Dharius Daniels - They're Not Thirsty

You know, I was reared and raised in a small town called Kill Michael, Mississippi, with a population of just over 400 people. There was one full-time police officer and one part-time police officer who drove my bus during the day and covered the night shift at the station. There were zero stoplights in the city and one doctor, and if he wasn’t at the clinic, you could pull up at his house. My high school graduating class had 32 people. You have to say it like that. I mean, I want to read a couple of verses from scripture today. Do y’all feel like responding to the preacher today or not? Are y’all tired or are you good? Job chapter 2, verse number 7 says this: «So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.» His wife said to him, «Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!» I want to stop the reading of scripture right there and tag a title to this text. I know some of you are thinking, «I need some understanding.» I want to tag a title to this passage and talk from this subject in our time together today: «I didn’t mean it like that.» I want everyone who has ever said something they didn’t quite mean at the wrong time to clap their hands and thank God in advance; He’s getting ready to speak to you. I didn’t mean it like that. As many of you know, I was reared and raised in a small town called Kill Michael, Mississippi, with a population of just over 400 people. There was one full-time police officer and one part-time police officer who drove my bus during the day and covered the night shift at the station. There were zero stoplights in the city and one doctor, and if he wasn’t at the clinic, you could pull up at his house. My high school graduating class had only 32 people. You didn’t have to say it like that. I mean, I was reared and raised in that cultural context, and every cultural context has its colloquialisms. There are things you hear people say frequently based on where you were reared and raised. One of the phrases I would hear often—maybe it’s one you heard where you grew up—is this: «You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.» This is interesting because this saying simply suggests that you can give people exposure to something, but you can’t give them an appetite. You can show them a picture of what’s possible for them, but you can’t make them long for it. You can see better in them, but you can’t make them want better for themselves, because most people don’t live at the level of their potential; they live at the level of their standards. Some people have standards that are beneath their potential, and you and I, who love people, who are invested in people, and who want to pull out the best in people, need to realize and recognize that the only thing we can do—the only thing we’ve been called to do, the only thing we’re capable of doing, and the only thing we’ve been anointed to do—is lead them to water. Did you hear what I just said? This revelation should ease some frustration in our lives because some of us have been trying to make people drink who aren’t thirsty. I thought y’all would talk back to me after 12 o’clock. It means that you and I have to come to the realization that we should never give up on people, but there comes a season where you have to turn people over to God. I’m not giving up on you, but I’ve made all the contributions I’m able to make in this season. Come on, because you need to understand there are five types of people I can’t help. I can’t help people who don’t want help. I can’t help people who don’t want help from me. I can’t help people who only want help their way. Y’all are not talking to me. I can’t help people who need help and don’t know they need help, and I know how to help them, but they’re trying to tell me how to help them when if they knew how to help themselves, they wouldn’t need my help. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, and this means you’ve got to be conscious and careful not to interrupt people and rescue them from trials that God is using to create thirst. Did you hear what I just said? You’ve got to be careful not to rescue people from trials that God is using to create thirst. Sometimes people have to go through a trial to create a thirst for better. Here’s the way David put it; he said about himself, «It was good that I was afflicted, that I might learn your decrees.» You’ve got to understand that some people only get education through affliction, but you’ve got to trust that the same God who preserved you in your difficult season until you learned your lesson is the same God who will preserve them in their difficult season when they learn their lesson. I don’t want to hear from people who have never made mistakes.