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.

An Attitude of Servanthood / A Spirit of Hope

In the town of Port Hope, Canada, there is a monument erected, not for the leading citizen who just died, but for a poor, unselfish working man who gave most of his life and energy to help those who could not repay him.

Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin 1820. In his youth, he had the prospect of being a great citizen with high ideals and great aspirations. He was engaged to a beautiful young woman who had promised to share his dreams. But on the eve of their wedding, her body was pulled from a pond into which she had accidentally fallen and drowned. Young Scriven never overcame the shock. Although a college graduate and ready embark on a brilliant career, he began to wander to try to forget his sorrow. His wanderings took him to Canada where he spent the last forty-one of his sixty-years.  He became a very devout Christian. His beliefs led him to do servile labor for poor widows and sick people. He often served for no wages.

It was not known that Mr. Scriven had any poetic gifts until a short time before his death. A friend, who was sitting with him in an illness, discovered a poem he had written to his mother in a time of sorrow; not intending that anyone else should see it.  His poem was later set to music and has become a much loved Gospel song. It is said to be the first song that many missionaries teach their converts. In polls taken to determine the popularity of hymns and Gospel songs, his poem set to music is always near the top. What was his poem?

What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear;
All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.

Romans 15:13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." But an important sidebar is that the context of this hope is discovered in verses 1-2 of the same chapter: "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." The connection? An attitude of servanthood produces a spirit of hope. They are intertwined. You can't have hope without a willingness to please [our] neighbor for HIS good. Once we become a member of the family, our goal is always the good of others. It should never be "What am I going to get out of it."

So as we close this week looking at the Gospel of Hope, let's endure the difficulties of life, find encouragement from the Word, and seek not to please ourselves, but our neighbor.

The Encouragement of Scripture

Romans 15:4 tells us that another way to gain God’s kind of hope is through the encouragement of Scripture. "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE."

Psalm 119:43 reinforces this truth: "Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws." Verse 74 also says: "May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word." Verse 81 adds: "My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word."

We receive hope FROM His word. The Word of God fills us with hope because it gives us examples of the faithfulness of God and the way in which He can and will work in our lives.  Whether we are reading about the Israelites deliverance at the Red Sea, David's conquest of Goliath, or Daniel's battle in the lion's den, those stories remind us of the faithfulness of God in the lives of people, who, at the time were leading pretty ordinary lives.  Yet for these ordinary people, because of their willingness to endure and remain faithful through broken relationships, fallen heroes, and crushed dream, God acknowledged a great experience for them.

When I read about His faithfulness in those stories, I am reminded of how I can trust God for the Red Seas, the Goliaths, and the lions of my life.

Struggles...Then Perseverance...Then Character...Then Hope

Romans 15:4 says, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE." Note that one of the ways we gain hope is by endurance. Those are to amazing terms that Paul juxtaposes with one another: endurance and hope. We don't normally associate the terms together.

But it makes perfect sense. We should know that it is God’s good pleasure to give you the desires of your heart. But, it is also God’s practice not to always give us what we want when we want it.  Thus we learn to wait upon God and learn endurance.

Why would God delay fulfilling that which we hope for? One possible reason would be so that we would gain an appreciation for what He gives when it arrives. When you have to wait for something really good, it makes it even more appreciated (think Christmas as a kid and waiting to open the gifts).

Another possibility would be our need for purification and strengthening. Romans 5:1-5 tells us: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." 

I personally think verses three and four provide great principles for child-raising. Notice that Paul again says that perseverance (endurance) produces character and character in turn produces hope. When we give our children everything at their whim, we deny them the opportunity to develop character. It seems as though we are giving our children more and more, yet so many of our young people are hopeless! Why? Could it be that our unwillingness to not allow our children to persevere and wait for things has created a lack of character? Could it be that our attempts to protect them from suffering is in fact blocking the ability to produce character in their lives?

Let's work the formula backwards for a moment to get a clearer understanding. We are not disappointed...because we have hope. We have hope because we have developed character. We have character because we have persevered. And we persevere because we have struggles. So we have hope when we are willing to endure struggles rather than run from them, rather than being protected from them, or rather than avoiding them.

God’s delays serve to prepare us to handle the responsibilities of our desires and the gifts we receive from God.

We Have This Hope

Robert Darling, a 56-year-old panhandler from Bradley Beach, NJ, travels once a week to Manhattan in search of a wife. His multi-colored cardboard sign reads: "I'm looking for a wealthy lady to be my wife." And he really does mean "wealthy", as in a net worth of at least $750,000, although he does add that "Ladies not yet rich but very well off will be considered." After ten years of trying, Darling hasn't had any offers yet. But he's not discouraged. "The odds may be great," he said, "but I'm still hopeful. I'll never give up." 

Hopeful...it is a really important emotion. Hope is vital for our day-to-day survival in life. In Romans 15:4, we are told: "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE."

This is not the kind of hope that says things like, "I sure hope __________________ happens"; or "I sure hope ________________________ doesn't happen." God's kind of hope could best be described as an attitude of confidence, expectation, and trust.

In Job 6:11-13, Job says: "What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?" Job was saying that if he had godly hope, he could be confident and he could live life with the expectation that things would be okay...in spite of how they are now. The thing is, a President, in spite of campaign promises, can't give us this kind of hope. Our bank account can't give us this kind of hope. Our family or friends cannot give us this kind of hope. This kind of confidence and expectation can only be rooted in God.

Hebrews 6:17-19, tells us: "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.  God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the HOPE offered to us may be GREATLY ENCOURAGED.  We have this hope as an ANCHOR FOR THE SOUL, firm and secure...." Hope provides encouragement and is the anchor for our soul in times of difficulties and struggles. Our hope, as Christians, is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ.

First Corinthians 13 tells us that the three greatest gifts God gives us is "faith, hope, and love". So if hope is such a valuable gift from God, how can we experience it? This week we are going to zero in on Romans 15:1-4. In these four verses, Paul tells us three ways we can develop this kind of hope in our lives.