What to do, when you don't know what to do (Part 2)

Last week begin this two part series, “What to do when you don’t know what to do.” As I’ve heard from many of you this week, this is an appropriate topic because all of us experience times where we don’t know what to do. We don’t know what the right answer is Everyone of us can tell stories and may be in one right now where we had no answers for the problems we face, no wisdom to bring to the table, no power to overcome. And, as much as we might not like to ask anyone for help. We need it.

Our text is . Here we find a King that doesn’t know what to do about a significant problem that is addressing his people. The King is the King of Judah; his name is Jehoshaphat. He has gotten word that 3 of Judah’s enemies, the Moabites, Ammonites, and the Meunites, who live in nearby nations have joined together and are on there way to attack Judah. If you were here last week, we talked about how King Jehoshaphat responded. He asked for help from the right person and in the right way. He proclaimed a fast from all the people of Judah. Then, he called a meeting of the people of Judah in the temple at Jerusalem.

With the people gathered together in the temple, Jehoshaphat prayed a earnest prayer to God for help. We took an in depth look at that prayer last week. The overarching phrase that captivates my heart is the last verse in the prayer.

2 Chronicles 20:12 ESV

12 O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

So, what are we to do when our we don’t know what to do? The first point that was our focus last week was

1. Set your focus on God, not your problem.

I’m not going to go in-depth into his prayer again, but the heart of it was they had to put their focus on God and not their problem. Problems always look bigger than they are when they are looked at alone. But when we compare our problem to God, we are able to gain some perspective. That perspective tells us that our problems are not as big as they feel at first. Second, God is so big it would be foolish not to trust him. And the more we look at God, the smaller our fear of the problem becomes. That brings up the second action we can draw from our text.

2. Don’t be afraid, the battle is not yours but God’s.

In the midst of this prayer in the temple, God moves upon a man named Jahaziel to prophesy.

2 Chronicles 20:15-20

2 Chronicles 20:15–17 ESV

15 And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

He tells them twice not to be afraid or dismayed (vv.15,17). Why? God was going to fight this battle for them. But they were suppose to do something, Stand and observe, “Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf.” (v.17)

+God says, “You are not going to have to fight this battle, but I do want you to come watch me show off!” So what can we learn from that? Stop trying to win battles that aren’t yours to fight. That’s not to say that their aren’t battles that we are called to fight. God would not have given us the armor of God and told us to put it on in if there were not battles for us to fight. Or, when Paul says in “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” () You need to fight for faith. You need to fight against temptation and sin. You need to resist the devil. But there are times where none of that is sufficient. There are times where the battle is out of your hands. And, instead of fretting saying, “I don’t know what to do.” You need rest in God to fight those battles for you. Notice what Moses said to the Hebrews when they were leaving Egypt in .

Exodus 14:14 ESV

14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Sometimes the greatest thing that we can do in a battle is to “Be still and know that he is God.” (cf. ) Sometimes getting our souls to rest in God is a greater battle than we will ever have to fight our there.

When do you know when to stop fighting and be silent verses when to fight? I think practically it is like this. When you find yourself in a battle that is too big for you and you say, “I don’t know what to do!” You always have to fight in God’s power, no matter what the battle is. But sometimes it’s harder to rest in God’s power than it is to fight in God’s power. What I mean by that is stop trusting in the power of your efforts to make the difference. Stop trying to find the answers and start believing that God is the answer. And start believing that God will fight for you and his efforts will make a difference. It’s when you get to that place, fear starts to fade.

That’s where Jehosaphat was, “I don’t know what to do, buy our eyes are on you.” (v.12) He fought in this prayer. But this fight was to lead the people to turn to God and place their eyes on him. Jehoshaphat didn’t lead the people to immediately form a battle plan. He lead the people to look to God. That is how we must always fight. When he did, the very first response from God was do not be afraid.

*When I was in the 7th grade I was the smart kid who was easy to pick on. I was skinny as a rat. As a result I got picked on a lot. These older 8th grade boys use to shove me into lockers and beat me up in the bathroom. As luck would have it, my home room class was put together by last names. The boy who sat in front of me was named Kenneth Rome. Kenneth was spending his third year in the 7th grade and was bigger than anyone in the 7th , 8th, or 9th grades. He decided he wanted to move on. During final the first nine weeks Kenneth asked me if I would help him study for exams since I was a “smart kid.” Being the shrewd business man that I was, I cut a deal. I would tutor him, if he would protect me. Kenneth went on that year to make A’s, B’s, and C’s. And from that day on, I didn’t get touch. I couldn’t pick a fight with the eighth graders. They weren’t afraid of me. They were afraid of Kenneth. With Kenneth on my side, it didn’t matter who was on the other side.

I didn’t fear, not because I had suddenly gotten bigger learned to fight better. I stopped fearing because the one fighting my battle had changed. Here’s why God doesn’t want us to fear. Because when we no longer fear, it frees up room for praise.

3. Fight by Believing and Praising (v.18-19)

The first thing the people did when they received the word that God would fight for them is get on their knees and prayed. Immediately before they ever left them temple.

2 Chronicles 20:18–19 ESV

18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

2 Chronicles 20:18–29 ESV

18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. 20 And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” 21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.” 22 And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. 23 For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. 24 When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them, in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the Lord. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day. 27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. 28 They came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. 29 And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.

2 Chronicles 20:18–20 ESV

18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. 20 And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”

+Let me ask you this: In the midst of the trouble. In the midst of your trial, when was the last time you worshipped God simply for the promise of his help, before you ever saw the fulfillment of the promise? That is faith. That is what it means “to walk by faith and not by sight.”

*We have a tendency in prayer meeting to call out answered prayer and say, “Let’s praise God for answered prayer!” And as we are about to see, we should praise God for answered prayer. But, let’s praise God for the promise of answered prayer before we ever see the answer. That’s what you do when you don’t know what to do.

I love they way they prepared for battle here. The next day they get up early and go out to where the battle is going to take place. Here’s the account of the preparing of the battle.

2 Chronicles 20:20–21 ESV

20 And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” 21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The king gets before the army and says the way we are going to win this is by believing. And prepare us for serious believing we are going to put in front of the army our best singers in holy attire and go see what God has for us.

Watch this. The king did not prepare them for battle. He prepared them for worship!

There is an important lesson to be had here.

Life Lesson: When you don’t know what to do and you are trusting God to fight for you, worship is your battle plan.

Some battles can only be fought with faith and praise.

If you are in a season right now where you don’t know what to do, your main business must be faith and praise. Your fight is to fight to rest on the Strength of the Almighty.

4. Enjoy God’s answer and respond to it in worship (vv. 25-26)

God’s people go out to the battlefield where three armies are coming against them and here is what happened.

2 Chronicles 20:22–23 ESV

22 And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. 23 For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

Apparently the Meunites who were from Mount Seir had a conflict with Ammon and Moab. So Ammon and Moab turned on the soldier from Mount Seir and destroyed them and then Moab and Ammon got into it and destroyed each other.

So to sum up the ending. When the singing Hebrews got to the battle look at what they found:

2 Chronicles 20:24–25 ESV

24 When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them, in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much.

So when they got to the battlefield, the place they feared the most just the day before, all they found was God had been there before they arrived. They spent the next four days taking all of their enemies stuff. What they once feared was certain destruction turned into a blessing. So on the fourth day, they met in a valley and they spend all day blessing the Lord. And, they named that Valley, “the Valley of Beracah” which means the valley of blessing.

Christian, I can’t promise that I know where your Valley of Beracah is. I can’t even promise you that you will find it the Valley of Blessing on this side of eternity. We are never promised heaven on earth. But here is what I can promise you, “God doesn’t make mistakes.” And he can take the greatest of evil and turn it in to the greatest of goods for his children. The cross is the greatest evidence of that.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

The Valley of Beracah maybe on this side of heaven. Or it may be in your heavenly reward, but I promise you, it is coming.

+So if we will learn the lessons of faith and letting God fight our battles for us, the places of our greatest fears becomes the places of our greatest victories. And when we get to the battlefields that we have dreaded the most we will find that God has already been there before us.

Let me tell you the greatest battlefield. The battlefield of sin. God has already been there and defeated it on the cross. Invitation.