When You Don't Know What To Do

This week, we began a new series called Here Comes Trouble. For the next three weeks we'll be looking at an Old Testament story about a king named Jehoshaphat.  Jehoshaphat was a good king. He tried to do what was right and tried to be obedient in following the Lord.

Even though Jehoshaphat was a good King, he found himself in the same kind of situation that so many of us find ourselves in from time to time. There is a modern myth in the American branch of Christianity that implies that if you are obedient ot God, you won't have any problems.  But is simply not true. Obedience is not a guarantee to a trouble-free life. Their is a major over-arching principle that we will discover this week that is much more important than our personal comfort.

Jehoshaphat was in a really serious situation and he didn't know what to do. But in this story, we discover how he was able to get out of it. If you've ever had problems, I think you'll like this series.

So, what was Jehoshaphat's situation? Let's take a look at his story. The Bible says in verses 1, 2: “After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea. They are already at Hazazon-tamar.’”

They were saying, "King, here comes trouble." Three nations formed an alliance for the specific purpose of conquering Jehoshaphat and the people of Israel. Together they made a vast army and a formidable, some might even say undefeatable, opponent.

Has that ever happened to you? Your just trying to do the best you can, tried to be faithful on your job, tried to have a good marriage, tried to raise good kids and yet it seems like every negative thing in the world has come against you? Financial problems, health problems, career problems, and relationship problems form an alliance to attack you all at once, and together they're just too big for you to handle on your own. Has this ever happened to you? Is it happening right now?

This week we are going to look at "What to do when you don't know what to do?" But more importantly, we are going to discover an over-arching principle about why good and bad things happen to us.