Dharius Daniels - I've Got a Hunch

I’m going to read my foundational scripture from the New King James Version today. Depending on what version of the Bible you’re reading, some of the language may be different, but the essence of the message will be the same. Acts 20:7, beginning at verse 9, reads like this: «Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, 'Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss.' Somebody say, 'Uh-oh! ' He says, 'Not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives.' Nevertheless, the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul.» Did you see that? He didn’t listen. I want to talk from this subject today; it’s really simple: I’ve got a hunch. Just touch somebody and tell them, «I’ve got a hunch.»

Several years ago, family, my wife and I were at an event where I had the personal privilege of presenting. In preparation for my presentation, we were placed in a green room—a holding room where other speakers who were presenting in different sessions were also present. In this green room were a plethora of persons who were prominent and productive in different spheres of society. One of them was an athlete I was particularly fond of, and we began to engage in conversation. He was expressing an authentic and unique degree of interest in what we do here and how we did it.

As we were engaging in this conversation, I wanted to capture the moment without being overt and obvious, so I started communicating with my wife, who was a couple of seats down, through eyebrow language: «Take a picture while we’re talking!» My wife, first of all, was absolutely oblivious to whom I was speaking with. She later explained to me, «Well, they play football, and the helmets are on all the time. How am I supposed to know who the person was?» She was completely clueless; she had no idea I was conversing with a Hall of Fame athlete. I was like, «Do the eyebrow thing,» and she did her eyebrows back! I was like, «No, that’s not what I’m saying! I’m not talking about you being cute; I need you to take a picture!»

When eyebrow language didn’t work, I tried head language. When that didn’t work, I tried pointing language. The conversation ended, and my wife was unable to discern and decipher what I was attempting to communicate. That particular moment was missed, and it was missed because the method was misunderstood. There are times when God is trying to get a message to us so that we don’t miss important moments, but if we don’t understand the methods He’s using, He could be using eyebrow language, head language, or pointing language to communicate a message to us that we end up missing.

You can’t understand a message when you misunderstand the method. I need to tell you, as we embark on what I believe is going to be a blessed and great 2018, that God has some conversations He wants to have with us. There are some things He wants to discuss. This series encourages and admonishes us to listen. It rests on the revelation that no matter how much education, experience, and expertise we have, we will all be placed in seasons where we have to make complex and complicated decisions with variables that contribute to how well things turn out, which we cannot control.

Some decisions, after we research and strategize and do our due diligence, still carry some risk and ambiguity. There are choices we will make in this present season that will impact future seasons beyond our knowledge. Because we cannot see into the future, and because our education doesn’t give us insight into it, and our expertise doesn’t either, we need assistance from someone who sees what we cannot see, who knows what we don’t know, who has expertise that we don’t have. We need to hear from God! Somebody shout, «God!» We need to hear—we need to hear from God!

Because I can see around the corner, but God can see around the corner, and I can see to the hill, but God can see over the hill. We can see today, but God can see tomorrow. We can see how this decision impacts us, but God can see how a decision impacts others. He is ready, willing, anxious, and waiting to offer us insight into these complex decisions. But we’ve got to learn how to do something that is just as important as talking to God: we have to learn how to listen to God.

If I don’t understand the methods, I can miss the message. In this series, we’ve been discussing various methods—ways in which God speaks to us. We talked about a few of them over the past couple of weeks, and I want to share a few more as we attempt to close out this series today. This narrative in Acts chapter 27 is one that I believe will aid and assist us in doing so. I read to you a small portion of a very powerful passage from the Apostle.