What do I do when the past keeps calling me

What do I do when the past keeps calling me? Genesis 24:1-9

• • Abraham is old and blessed – in all things 
  • He tells his servant Eliezer to go and get Isaac a wife
  • Eliezer is in charge of ALL that Abraham owned

• This is the same guy Genesis 15:2 (Nkjv) – 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I [a]go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

• • I don’t know at what point he started to fear the Lord but we know that He is a man who knows Abraham’s God and not only that but has his own faith 
  • This is confirmed now and in later chapters

• Abraham asks him to swear by the Lord God of heaven and earth –Genesis 24:3

• Before he approached Rebekah, he prayed for God’s `guidance – Genesis 24:12-14

• When he gets to Rebekah’s home, he gives God credit rather than himself – Genesis 24:27 (Nkjv) 

• Here is a slave entrusted with not only wealth but also the future of mankind  
• Sometimes we are concerned if “we matter” and we do in God’s kingdom. Only when we let Him do above, beyond anything that we can ever think or imagine 
• Here is an example that if we are willing to leave our care to the Lord, He will direct our steps in places we never thought we would be 
• Abraham has one major request – Swear to me to: 
  • Do not take a wife from this place for my son vs 3– (We can still live in the gates of Sodom and still refuse to be integrated with the customs and behaviors of the place – go back to my relative’s house 
  • However, do not take my son there -at all 
  • Both things can be true – Obedience to God doesn’t require understanding 
• Eliezer asks for clarification
  • Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me back?
  • Abraham responds the same – DO NOT take my son back there!!
  • Abraham is confident that the Lord who has seen him this far will indeed send an angel to go before his servants
  • At this age – Abraham has no doubt regarding the power and the promises of God 
• Abraham clarifies 
  • If she refuses, then you are off the hook 
  • But you must NEVER take my son back there 
• Begs to ask the question- what did Abraham have against:
  • Canaanite women
  • Isaac going back to his homeland Mesopotamia?

• Deuteronomy 7:3-4 (Nkjv)- You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, 4 for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you.

• Does Abraham not trust his son – it’s not about trusting his son 
• The past has a loud voice, memories, lure, – the past never forgets 

Do not take my son back to my past 

• • The Bible has a lot to say about looking back 
    • There is a difference between looking back and remembering 
    • Remember what the Lord has done for you ~  “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ Joshua 4:19-24(Nkjv) 

• Looking back – lot’s wife looked back – Genesis 19:26 (Nkjv) 

• As a dog returns to its vomit – Proverbs 26:11(NLT)
• James 1:23-24(Nkjv)- For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
• That brings up a great question – why do we go back to our past?– After we have been redeemed, delivered, and changed – what is it back there that keeps on calling us?

• Your plough is in storage 

• • Elijah is asked by the Lord to go and anoint Elisha 

• 1 Kings 19:16-21 (Nkjv) So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.

• • Elisha kills 2 of his 24 Cattle and uses the plough to cook the meat and through a party 
  • Things we can learn about Elisha: 
  • He was wealthy 12 pairs of cattle – challenges the notion that, when we have worked so hard for something, that we can’t leave those things or relationships. He walked away and more so, burned the one thing he didn’t have more of 
  • He threw a party – equivalent of posting on Facebook- I am no longer drinking, going to those places- I gave my life to Christ – Make it public 

• Ephesians 6:12 (NLT) For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

• • The reason we struggle with the past things, is because we have left them physically, but we have not yet left them spiritually. We still like how it felt, how it made me look, how it built me
  • To our physical eyes you are good but to the Spirit world – you are still paying that U-Haul storage monthly 
  • You need to spiritually disconnect from that thing 
  • The old spirit keeps on calling – we never put it to death 

• Matthew 12:43-45 (Nkjv) “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

• False sense of safety 

• • If you have spoken to me one of one of late – I will tell you that the word Sovereignty of God has been coming up in almost all my conversations 
  • We have to get to this point in our lives, where just like Joshua we will have to decide – Choose whom you will follow this day 
  • If you have been walking with God, you love Him and desire to be obedient to Him
  • Then – He is either:
    • As Psalm 37:23 (Nkjv) says: The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. – and that mean that He ordered you out of the past 
    • And no matter how bad your current situation feels like – He was Lord before then and He is Lord in it and He will be Lord after (He is sovereign) 
    • Or – He is not- and the past has just been luck, today is luck and tomorrow will be luck as well 
  • Unfortunately, we don’t trust God to see us through tomorrow – We put safety – false sense of safety before the one who GOT it up to this point
  • Some of you have unspoken covenant with your past: If it doesn’t work out, I can always go back 
  • That was us when we left California – if it doesn’t work out 
  • When I left ATT – to go into real estate 
  • I would be a fool now – unfaithful if I have the same sense of dependency on the things that have worked before – my dependency should and will be Christ!!
  • He has led me this far and tomorrow He will be in charge as well 
  • Abraham didn’t want his son going back because He did not have any spiritual connection with the past and he didn’t not have his faith in what had worked before 
  • He had faith in WHO had worked in his life before and who continues to be faithful – JESUS!!
  • Abraham had no doubt that God would be the one in charge – God will make things happen

• Vs 7 – The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your [b]descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 

• We want control 

• • Do we really have control – and I am not talking about the things we do, like your attitude – I am talking about the things that we hold on too tightly that we can’t let go – we hold on to our past hoping to be in control of that as well 
  • Control is a byproduct/ symptom of worry = Lack of trust in the Lord 

• You are in control if you don’t: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall [a]direct your paths. – Proverbs 3:5–6 (NKJV) 

• Luke 12:25-31 (NKJV) 25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?“Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 28 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

• • Some of you have a greater future ahead, but you choose to not let go what you have today – something has to die 

•  John 12:24 (AMP) I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone [just one grain, never more]. But if it dies, it produces much grain and yields a harvest.

• • The Psalmist teaches us how to lose control in the careful hands of God 

• Psalms 23(NkjV)
  The Lord is my shepherd;
  I shall not [a]want.
  2 He makes me to lie down in [b]green pastures;
  He leads me beside the [c]still waters.
  3 He restores my soul;
  He leads me in the paths of righteousness
  For His name’s sake.

• 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
  I will fear no evil;
  For You are with me;
  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

• 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
  You anoint my head with oil;
  My cup runs over.
  6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
  All the days of my life;
  And I will [d]dwell in the house of the Lord
  [e]Forever.

• • This relationship/benefits can only happen if He leads 
  • The Lord led Eliazer to Rebekah because He Let the Lord lead –  

• Genesis 24:27(Nkjv) – And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”

• What do I do when the past keeps calling me? 

• First – don’t answer – but most important 

• Remember your one thing! 

• Vs 7- 7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your [a]descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

• • God will – not your skills, or connection, or hard work, charm, e.t.c – The God who has already done it before over and over, will send His Angels yet again to go before you and make His will accomplished in you – you only need to seek Him- and then everything else will be added to you – Above, beyond anything you can ever think or imagine