Seeking God In Times Of Need

Seeking God in Times of Need

2 Chronicles 14:8-10

July 8, 2003

8 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went out to meet them. 9 Now the Philistines had come and raided the Valley of Rephaim; 10 so David inquired of God: "Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD answered him, "Go, I will hand them over to you."

I. When problems arise seek God’s direction

A. Problems will come

1. David was facing a great threat

a.) The Philistines attacked Israel

1.) The timing of the attack: The Philistines chose to attack Israel just after David had been anointed as king of Israel. They came when David may not have had the complete strength of the country at his disposal

2.) The purpose of the attack: The goal of the Philisitnes was to find David and to defeat him. David had shamed the Philistines in battle and now they were determined to attack him.

b.) David moves to face the problem

1.) David did not sit and wait for the problem to just go away. He took quick action to deal with the situation

2.) David approached the crisis with courage, confidence and clarity. He knew what needed to be done and how he would get it done

2. We face great difficulties

a.) We are under attack

1.) We face spiritual attacks

Since we are a spiritual people we will always face spiritual attacks because the one thing that Satan fears most is a Christian who is effective for the Kingdom of God

2.) We face general trials

Life can just get to us from time to time as we face the grind of daily living. Daily living can be enough to rob us of spiritual strength and effectiveness

b.) We need to face down our problems

1.) The difficulties we have will not just simply vanish. We need to identify the problems we have and take positive action to find powerful solutions

2.) As we face our difficulties, we need to have courage, confidence and clarity and all of these things are provided for us by the Holy Spirit

B. Problems require us to seek God’s direction

1. David sought God’s direction before he acted

a.) David was a great military champion

1.) David had won his fair share of battles including his great victory over Goliath

2.) David could have easily relied on his own personal military experience, confidence and skill as a warrior to handle the situation

b.) David sought God’s direction before acting

1.) Before David attacked the Philistines he stopped and asked for God’s direction and was seeking guidance in two critical areas.

 Shall I attack?

 Will you hand them to me?

David waited for God’s answer before he attacked

2.) David depended on God so greatly that when the Philistines attacked a second time, he sought God again before he attacked

2. We need to continually seek God’s direction

a.) We have reasons to be confident

1.) We have seen God work in mighty ways. We have experienced His presence in ways that we may not be able to describe. We have been saved by the grace of Jesus.

2.) Just because we have experienced God’s power, grace and presence in the past does not guarantee that we will continue to experience it in the future

b.) We need to seek God’s direction

1.) The only way to experience God is to seek Him and the only way to know His direction is to ask for it

2.) We need to depend on God

 Should we take this course of action?

 Will you be with me in a powerful way if I obey?

One of the greatest problems in churches today is that we fil to seek God’s guidance and wait for His direction