We’re in a very appropriate series considering what we just talked about...a series called uncertainty. We live in uncertain times and last week Chad reminded us that this book was written to people who lived in uncertain times. Whether it was Moses leading people out of slavery, or David facing Goliath, Peter preaching to the crowds on Pentecost, all these people lived in times of uncertainty.
And we live in uncertain times too, don’t we? Which means that the Bible is more relevant today, in these times, than any other time in our lives. We should be looking here for answers to the questions we have in or hearts. And one of our biggest questions these days is this - what do I do in uncertain times?
(Do me a favor and somewhere on your sheet, write down the thing or things that you are most worried about, most uncertain about, these days.)
And this is what we learned: (it’s in your notes)
Life is uncertain, but God is not.
That thing you wrote down, is one of the uncertainties of life. Now I want you to remember. Life is uncertain but God is not. That we don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow. No matter what happens, god has the whole world in his hands.
And as Christians, this truth that God is in control should dictate how we respond to crisis. It’s amazing to me how instinctive this can be at times. A lot of you heard about the plane that had to emergency land in the Hudson River a few months ago....the Pilot, captain Sullenberger or "Sully" as they called him, did an amazing job bringing them down on the river without loss of life. ( I was in Dallas this week and got to pilot in one to the flight simulators that southwest Airlines uses to train their 737 pilots. And there is so much detail! It gave me a better appreciation of all he did. After the rescue, they were interviewing the crew about the incident and they asked one of the flight attendants, "so what was everyone doing as the plane went down?" Does anyone know what she said? "Everyone was praying"
Now how do you think that happened? Do you think the captain had to get on and say "This is the captain speaking...in preparation for a crash landing into the Hudson River, we’d encourage all of you to break into groups of two or three and pray that God will intervene in this catastrophe. Have a good day and thank you for flying USAir" You kidding me? No one told them they should pray. They just did it. In times of uncertainty we do some things instinctively. Because in our hearts we know what? God has the whole world in his hands.
But what we should do is not always that clear, Is it? I mean we hope we do the right things...but how do we know? What should we be doing? How should we live in uncertainty? And here is a great question: How do I find peace in the midst of the storm?
Today I want to look a the story of a guy who had to find peace in the midst of the storm. And we are going to see some very practical things that he does to not just survive the storm, but thrive in the midst of it. His name is Hezekiah and you will find the passage in 2 Chronicles 32.
Let me give you some background. In 722 Assyria wipes out the Northern Kingdom of Israel and we never see them again. In 715 BC Hezekiah became king of Judah (the southern kingdom) when he was 25 years old. He grew up in a non-religious family but married the daughter of a prophet named Zechariah, (So he married a preachers kid) and his best friend was a guy named Isaiah, so that kind of gave him more spiritual foundation in his life. He becomes king and the country of Judah had been led away from God in every way. They were worshipping false Gods on the hills, they turned the temple into a storage unit for the kings and their relatives. They had stopped worshipping God, obey God or even acknowledging God. As a result, the whole country was falling apart. Hezekiah becomes king and, for 11 years, cleans house. From 2 Chronicles 29-31 we see story after story of all that Hezekiah did to bring God back to the center of the life of the Jews. The writer says that the transformation of the culture was like nothing ever seen before since David was king 300 years earlier. Then we get to chapter 32.
After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. 2 Chron. 32:1
Does anyone have a problem with this? For 11 years, Hezekiah has done everything right, but trouble still comes. Now most people would say something like this "God, I don’t understand...I was doing everything right, why did you let this happen?" You ever done that? God I thought if I followed you I wouldn’t have any more problems! Here’s what Hezekiah knows: Life is uncertain, but God is not. We don’t know hat tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow. He’s got the whole world in his hands.
So rather than shaking his fist at God and blaming him or pouting that God is not playing fair or just being depressed because life was hard, Hezekiah just says "that’s life" and takes steps to ensure that he does all that he is supposed to do. In times of uncertainty, we still have responsibility.
This is important. Let me explain. Suppose you knew a farmer and you went to his farm one day and you saw him sitting on his tractor, pouting. And you asked what’s wrong? Well I’m and with God because the harvest isn’t what I thought it would be. And you look out at the fields and sure enough there is nothing growing out there, so you start to ask questions. What’s wrong? Did it not rain enough? No it rained plenty. Is the soil not fertile? No it’s great. That’s why I am so mad. I’ve got good soil, I’ve had good rains. It should have been a good harvest. Well what kind of seed did you plant? Excuse me? What kind of seed did you plant? Well I didn’t plant any.
What are you thinking? What an idiot! If you don’t sow the seed, how can you expect a harvest?
When Uncertainty Comes... There are some things that that we are responsible to do before God will do what only God can do. IN this passage we see Hezekiah do three things that I believe are a pattern for us in times of uncertainty.
Our first step is this: 1. Put your house in order.
When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. A large force of men assembled, and they blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?" they said. Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields. . 32:2-5
Three things he did to get his house in order: Blocked off the bad , Mended the broken, Bolstered the weak....Hezekiah took a personal inventory and got his house in order. Whatever you wrote down earlier as the uncertainty in your life, I want you to take these thoughts and apply it to that issue in your life. Three things Hezekiah did:
He blocked off the bad -- he saw the springs outside the walls of Jerusalem and thought to himself, "I don’t the enemy to have access to anything that would cause their presence to be here any longer than they should." Nothing that would cause them to linger, nothing that would strengthen their resolve, nothing that would give the enemy a foothold In our land.
There are some things in our lives that supply strength to the enemies that that are advancing on our position through the habits, attitudes and patterns of thinking we have. For example, in this time of financial uncertainty, some of us are chasing after a lifestyle that is unsustainable at our income instead of trying to live within our means. And we have to be willing to say that certain things that feel like necessities are not. Relational -- your friends/fiance are pushing you in a direction you know is not what God wants, block out their influence. Or spiritual, your busyness leaves no time for God. You’ve got to make the choice to block out some time for God. Stop doing the things that will cause that make the enemy linger.
The second thing he does He blocked off the bad, He mended the broken - It says h he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall Mending the broken is the hardest part. The fact is these things were once healthy, but are no longer healthy. It could be things like the communication in your marriage, or trust in a relationship. Maybe it a health or financial decision....I don’t know, but I do know this...the passage says they "worked hard" This is hard work but it is necessary! Do you know what is broken? CR
He blocked off the bad , he mended the broken, third, he bolstered the weak. It says He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces. We know from history that he didn’t wait until the last minute to do this, but had been reinforcing it for years. There are some things in your life that are doing okay right now, but you see that if the enemy concentrated on that point, they might be able to break through. And so just to make sure, you make the decision to reinforce that are of life. Do you know your weak spots? It could be that your finances are okay, but over a long period of time you are vulnerable. It could be your marriage feels okay today, but over a long siege there couldbe trouble. What are you doing to reinforce it? It could be that you are enjoying church, but you get involved in relationships with other Christians to add strength to your walk. I don’t know...but you don’t assume that just because things are adequate now that they would be okay in the midst of the storm.
Stephen covey in his book 7 Habits of Highly effective people says that the #1 habit is these people are proactive...they don’t wait until the storm hits, they anticipate trouble beforehand. And Hezekiah challenges us to do the same thing. Put your house in order. I would encourage you to take some time and figure out "have I blocked off the bad, mended the broken and bolstered the weak in my life
Second practice we learn from Hezekiah is this
2. Get your heart in order.
The number one emotion in crisis is fear. Fear rules the dale. Fear is not reality. It is our emotional response to what we know. Fear is an acrostic False Evidence Appearing Real. A few weeks ago America shut down because of the Swine flu. Do you remember this? Texas cancelled athletics for the remainder of the year. Some Chandler schools said they were closing for a week because 2 kids might have it.
Lisa and I went to the hospital with a real emergency only to find the emergency room only to find 200 people who all were concerned they had the Swine flu. You know how many had it? Nobody. Fear keeps us captive.
All Media has a shadow mission. Inform. Media’s shadow mission is to sell. It’s to keep us interested. Fear sells. Sennacherib tried to do the same thing in Hezekiah’s time. He sent a letter to the people inside the walls of Jerusalem telling them how feeble and weak they were compared to him. He reminded them that nobody else’s God had been able to stand up to him. The Bible says He had his soldiers yelling over the wall in Hebrew to scare the people on the wall. His plan, divide and conquer. use psychological warfare! Fear sells.
Here is what Hezekiah did: He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged (circle that) them with these words: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said. 2 Chron. 32:6-8
Sennacherib is going to do everything in his power to discourage the people. But Hezekiah gives them courage. What wise people do in those times of uncertainty is limit the voices of influence. They decide who they will and will not listen to. What wise people do in those times is stick to what they do know, not speculate into what they don’t know.
A few weeks ago Dave Ramsey, the founder of Financial Peace University broadcast a Town Hall of Hope across the nation to challenge Christians to be a people of faith, not a people of fear during this economic downturn. And he referred to the idea that this downturn is unique as ludicrous and stated that we’ve had numerous downturns that were worse. Let me give you some examples:
1930s Great Depression had 25% unemployment, Market drop 89%
73-74 50% market drop 61 months, Inflation 11%, Energy crisis - Gas lines
82 when I graduated from High school we were excited when the interest rate dropped to 14% from the high of 17.5%, Inflation 10-13% Market dropped 29%
Unemployment 10%
Today - 8.5% unemployment The mortgage rate is at a 50 year low 4 3/8%
The stock market had dropped 57% since it’s previous high, but has risen from 6500 8 weeks ago to 8300, 27% increase in 8 weeks)
No inflation, no energy crisis
Yet 47% of Americans afraid they will lose their jobs. While nationally only 3% actually have Fear False Evidence Appearing Real
He challenged us not to be afraid. He said "three things we should do": don’t be like a deer in the headlights -- take action, to ignore loser talk and to learn to give again. There is not better time to live our faith than when others are afraid. Crisis turns people to God and we need to act differently than the world. We are a people of faith not of fear. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.
Get your house in order... get your heart in order...
3. Pray until peace comes.
King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. 2 Chron. 32:20 God the whole world is in your hands. He did what he could do then he chose to trust God to do what only God could do. Let me tell you one thing that only God can do...give peace.
You say, well I’ve been praying and I still don’t have peace. Let me tell you why...you are praying wrong! You can’t pray wrong, can you? Jesus told people they prayed wrong so I guess you can. How we pray in crisis is really important.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6,7 That’s a promise...so if it is not happening, then we are praying wrong.
Present -- reveal not just your request but what is driving it.
There is a wrestling that needs to go on in prayer when you are in uncertainty. A wrestling that goes beyond the request to the motives behind the request. Not just what you want, but why you want it. In times of crisis I have found myself trusting in the answer, in the new job, in the increased finances, in the mended relationship, in the opportunity, rather than trusting in God.
Second word Guard -- stand watch/ watch over - What does this verse say God guards over? Our heart and minds. And yet I find myself wanting God to guard my request, not my heart. We are anxiety ridden people because we have God standing over our request and not over our hearts. And I have had to wrestle in those requests until I got to the place where I said "This is what I want, but not my will, your will be done." Have you gotten to that point in your prayers?
So I must choose to pray, not til the answer comes, not til the circumstances change, not until things go my way. But I pray until my faith is in God and not my request. Until my trust changes. That’s when peace comes. And you find that You are not okay because the world changed, you are okay because you changed. And you see god for who he is. He’s got the whole world in his hands. Peace comes not from the absence of problems, but the presence of God.
So,that thing you wrote down. Are you trusting in it? Do you believe you will be okay if it is never resolved? Where is your trust? You do what only you can do and God will do what only he can do. And even if it doesn’t turn out the way you want...you can still have peace. Because he’s got the whole world in his hands. You don’t know what tomorrow holds, but you know who holds tomorrow.
