PROGRAM W-1715 – Part I
The Old Testament gives us the history of God’s people, the Israelites, before the coming of their long-awaited Messiah, Jesus Christ. Throughout their history, they had good times and bad times—times when they obeyed God and times when they went far astray. Eventually, they split into two nations, Israel and Judah, with ten of the tribes forming the Israel nation and two forming the nation of Judah.
I want to focus your attention on one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible, in my opinion: 2 Chronicles 20. This chapter tells us about Jehoshaphat, one of the godly kings of Judah who obeyed the Lord and led his people to follow Yahweh. But they were a small nation, not well fortified, and therefore very vulnerable to their enemies.
In this 20th chapter of 2 Chronicles, Jehoshaphat finds himself and his nation in a truly frightening predicament. The first four verses of that chapter set the story:
After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to make war on Jehoshaphat. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Seas. It is already in En Gedi.” Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. (2 Chronicles 20:1-4)
Jehoshaphat is faced with a grave dilemma. His entire army, indeed his entire country could be wiped out by this enemy army. He is alarmed; who wouldn’t be?! But notice what Jehoshaphat does in his alarmed condition: He resolves to inquire of the Lord.
He could have inquired of his political advisers. They would have undoubtedly told him to try to make a peace treaty with this vast enemy and save their necks, even if it meant giving up the land. He could have inquired of his military advisers, who would have told him to retreat and get out as fast as possible, because there was no way they could defeat this great military army coming against them. But Jehoshaphat didn’t inquire of people or counselors or advisers. He inquired of the Lord.
Where have you been running for answers as you face your impossible situation? Is the Lord the first one you turn to? Amazing how often we do everything else except inquire of the Lord.
This should be the first thing we do when we don’t know what to do: Inquire of the Lord. Notice that Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord—he set his will to do it. I can imagine that his feelings were taking him in different directions. I can believe that he wanted to start running fast and take some kind of action immediately. But he knew that he would only find answers by inquiring of the Lord. So whether he felt like it or not, he resolved to do that.
Many times we run with our emotions when we’re up against our impossibilities, and our emotions take us to hasty action—to running away, to seeking advice from the wrong people, etc. If we would first inquire of the Lord, sit down with his Word and ask for direction, spend time in prayer to listen to his voice, we would find the answers we need.
I remember at one point in my life, many years ago now, when I was suddenly faced with what seemed at the time to be a potentially disastrous situation, and I truly didn’t know what to do. So, what did I do? I picked up the phone to call my best friend and asked her what to do! Now, there’s nothing wrong with seeking godly advice from trusted advisors, but that’s not the first place we should go, is it? Well, wouldn’t you know, she wasn’t there. This was long before we all had cell phones, and so I couldn’t reach her. I just kept redialing and redialing her number, pacing the floor, and actually becoming angry with her for not being there for me when I needed her.
It was one of those teaching moments in my life, when I could hear the voice of God in my head, clearly saying to me, “Why would you call her before you call me?” I realized that I hadn’t inquired of the Lord—I hadn’t prayed about it or sought God’s guidance through his Word. So, I stopped dialing and started praying.
How often have you said something like, “Well, there’s nothing I can do now but pray.” We seem to have this idea that when we’ve tried everything else and we can’t do anything about it ourselves, then we pray—then we inquire of the Lord.
Maybe that’s where you are today—you need to inquire of the Lord. Have you done that yet? Make sure it’s step one; then you’ll know what other steps you should take.
When Jehoshaphat called the people together to inquire of the Lord, he left us an incredible example of what to do when you don’t know what to do. Instead of giving up, he called the people together and inquired of the Lord. Let’s now read the prayer he prayed at that moment, 2 Chronicles 20:5-12:
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said: “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’ But now, here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”
Jehoshaphat’s response to his impossible situation gives us some wonderful principles that we can follow when we don’t know what to do. I want to point out seven R’s that I hope you’ll remember.
The first R – Recite who God is
Notice that the first thing Jehoshaphat does is to recite the characteristics and nature of God:
You are the God who is in heaven. You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand and no one can withstand you. (2 Chronicles 20:6)
Jehoshaphat’s first move was to remind himself and his people of God and his power. This has to be our first move, too. When you’re facing a dilemma, your mind is so focused on the problem, and you’re so worried and frustrated, that you truly have to train yourself to go back to the basics. You must move from being problem-focused to being God-focused. So, the first thing you need to do is recite who God is.
Now, this assumes that you know God well, doesn’t it? Which means that you have made getting to know God a priority in your life—through daily meditation on his Word, prayer, and fellowship with other believers in a good church where you hear the Gospel faithfully proclaimed. You can’t wait until the crisis arises to get to know God. You get to know God so that when the crisis arises, you are ready and fortified to face it.
The second R – Remember God’s great works
After reciting who God is, Jehoshaphat remembers what God had done:
Did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? (2 Chronicles 20:7)
Isn’t it amazing how your memory fails you when you’re in a crisis or when you’re discouraged? It takes an act of our will to remember what we should remember. However, it is really important at these times that we purposely remember God’s past miracles in our lives, his faithfulness to us in days gone by, and his deeds of old, as Jehoshaphat did. This is the second thing to do when you don’t know what to do.
Years ago I began to keep a record of my prayer requests. I wrote them in my prayer journal, and when God answered the prayer, I would also notate that. Some of the prayers would seem insignificant but they were important in my life. Some of them were more consequential. Most of them have been answered by God—though not always the way I expected or asked. Some are still open; others have been crossed off the list. But now I have a record—pages-long—of answered prayer! You know, I would have forgotten most of those blessings if I hadn’t written them down. But now, just by re-reading that list of answered prayer, I can remember how God has met my needs in the past!
I strongly recommend this practice, because if you don’t keep a record, you’re likely to forget what God has done for you. Jehoshaphat and his people needed to focus on how God had delivered them in times past, so that their faith would be strengthened to believe that God would deliver them again.
Therefore, the first thing you should do when you don’t know what to do is recite who God is and then remember what he has done for you in times past.