Even When It Sounds Crazy

Matthew 19:26 The Message (MSG)

26 Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”

Lately I've been dealing with hearing from  God. The Sunday after Valentine's Day, God gave me very specific instructions. He told me I have 6 months to move back to Tallahassee. It was the most random time. I was sitting in my aunt's office with my boyfriend while he was working on some flyers for church. I literally was just sitting there looking around, spinning around in my chair and I heard God say, "You have 6 months to move back to Tallahassee." I was like 

That night God really started to deal with me in ways I had never seen before. I am reluctant about going, mostly because I felt like God was starting to establish me here. There were a lot of things that were starting to turn around for me, and on top of that I love my church. Leaving my church is the part that is breaking my heart the most. But I knew that if what I really heard was God, they would understand. But not everybody is going to understand. In fact, when I had the conversation with my parents I was told I was making a hasty decision, I was making a decision based on emotion, and that I needed to see a psychiatrist. I'm not going to lie, it hurt me real bad, but today I heard God say "Trust me even when it sounds crazy."

That's a lot of times in the Bible where God has said something so outlandish, and people would really be out here in these streets looking crazy. Don't believe me? Watch

1. Abraham

Abram and Sarai

12 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
        and bless you.
    I’ll make you famous;
        you’ll be a blessing.
    I’ll bless those who bless you;
        those who curse you I’ll curse.
    All the families of the Earth
        will be blessed through you.”

4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

7 God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

Listen, Abraham probably has some of the craziest faith I've ever seen. Abraham was already established. He had already inherited some land, but God told him to leave. Abraham ain't argue. He just said "alright," and did as God said. He was willing to give it all up just because God said so. Then after he left, God said He was going to give Abraham's children the land. First of all, Abraham didn't even have children at the time. He has "crazy, stupid faith," as my auntie would say. He didn't even have children, but was old enough to have great grandchildren. Sarah's eggs were scrambled! She was way past the age to have children. Even still, that promise was made 24 years before Isaac was born. You know how crazy you have to be to be waiting for something to happen for almost 25 years?! Sarah was 90 when she heard the promise (Genesis 18:10). Let somebody tell me a 90 years old woman was going to have a baby. I'd be like

2. Noah

Genesis 6:5-22 The Message (MSG)

Noah and His Sons

5-7 God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them.”

8 But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.

9-10 This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11-12 As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.

13 God said to Noah, “It’s all over. It’s the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep.

14-16 “Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.

17 “I’m going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

18-21 “But I’m going to establish a covenant with you: You’ll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you’ll need and store it up for you and them.”

22 Noah did everything God commanded him to do.

Looks like Noah been drinking the same crazy, stupid faith Kool-Aid too. First all, Noah was different for the simple way he carried himself. He was a man of integrity. While everybody was out here killing and carrying on, Noah was acting like he had some sense. Maybe it was because he was 600 years old, but who knows.

I can only imagine what people said when they saw Noah building the ark. Noah probably got called all types of crazy. That ark wasn't any little ship. It was 450 feet long, 45 feet high, and 75 feet wide. Everybody wanted to talk and tease until it started raining, and then they were left like 

2. Moses

Y'all know Moses is my homeboy. We all know the story of Moses and how Moses went back to Egypt. For the majority of the plagues, the Egyptians were like, "Yeah, whatever. Get out of here." 

Exodus 14:8-25 The Message (MSG)

8-9 God made Pharaoh king of Egypt stubborn, determined to chase the Israelites as they walked out on him without even looking back. The Egyptians gave chase and caught up with them where they had made camp by the sea—all Pharaoh’s horse-drawn chariots and their riders, all his foot soldiers there at Pi Hahiroth opposite Baal Zephon.

10-12 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw them—Egyptians! Coming at them!

They were totally afraid. They cried out in terror to God. They told Moses, “Weren’t the cemeteries large enough in Egypt so that you had to take us out here in the wilderness to die? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Back in Egypt didn’t we tell you this would happen? Didn’t we tell you, ‘Leave us alone here in Egypt—we’re better off as slaves in Egypt than as corpses in the wilderness.’”

13 Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again.

14 God will fight the battle for you.
    And you? You keep your mouths shut!”

15-16 God said to Moses: “Why cry out to me? Speak to the Israelites. Order them to get moving. Hold your staff high and stretch your hand out over the sea: Split the sea! The Israelites will walk through the sea on dry ground.

17-18 “Meanwhile I’ll make sure the Egyptians keep up their stubborn chase—I’ll use Pharaoh and his entire army, his chariots and horsemen, to put my Glory on display so that the Egyptians will realize that I am God.”

19-20 The angel of God that had been leading the camp of Israel now shifted and got behind them. And the Pillar of Cloud that had been in front also shifted to the rear. The Cloud was now between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. The Cloud enshrouded one camp in darkness and flooded the other with light. The two camps didn’t come near each other all night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and God, with a terrific east wind all night long, made the sea go back. He made the sea dry ground. The seawaters split.

22-25 The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters a wall to the right and to the left. The Egyptians came after them in full pursuit, every horse and chariot and driver of Pharaoh racing into the middle of the sea. It was now the morning watch. God looked down from the Pillar of Fire and Cloud on the Egyptian army and threw them into a panic. He clogged the wheels of their chariots; they were stuck in the mud.

The Egyptians said, “Run from Israel! God is fighting on their side and against Egypt!”

It was all fun and games until the Red Sea split. Pharaoh was so stubborn throughout all of the plagues, but that sea splitting had him like

They said God was fighting the Israelites battles. The same God Pharaoh refused to acknowledge. On top of that, they called Him God, not their God. God did something so crazy it made a believer out of the Egyptians. 

Every single time God gives instructions, He has a plan already. God will tell us to do something and we'll be like "God....I don't think this is a good idea 'cause I mean.."

We don't even understand what He is trying to do, but we won't ever understand because our ways are not His ways and our thoughts are not His thoughts. Our minds can't even process what He's doing. We'll try to negotiate our ways out of it, and we still end up doing exactly what God wanted of us. Why do that? We just be talking lol. You know how we get with our significant others. We'll be like

"Ugggggghhhh he get on my  nerves and I aint going back to him no more," and next thing you you're all like 

Then all your friends you went venting to looking at you crazy. That's how we should be with God. Even when we might get upset about what He's doing because we don't understand, we still do what He wants of us. The difference is He ain't like Ray Ray nem (I told y'all I'm a country girl). He'll have you out here looking stupid, and then when it all works for your good, you look at everybody like