The Pattern of Detours

When you're going through a test, don't mistake the hand of man for the hand of God.

Dr. Tony Evans says it may be difficult to understand why hard times come. But if you only see what people are doing and you miss what God is doing, then you miss the divine purpose of the detour. This is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. No matter how it seems, our lives always go according to plan. The problem is, it's not our plan. Today, Dr. Evans takes us to Genesis chapter 39 as he talks about how to recognize God's agenda when it differs from ours.

Let's join him. Today I want to look at the pattern of detours. Detours have a pattern about them that you should look for.

If you know you're not in the place that you had planned to be in. And there's not a person here today who is not in a detour, come from a detour, headed to a detour, because life is full of detours. The first aspect of a detour, which we've kind of introduced, is detours always involve tests.

Detours involve a test. Let's define a test or a trial in the biblical terminology. A test or a trial is an adverse circumstance, either created or allowed by God, in order to develop us in preparation for His purpose for us. God already knows what's in your heart, but the test is designed to reveal it. Because see, our hearts are deceitful, the Bible says.

They trick us, and so God wants you to really see what's deep down inside of you, and it comes out with a test. It's coming up on my annual physical review, and in my annual physical review, I'm going to have to take a stress test. Which means the doctor's going to put me on a treadmill, and I've got to walk on that treadmill with all these attachments on my chest. He's not going to take my word that I think my heart's okay. He's not going to buy it because I feel like my heart's okay. He's going to ask me how I'm doing, how's my heart. I'm going to say, my heart's fine, and he's going to say, prove it. Let's put you under some stress.

So I'm going to get on the treadmill, and I'm going to walk, and that treadmill's going to climb and incline and keep inclining until I'm huffing and puffing, until I'm sweating, perspiring, until I can't take it no more, until I throw in the towel. Then he's going to look at his paper, and he's going to tell me what my heart is. So a test is adverse circumstances. Joseph is in a test because he's now a slave in a situation he never planned to be in, and it is adverse. He's in a pit, no water, sold him to slavery by his own family, and verse 1 of chapter 39 says he's taken to Egypt, and Pharaoh, the captain, the bodyguard, buys him from the Ishmaelite. He's been bought and sold like property. He's in a bad situation. It says the Ishmaelites were taking him to Egypt, and when we fast forward it to the end of the story, Joseph says, God brought me to this place. So watch this now.

Don't miss this. When you're going through a test, I'm not talking about a test you create. I'm talking about one that God puts you in.

When you're going through a test, don't mistake the hand of man for the hand of God, or don't mistake the hand of God for the hand of man. See, people put him in this situation. His daddy set him up for this situation and gave him a coat. His brothers were jealous of him. His brothers put him in the pit. His brothers planned to kill him. His brothers sold him. His brothers gave him to the Ishmaelites.

These are people messing with this man's life. But if you only see what people are doing and you miss what God is doing, then you miss the divine purpose of the detour. People were allowed to be used by God to move him from where he was to the next step of where God wanted him to be. So don't think just because it's people it's not God. It's only not God if it's sin. But if it's not sin, then look for the hand of God, even though it's coming through the hand of man.

So don't get those mixed up. God uses people, even your people and your family, to move you to your destiny by creating a detour. During a test, your faith is being called to the witness stand. And you know what you do on the witness stand?

You testify. It's what you said you believed. It's what you said amen to in church. It's what you said praise the Lord to when you weren't going through anything real. Test calls it to the witness stand and says, now testify and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, because you understand now. And if it's not real during a test, your heart has revealed it wasn't real yet.

It was just real because you weren't dealing with anything. But it is during the test, the trial, when things have gone topsy-turvy, Joseph has had many reasons to believe God has abandoned him. And you have those feelings when you're in a deep pit. Where is God? Why did God put me here? Why won't God get me out of here? Or if he got me out of here, why did he get me out of here like this?

So that now I'm nothing but cheap property. Where are you, God? That's what happens during a test. It seems like God's phone line is busy.

He's gone silent on you. But remember, the purpose of a test is to develop you. Many of us ironed shirts or had shirts ironed before we came today. Or maybe, ladies, you ironed your blouse. You did that to get the wrinkles out. You did that to get the wrinkles out.

The blouse may have been clean, but it had wrinkles in it. You needed to get the wrinkles out. Joseph had some wrinkles. We found out that he was a tattletale on his brothers, that he flaunted the coat in front of his brothers to show that he was the most loved son. We saw that he had some wrinkles.

He wasn't a bad kid, but he was immature. So God had to put him in a situation to iron the wrinkles out. Now, why do you iron wrinkles out of your shirt and out of your blouse?

Because you plan to put it on, and you want to look good in it. So what God does is he puts us in test, and he allows the heat to hit us. And steam is rising out of us. It's not because he's trying to burn us. He just plans to wear us and wants to look good when he puts us on. So he allows the fire of testing to bring steam out of our lives. He's not being mean. He's not being mad. He just wants to iron out the wrinkles so that he looks good when he identifies with you. Now, Joseph is living a life he didn't plan on. His daddy didn't raise him to be a slave.

But that's what he is now. It leads to number two, the second route on the detour to destiny, of the pattern that God uses. It's training. We're told to learn through testing.

So testing is designed to provide training. Look at verse two. The Lord was with Joseph. He became a successful man. He was in the house of his master. His master saw the Lord was with him, and God caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. Joseph found favor in his sight. He became his personal servant. He put everything he had under Joseph's charge.

Okay, let's deal with training number one. Spiritual training. The Lord was with Joseph as a slave. The Lord was with Joseph in his trial. The Lord was with Joseph being bought and sold. The Lord was with him. In other words, he did not let his circumstance compromise his spiritual relationship. See, it's easy to get mad at God in a trial when actually the trial is the occasion to draw near to God. It says the Lord was with him, watch this, while his life was going south, because he's a slave now.

But it says the Lord was with him. When you fill a sponge full of water and then you add pressure, pressure to the sponge, water is going to come out because it's full of water. When you are going through a trial and you feel the pressure, how much God comes out? Or maybe it's cussing that comes out, or fussing that comes out, or complaining that comes out, or being mad that comes out, or bitterness that comes out. Why is that coming out? Because that's what you were full of.

Because, you know, when you soak a sponge, only what you soak it with is what comes out when you put on the pressure. So if you're going through the pressure of a trial, is there enough God in you before you hit the trial to come out of you when you're in the trial? That's why folk want to run to God in the trial when they've had no God before the trial, wonder why they can't see God come out now that I'm in the trial, because there was not closeness being accumulated along the way. But it says if Joseph the Lord was with him, he had cultivated a spiritual relationship as his priority, and God was with him, watch this, and his life is going south.

No, he's a slave now. But he gives you the key, here is the key, to making it during your season of trial. It says he became a successful man because the Lord was with him, not because of who he knew, not because of his contacts, not because of his notoriety, not because of his name, not because of his bank account. He said he became a successful man because, listen to me, if the Lord is not with you, I don't care who you know, what contacts you have, what power you think you have. The reason he was a success as a slave is because the Lord was with him.

Oh, notice, by the way, notice how many times it says it. Verse 2, the Lord was with him. Verse 3, the Lord caused all that he did to prosper. Verse 5, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house on his account, thus the Lord's blessing was upon him. Verse 23, because the Lord was with him.

Do you get the point? Notice the word, the Lord was with him. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. When you see in the Bible, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, as opposed to capital L, small o, small r, small d, those are two different Hebrew words. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D is the word Jehovah or Yahweh. That is the self-revealing God. That's the God who reveals himself to you in the situations in life. See, a lot of us know God without knowing Jehovah. Jehovah is when God reveals himself to you. So when it says the Lord was with Joseph, he's saying there was a relationship book up here.

This wasn't religion. They had a relationship, and the Lord was with him, and the Lord made him a success. So there must be the spiritual relationship that drives you, particularly when life has gone left on you, like it did on Joseph.

And the Lord blessed him as a slave. But God had much bigger plans in mind for Joseph, and Dr. Evans will tell us about them when he returns in a moment. Stay with us. You can find good content from Dr. Evans to keep you interested and motivated, and an online forum where you can ask questions, get answers, and collaborate with other students. The more you learn, the more you'll want to learn.

Give it a try. The Tony Evans Training Center, a world of discovery anytime, anywhere. You can find out more about the Tony Evans Training Center when you visit tonyevans.org. And that's where you can also learn how to get a copy of today's message. Dr. Evans' nine-part series exploring how the path to our destiny can be unexpected and unpredictable. In Joseph, Detours to Destiny, you learn how to make the most of the unexpected twists you face in life as God prepares you for a future you never imagined. We'd like to send you a copy of this complete series on CD or instantly downloadable MP3s as our thank you gift when you make a donation to help support Tony's ministry. The alternative is a 100% listener-supported broadcast, so we depend completely on you to stay on the air. Visit us today at tonyevans.org, or call us at 1-800-800-3222 to make the arrangements and request your copy of the Detours to Destiny audio series.

I'll repeat that contact information after part two of today's lesson. Here's Tony. Joseph is now second in command in Potiphar's house, okay? But what Joseph didn't know is that down the line, he's gonna become second in command in all of Egypt.

That's the whole nation. He doesn't know that yet, because he doesn't know the details of his destiny. So what God does is He gives him a job as a slave, makes him second in command in Potiphar's house, so homeboy could get some experience in leadership, management, handling staff, dealing with problems.

He lets him, as a slave, develop a skill set, because he knows in his destiny, he's gonna be over all of this. See, a lot of folks want to be over all of this, when they don't know how to be over all of this. And if you can't handle this, God's not ready to give you that.

So if you want that, you better take care of this, so that when you wind up with that, you've got enough experience from this to handle that the right way. Watch this. He's working, watch this, for a non-Christian. Potiphar is a pagan. He's not a believer. He's working in a non-Christian company, as most of you are. Unless you're working for Chick-fil-A, you're working for a non-Christian company. Most of you work for non-Christians.

You've got non-Christian bosses, non-Christian corporations, non-Christians. But look what it says about Joseph. Verse 5, the Lord blessed Egyptian's house on account of Joseph. Thus the Lord's blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. That means everything of all of his property. In other words, the Christian was the best employee he had.

You see where I'm going? You say, my boss isn't a Christian, my coworkers aren't Christians, nobody loves the Lord, here with me. But it says all God needed in Potiphar's house was Joseph. And the non-Christians got blessed, because the Christians were in the field. So let me ask you, what's your witness like at work? If you were accused of being a Christian on your job, would there be enough evidence to convict you, or would you be found innocent of all charges?

Because you cuss like them, you talk like them, you run around like them, you get drunk like them, there's nothing unique about you steal like them, you just do what they do. So God can't bless them because he can't work with you. You should be the best employee. You should be the most on-time employee. You should be the most productive employee.

Why? Because the Lord is with you. That relationship is a blessing to a non-Christian company, a non-Christian occupation, but yet you stand out among the crowd because of your integrity, because of your honesty, because of your morality, because you stand out.

You are different than all the other employees in the company. So God is giving him experience in a non-Christian realm for what God is going to do in his life. He's preparing him. Oh, I like this, because it says in verse 3, Now his master saw that the Lord was with him. But this is a pagan man. How a pagan man gonna see the Lord is with you?

There's only two ways. Word and deed. That is, he was a witness with his mouth, but he backed it up with his feet. He didn't talk about Jesus and turn in sloppy work. Nor did he do good work and skip the fact that his faith was the basis of how he worked. It was word and deed. He didn't talk about Jesus all day and get nothing done. But he didn't get stuff done and leave Jesus out.

It was word and deed. Because he wasn't just working for a paycheck. He was working for a person. And the Lord was with him. Is the Lord with you in your career?

Now watch this, watch this, don't miss this. His job was not his destiny. Because, see, a lot of us have made our jobs our destiny.

You see? His job, this job, he get ready to leave this job. In fact, in a few minutes, he get ready to get fired. Don't get ready to get fired from his job. So if you through, if he put all of his marbles, Oh, I'm second in command in part of his house. If he put all of his marbles in his job, he's gonna be severely disappointed because he get ready to lose his job.

The man's getting ready to get a pink slip. So your job is not your destiny. Your job may just be preparation for your destiny because he's gonna learn skills in his job that God is gonna use for his kingdom. Don't make your job all that and a bag of chips.

It's because you got some letters behind your name and you got a little edumacation. Don't go off because his job was not his destiny. But his relationship with God, which was going to determine his destiny, was with him on his job. God cares more about the development of the dreamer than the realization of the dream. See, he's a dreamer. He's got the gift of having dreams and interpreting dreams. He's a dreamer. And most of us are dreamers. Most of us have dreams. But God cares more about the development of the dreamer than the experience with the dream.

Why? Because when he gives you whatever dream he has for you, he wants to know that your shoulders can bear the weight of the opportunity. Because if you get to a place that fulfills the dream, but you can't bear the weight of your character to handle the dream that you hold, you and the dream collapse.

So he wants to develop the person before he gives you the purpose. And the detour is designed to develop that. In fact, detours have other detours. The detour has a detour. He's not finished with the detours yet.

Training, spiritual depth, skill development, and he still hasn't hit his destiny yet. The third part of the pattern of detours, temptation. There was a test, there was training, and now there's temptation. Temptation is solicitation to do evil.

Okay, let's get this straight. Temptation is not sin. The Bible says that the Spirit of God, Matthew 4, led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Yet the Bible says Jesus was without sin. So being tempted is not equal to sinning. Sinning is yielding to the temptation, not having the temptation.

Okay? We all face temptations. That's not a sin. It's the yielding that makes us sin. Let me tell you something about temptation, and that is temptation and testing are often simultaneous events.

In other words, it's the same event being both at the same time. While God is trying to develop us, Satan is trying to deceive us, and it's about the same thing. That's why sometimes you're caught between is this God or is this the devil?

You see, because many times you're caught because it's the same event. The Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. So the Spirit of God sent him there, and God knows why he's being sent there. The devil's going to try to test him there. So in the same spot, he got both working.

And that's where the confusion is. Is this God or is it the devil? Is this God or is this the devil? Is this real or is this Memorex?

What is this? Because it's happening with the same event. You get car dealerships, and they show you, they'll crash a car to show you how sturdy a car is. Look how sturdy this car is. Or they'll slam the door and say, this car is strong. The opposition will do the same thing and show you how weak the car is. And it's the same car.

Because temptations and testing for development often occur, not always, but often occur at the very same time. So the Lord is with Joseph. The Lord sent him to Pharaoh's house, and he runs into Mrs. Potiphar. He's been solicited for sexual relationship. Verse 10 says, and she came to him day after day. So she's not going to leave him alone. And there's no place he can go because he works there, and the temptation will not go away. Of course, we live in a world today where, in addition to our natural flesh, we have everything appealing to it.

Here it's a sexual thing, but it could be anything that wants to hold you hostage and reel you in. Joseph knew that everything had been placed under his hand, and he knew that could be jeopardized here. He says, how then could I do this great evil and sin against God?

Here it is, and we all need to learn this principle. The reason we sin more is because we love God less. One of the ways you know your love for God is growing is that your hatred for sin is increasing. And how bad you feel when you've disappointed God.

And one of the reasons God allows detours to become extended is development has not occurred enough for us to choose him over the most enticing things in our lives. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment with a final story about a misguided turtle and the lesson she can teach us about finding our destiny. But first, be sure to look into getting a copy of Tony's current teaching series, Joseph Detours to Destiny, a set of nine messages that will help you understand that even when you feel like your life has stalled or come completely off the rails, God still has a plan for you and can take you where you need to go.

It contains today's message as well as plenty of material we won't have time to present on the air. As I mentioned earlier, it's yours with our thanks when you make a donation toward Tony's ministry. Just visit tonyevans.org for the details or call us at 1-800-800-3222.

Again, 1-800-800-3222. Or online at tonyevans.org. Dr. Evans believes there's a desperate need to reclaim civility in our culture today. And he encourages each of us to find ways to demonstrate kindness to everyone we encounter through the course of our day. Our acts of kindness change the atmosphere of our communities for good and for God. When we've done something wrong, the right thing to do is apologize. But when we've done something right, like confessing our allegiance to Christ, Dr. Evans says it's a different story. Next time, he'll explain what it means to be an unapologetic Christian, loyal to Christ, even when it cuts across the grain of our culture.

Right now, though, he's back with his final illustration. True story of the loggerhead turtle. A loggerhead turtle is a huge turtle.

It's one of those big turtles you see in the zoo. And this loggerhead turtle female was getting ready to give birth, so she climbed up into the sand dune in order to give birth. But after she gave birth to her little babies, she became disoriented and was not walking back toward the water. That would be the natural thing, to walk back to the water.

She was going further out on the sand. So some of the rangers came, and they put shackles on the, because they're too big to lift, they put shackles on the legs of the turtle and flipped it on its back, drug the turtle back to the water. Now, the turtle has life.

It's been turned upside down because it was flipped on its back. And I don't know what the turtle was thinking, but why would you flip me on my back and put you in chains? Because you're going the wrong way. We got to detour you. We got to take you back to the water because you don't know where you are. You think you're going right, but you're going wrong because you've been disoriented by your environment and the circumstances that you're in. So in order to get you back right, we got to flip you over. We got to hook you up, and we got to pull you against your will. And when they finally got back to the water and the turtle recognized where she was, she went to the place she ought to be. And sometimes when we are going the wrong way, thinking we're going the right way, because this world order has disoriented us, God enters into our situation and flips us and ties us and tweaks us and jerks us. And we wonder, well, what are you doing to me? I'm taking you to your destiny because the first aspect of the detour that God takes us all on, nobody escapes this. Who wants to be in God's will and experience God's destiny is a test in adverse circumstances that God creates or allows. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.