“Don’t Put the Cart Before the Horse”

When you hitch a horse to the front of a cart and provide sufficient direction via the reigns and voice commands, a horse can be very effective in pulling a load to its destination. But anyone with just a little horse sense knows that to hitch a horse behind the cart and try to get him to push the load to its destination is an exercise in utter futility.

This same principle will apply to situations where man tries to put his own wisdom in place of God’s revealed plan. The Bible provides an example of this very thing through Sarai and Abraham. God had made a promise to Abraham that He would give him a son (Genesis 15:4). But after 10 years no son had yet been conceived. So, Sarai decided that God needed a little help in fulfilling His promise. She proposed that Abraham take her handmaid Hagar and produce a son with her (Genesis 16). The rest, so to speak, is history.

Another example is found in 1 Samuel 13. Saul was going to battle against the Philistines. Samuel had been delayed in coming so Saul took it upon himself to offer a burnt sacrifice to God before the battle. But as he finished the sacrifice Saul came upon the scene. This is what transpired.

And Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." 1 Samuel 13:11-14

Saul was guilty of “putting the cart before the horse.” In his zeal to be blessed by God he altered His revealed plan for sacrificing, placing himself in the role of priest. Saul’s fear, not his faith, had compelled him to break God’s commandment. Not only was the blessing taken away, but a curse was put in its place.

“Putting the cart before the horse” is still happening today. One area that is of significant concern to the church today is seen in man’s effort to replace God’s plan for church growth with the plans of men. It has been said that the world is changing and the church must change with it or else it will die. Changes are perfectly acceptable where such changes have been left within man’s discretion by our heavenly Father. But when man begins to alter the pattern laid out for us in the Holy Scriptures and/or the doctrine that was once delivered to the saints, then he is “putting the cart before the horse.”

God’s plan for church growth is very simple. The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). When that seed [the gospel] is planted and watered in accordance with God’s plan, then it is God’s work to provide the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6- 7). When man decides to alter that plan or change the doctrine in order to boost the increase, then he is in essence saying that God is not sufficiently fulfilling His work, and that he knows of a better way to do God’s work. Such a plan may seem wise in the eyes of men. But it is utter foolishness. Only God can add those who are being saved to the church (Acts 2:47). Man has neither part nor lot in such matters! But if man takes it upon himself to do the adding, to what then has that person been added? Certainly not the Lord’s church. Therein lies the danger of “putting the cart before the horse” concerning church growth. Names may be added to a roll book in a building, but he cannot write them in the book of life in heaven.

Sarai, Abraham and Saul learned the hard way that you cannot alter God’s plan or doctrine without serious consequences. Isaiah said,

Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:7-9

The old adage, “Don’t put the cart before the horse” is so simple. Yet it is one that we will do well to remember in this present day.

-Steve Vice