Don't Panic // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 4

We've all heard someone scream out "Don't Panic" – it's normally when they're panicking. But panic, as natural a reaction as it may be to fear – panic is pretty useless. And it burns up a whole bunch of energy! In this day and age, one of the things that they teach us is to be self-reliant. To have confidence in our own abilities. Well, it's okay to a point I guess. But what happens when the situation we're in or the circumstances we face are so far beyond our own abilities to deal with them?  That any notion of self-reliance is completely ridiculous. I mean, what happens when the tsunami hits our lives? What do we do when the enemy that gathers around us, completely outnumbers and outguns us? What do we do? And this isn't some theoretical exercise. It's life. It's my life and it's your life. Because this happens. It's real. There are many times, in our lives, when the enemy, whoever or whatever that is. When the enemy is so much bigger than our ability to survive. It happens in families. It happens in work places. And it happens in our hearts. When depression hits for no good reason. When a loved one is taken in their prime and the grief overwhelms us. It happens when retrenchment hits us. When the economy takes a nose dive. When there isn't enough food to feed the family. When sickness strikes. This is life. It's real life. Let me ask you something. When the enemy is so much bigger and so much stronger than anything you could ever handle, what do you do? Well, some people panic and run around in ever decreasing circles. And that is a waste of their precious energy. I mean, panicking takes a lot of energy. You've seen it. I've seen it. We've both been there. Some people, they pull over and stop. They're immobilised by fear. That's what happens you know. But neither of those things cut the mustard. Neither of them help. Running around like a headless chook is exhausting. And wallowing in self-pity is destructive. What do you do? I want to introduce you today to one of the kings in Israel's history. Actually he was the king of a couple of the tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. His name was Jehoshaphat. That's a long name but he was one of the good guys. And there was a time when he was confronted with an enemy that was way, way beyond his ability to fight. Have a listen. This story comes from the book of 2nd Chronicles beginning at chapter 20: After this the Moabites and the Ammonites and with them, some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for a battle. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, 'A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, far from beyond the sea. Already they are at En Gedi.' Jehoshaphat was afraid. I just want to establish here that Josh was human just like you and me. Not some super human king. Armies were coming against him. He was completely out numbered. This was a life and death situation and he was afraid. He's just one of us but it was what he did in his fear that made all the difference. He didn't let fear immobilise him. He didn't get into a flap and a panic. Have a listen. We'll read on in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20: Jehoshaphat was afraid. He set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. From all the towns of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem. In the house of the Lord before the new court and said, 'God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand a power and might so that no-one is able to withstand you. Do you not, O God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people of Israel and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? They have lived in it and in it they have built your sanctuary. If disaster comes upon us, the sword of judgement or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house O God and before you. For your name is in this house and cry to you in our distress and you will hear and save.' 'See now, the people of Amon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy. They reward us now by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. God, will you not execute judgement against them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you.' In the face of overwhelming odds, Jehoshaphat turned to God. Sometimes that's the only way. By the way that God can get our attention. I'd like to tell you that I first turned to God because I was wise and loving and prudent and understood that Jesus was the Son of God. But that would be lying. I turned to God because I was facing overwhelming odds. That's what did it for me. Now a king is supposed to have all the answers. A king like Josh should have a powerful army and contingency plans based on a detailed threat assessment. He should have been self-reliant. But listen again to what Josh says when he's praying to God: O our God. Will you not execute judgement upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you. I really relate to this story. When I stepped out of a secure, well paid job as a consultant into full-time ministry. It was leaving security behind to serve God. And I cannot begin to tell you how many times, since then, I've been in that place that Jehoshaphat and his people were in. I started out with this naive notion that if I was going to go about God's work it would have to be easy. And yet, so many times people and circumstances have conspired to be against God's work. Every couple of years our board gets together to do some strategic planning. That's good. It's important. It always looks good on paper. And then, it seems that all hell breaks loose. That's what's going on here against Jehoshaphat and Judah. Remember they're God's chosen people. They're in God's Promised Land. Now Jehoshaphat is a king who honoured God. By all accounts, he is wise and prudent and competent. But in the face of overwhelming odds, he admits to God, 'I don't know what to do. All my plans. All my strategies. All my contingency plans. I don't know what to do.' So what was his solution? How did he cope with this? In the same breath he said, ... but our eyes are on you God. I wonder sometimes, when I see people who profess to believe in God, running around in panic. Wasting so much of their energy. Complaining and worrying and being afraid. It takes a lot of energy to be afraid, do you realise? I wonder if they spend even half that amount of energy having their eyes set on God, how much better off they'd be. You and I, we can't help but be afraid. Jehoshaphat was afraid. It's a natural human reaction. I'm not here to tell you somehow to pretend that you're not afraid when fear is rocking you to the core. But it's what we do when fear strikes that makes all the difference. You can panic and burn energy. You can freeze and be immobilised. And that's probably the end of you. Or we can just look at God and say, "You know something Lord, this is so huge. I don't know what to do but my eyes are on you. I'm just going to wait on you. I don't know what you're going to do. I don't even know if you're going to show up. But my eyes are on you." Tomorrow we're going to come back to see what happened. Did God do anything? Did God say anything? Or was Jehoshaphat's faith just a fantasy? See, that's the question that we each have to face when we dare to look to God from the midst of our fear.