and chariots and cattle, but when it was all said and done, what saved them was a shovel. What saved them? I guarantee you, when they packed the shovel, nobody thought we were going to have to get this out to dig our way out of a battle. But I promise you, they reached a moment in their life when they were glad they had it. Their swords couldn't save them. Spears couldn't. We think our intellect will save us, and our money will save us, and our resources to do the trick, but all those things will fail sooner or later. But what works every time is digging deeper in God. What works every time is going to prayer with expectation, digging in preparation for what he's going to send our way, not sitting back passively by, saying some kind of little patty cake prayer, God, deliver me, but getting down to the serious business where I take shovel, and I put down in the hard ground of my soul, the hard ground of my life, and I begin digging until something starts changing, because he told me, if I'll dig, there's something coming my way.

I begin to ask myself, when studying this out, why did God ask for ditches? Why in this moment was it that, why didn't you tell them to go, to go dig a whale? We have a lot of scripture reference where they went, dug wales. But why a ditch? Why didn't this go tell them to dig a hole? Again, this is how my brain works. I'm studying this out, I'm like, I could have dug a hole. I think a hole had been easier than a ditch. Why was it about a ditch? Two o'clock this morning, I wasn't sleeping anyway, so God decided to talk to me. I mean, as clear as I'm talking to you right now, this is what he said. He goes, I had them dig a ditch, because when they dug a ditch, they could control the flow where it went. He goes, I didn't tell them where to point the ditch. I just told him to dig the ditch. Whoo, there's a powerful principle here. Hmm. It was up to them. It was up to them to determine where the ditch was going to go. He didn't tell him, Why don't you dig a ditch, and I want to go north, go east, point west. He didn't tell him those things. He just said, Go dig a ditch. And God, this morning, was just rolling around in my mind, and he was telling me, it was up to each man to determine where he wanted his flow to go, where he wanted that direction to go. So maybe he wanted his direction go down to his buddy or his garrison, or maybe he wanted his direction to go over towards his horses, or wherever the cattle were. There was no determination. It was up to each and every man. And I feel like God come to me the early this morning to tell this church that it doesn't matter the direction. You determine where his blessing is going to go. You determine where it's going to go. That's why it's important that you spend your time in prayer, that you decide when you're down on your knees, when you're before God Almighty, and you're there, and you're doing the hard work in your prayer life: God, I want you to save my kids. God, I want my, I want my marriage to be put back together. God, I need a touch in my body. God's providing, that something special is coming. He's going to fill that ditch up, but you and I get to pick and decide where it is we want to direct those things to go in our life.

Oh, I want to encourage somebody. You think that it's all left up to happen chance? I'm telling you, that is not how our God works. He's a personal God. He's the God that knows right where you are. He's a God who knows the secret places inside your mind, and inside your heart. He knows what your desires are. He knows where your needs are. And he's telling you, Dig a ditch, and route it wherever you need it to be.

Remember the prophet's words: Bring me a magician. We need to worship. I'm going to end this message. I'm asking him to come, musicians come. I've got a scripture just to bring y'all forward: While they played, the Lord's hand came on Elisha, and he said, This is what the Lord said: Dig ditch after ditch. Don't just dig one. Don't just dig one. Don't just settle for the immediate problem. See, we sometimes sell God so short, because all we focus on is the biggest thing, the largest fire, the very thing that's melting down around us. That's what we focus on. But I love here, and God was telling me in the wee hours this morning, you tell them to dig ditches, ditch after ditch. Don't sell yourself short. And whatever you're facing in your life, if you need salvation, then dig that one. If you need a healing, a miracle in your life, dig that one. But don't stop there. I guarantee you, do you have a family or a friend who needs a touch from God? Dig, dig, dig. There are times in prayer when you're not going to feel like praying, where you're not going to see the wind or the rain, but keep digging. Keep preparing. He told them, You're not going to see the wind. You're not going to see the rain. Basically, he's saying, you're not going to have any encouragement to continue on outside of this word. Dig the ditch. You will not see wind or rain, but the valley, the wadi, will be filled. You're not going to have any encouragement, but somewhere along the lines, while you're scooping out that dust, while you're choking on what, what is going on in your life, all of a sudden there's going to be water that shows up.

History tells us this valley was an important valley. I got, don't have enough time to go into it, but this was the same valley where the man of God struck the rock and the water flowed. God was saying, I've been here before, and I've brought water out of places that didn't make any sense. And this may seem like the craziest thing in your life right now, but if you'll dig a ditch, I'll feel it. If you'll dig a ditch, I'll feel it. You won't hear a thunder. You won't see the lightning. But while you're digging, you'll look down, and there'll be water in your ditch.

As I was thinking about this, Ashley, in prayer this morning, the story about your mom and your dad came to my mind. For 40 years, your mom dug. Her mom prayed for her dad for 40 years to come and have a relationship with God. For 40 years, almost, it was just shy of 40. If I remember, it's right, just almost 40 years. Prayer warrior on her knees. She never heard of thunder. She never seen the lightning. But every time she got on her knees, there she was with her shovel, saying, God, you had made me a promise, because God made her a promise. You made me a promise, so I'm here digging in this ditch. I'm here digging this dish. And then one morning, he said, I think I want to go to church with you. I want to go to church with you. She looked down in the middle of digging, all of a sudden there's water in her ditch. He went to church. God filled him with the Holy Ghost, baptized in Jesus' name. Why, you can't convince me any other way, because 40 years, there was a woman who got up and said, You told me to dig, so I'm gonna dig. And tell you, if you'll stand with me, I, I don't know, I don't know your circumstances. I know a few stories. I know there's a few things. There's needs in this house. You can't have people in a room this size, and they're not be needs. But it was earlier this week that God dropped this passage in my spirit, and I feel like somebody needs to get a shovel, and you need to start digging, for God has delivered a word to you today, that he's going to fill the ditch. Don't worry, don't worry. It may not make sense, but just dig.

So I'm going to pray, and as I'm praying, if you need God to do something in your life, I invite you to come down to this altar area. Bring a shovel with you, and see what God wants to do in this place. Will you pray with me? If you're okay, look about closing your eyes right now. I'm just going to pray.

Jesus, oh God, I love you, and I thank you for your presence that is here so strong in this place. God, I've delivered what you laid in my heart and my mind to your church today. God, I know there are people here, are struggling, some unbelievable circumstances in their life. God, I pray that they would receive this word that you have for them today, the middle of their dry place, in the middle of their circumstances, in the middle of what they're going through, that they would start taking in you, and you, and you, you, oh God, bring them to a place where they can know without any doubt or reservation that you are speaking to them right now. God, do what you do best, for you are a provider, you are a healer, you are a waymaker, you are a savior. In the name of Jesus, this altar is open right now. I invite you to come, whatever you need, whatever you're going through, whatever, whatever, he is here. Allow the God, the creator of all