What to Do When… part 1 “When you are confused”
Story – when I was little I had a bad habit of sleep walking. One night I guess I got really confused and I walked into our spare bedroom and thought it was the bathroom… this might not have been a big deal accept I was having a dream that I was going to the bathroom… needless to say we got rid of that couch!
This is the beginning of a brand new series call “What to Do When.” I know it’s not much of a title for a series but I hope the content will more than make up for the lack of a fancy title… So what are we going to be talking about here??? Life is a complex and ever changing mix of good times, bad times, and trying times… I think we all would agree with that. In this mix we often get lost, discouraged, distracted, and we lose our focus on the fact that God is our rock or foundation for our lives, God is the one that is to be praised in all situations and for everything that comes our way.
The goal of this series is two part:
1. that we realize that God never changes, and that he has a perfect plan for our lives that will not fail.
2. for us to become less focused on our needs, and become more focused on giving thanks in every situation and seeking God’s will.
We are going to talk on a variety of situations that we all face and tonight we kick things off with a look at What to Do When You Are Confused.
I have a question for you all; is there anyone in this room tonight that has not had to face a situation in life when they were just totally confused about what was going on, and what to do? It does not take us very long in this life to run up against a situation in which we were left scratching our heads… It can be from the death of a family member, or a loved one, it can come from the ending of a friendship or relationship, maybe even it is from a move that you are forced to make and leave people behind that you love and care for, Confusion can come from a decision you have to make that you are clueless about which decision is the right one, and then it could come from making the seemingly right decision and things just going totally wrong, The list could go on, and on, about the things that are thrown our way that we cannot figure out what the heck is God doing up there??? Tonight I want you to realize that you are in good company and I want to tell you a story as a backdrop for tonight’s message. We are going to read it and then revisit it through the night. The story is found in Matthew chapter 26 and it is the story of Jesus the night before he was about to be killed on the cross…
Matthew 26: 36 – 46
Here we have Jesus in one of the darkest hours of his life. Let me set the stage for you here: On Sunday of this week Jesus has just entered Jerusalem with a parade of people worshiping him, like I said life is full of good times…
On Wednesday Judas, one of Jesus hand picked 12 disciples, has gone to the chief priest who have been trying to plot a way to kill Jesus and tells them that that he will betray Jesus for money… Then as the day of the Passover feast comes on Thursday, Jesus is found with his disciples in what is known as the “last supper” Get this now, Jesus knows he is going to die, he knows that Judas has betrayed him, and he knows that these same guys he is eating with are about to flee and tell everybody that they did not even know Jesus… here we see even Jesus life is full of bad times. And on top of all this he also knows that this is God’s request of him, or his will is for Jesus to go through all this, and to die! So let me ask you, would you be confused here??? I know I would be asking myself the question “o.k. God, I know I am your Son and you love me, but what is up with all of this? Don’t you know what is going to happen to me and the pain that I am going to experience?” I think this was Jesus attitude as well when we look back at this story and see his conversations with God and with Peter, James, and John, He says “I am deeply grieved, even to death…” and then says this to God “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me…” He says this three times to God and it shows the human side of Jesus, the side that was just as concerned and confused as we would be. I think though that this story is important because it give us some principles to apply when we are all faced with this situation of being confused.
The three principles are:
Stop
Seek
Submit
Lets take a look now at these and see “what to do when, we are confused.”
1. Stop, and recognize God is good and he will not leave you confused.
Psalms 32:8 – 11 “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like the horse or mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with a bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.”
When we face a time of confusion we are to do something’s to make sure we handle this in a godly way… in a way that is right and not sinful. We should always realize what this passage from Psalms is saying; God will counsel us with his eye upon us… That means that God will show us the way. He will not leave us confused. Later in that verse the psalmist says to not be like the horse or mule that has no understanding and must be treated with force. Here is the idea that he is expressing, because we know that God is going to teach us and show us the way we don’t have to be ignorant about this confusing time. We don’t have to stay confused and wander around aimlessly like a horse or mule.
To guide them the rider must use a bit to control them, but this does not have to be what happens to us. You don’t have to wait until God uses force with you to guide you through
the confusion, we are not ignorant if we stop and recognize that God will lead and guide us. *This is important because if we never realize that God will guide us then we will have no need to seek him for direction. Not only will God guide us, but he will also be with us. God will be there in the midst of our confusion. The verse from Psalms says that, “steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.” If we recognize that God will guide us and we place our trust in him then we can say the most important part of this point “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” How do you handle confusing times, we are to rejoice with an upright heart that has taken hold of the fact that God will guide us, and that he will be with us.
Philippians 4:6 – 7 “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
When we thank God even in the confusing times we will be handling these situations in a right way that is pleasing to God. Not only will we be handling this in a godly way, but we will be focusing less on our needs and more on God, a secret to this whole series…
Again how do we do this, we do it by stopping and realizing that God will not leave us confused, but will lead and guide us, And that he will be with us in the middle of our confusion. In our story of Jesus we see that he did just that, he told his disciples “sit here while I go over there and pray…” Why was Jesus going to pray? It was because he was scared and confused about the events that were taking place, But more importantly he was stopping and going to God for guidance because he knew that his Father would not leave him in a state of confusion, and he knew that the only person that could comfort him in a time like this was God!
2. Seek, God in your situation
James 1:5 “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.” NRSV (Italics Mine)
Once we have reached a place where we recognize that God is the answer for our confusion then the natural progression is to “ask God for wisdom and guidance.”
If we take a look back at our story we see Jesus again modeling this example…
Verse 39 “And going along a little further, he threw himself on the ground and prayed…”
It is obvious the example that Jesus is setting for us of seeking God, but what is not quite so obvious is the way in which he did this… In verse 39 we see that “he threw himself on the ground and prayed…” I am not sure how far to take the symbolism here, but when a person was going before the emperor of Rome in this day and time and wanted to seek the emperor for something, they would throw themselves on the ground at the feet of the emperor as an act of total humility. So let’s say for a minute that Jesus did this on purpose what does it set up for us today? In Philippians 4:5 we find a similar idea “let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.”
Ok here is my point I think it is not only important to seek God in times of confusion, but also is just as important in how we do it! When we come before God in times of confusion we should humble ourselves before him, ok what does that mean? If we are going in to seek a kings favor, then we need to do this in the right way, and that right was is to make sure we are pure from things like sin. When we throw ourselves on the ground, so to speak, by confessing our sins before we come to God and ask for his wisdom, I think we are following the model that Christ would have for us. We fall before you God and say I am unworthy and sinful. But here is the good news!!! If we seek God, and in the proper way look at what the verse from James say’s “who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly…” In other words God will lift our heads and look into our eyes and say, “I love you my child, I have already forgiven you and I hold no grudge, here is the wisdom you need.” Prayer here is the request for seeking wisdom in our confusing time, but the answer may come from a variety of places: It may come from a thought that God places in your heart while you are praying, Or he may direct you to a passage of scripture that deals with confusion or wisdom, Another way he may answer is by a respected Christian friend giving you encouragement or advice, Finally, he may simply change your circumstances. All of these may be ways he gives you wisdom, but the most painful way might be that he allows you to walk through your confusing time to gain wisdom from your experience… This leads to our final point.
3. Submit, your desires to God and place your trust in him
Back in our story of Jesus we see him doing just that, “Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” We hate to submit to anything, but if we don’t then we never receive the full benefit of Gods blessings of wisdom and guidance. Jesus was saying to God here that, “God I am not wanting to go through with this, it is going to be hard and painful, but I recognize that you are with me, and I submit my wants for yours Father”
Hebrews 5:7 “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”
What an amazing blessing we received as a result of Jesus obedience, we received salvation, what an amazing blessing Jesus received from his obedience, eternal glory!!!
When we face confusing times we can both be a blessing and receive a blessing if we submit our wants and desires for Gods. Remember I said that one of the keys of this series was to become more God focused and less me focused, well here it is again,
We should be trying to fulfill God’s will here on earth, not ours!!! The final example Jesus leaves with us is one of trust in God. Jesus trusted that even though this was going to be gruesome he trusted that God’s plans were better than his. So once we stop and recognize that God is good and he will not leave us confused, And we seek him in a pure and humble manner, And finally submit to His will, We can leave the garden of confusion victorious like Jesus did. While his victory was to be the sacrifice for our sins, he was victorious in that he made it to the cross, and to heaven to understand the fullness of the question we all ask “WHY???”
Philippians 4:6 – 7 “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I hope you all got as much out of this message as got writing it, it has been a joy and a comfort to remember these truths about what to do when we are confused…
Prayer time-------------------
God we come before you tonight all as people on a journey, and sometimes along that journey we hit confusing times… we thank you though that because of your great love and mercy we can come before you and ask for wisdom. We thank you that you give to all generously and ungrudgingly, we ask that you help us to submit our wants and desires to you.
If you are going through some confusing times right now and you would like prayer just lift your hand for a second so that I can pray for you…
We thank you for your undeserved blessings. Amen
