Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - When You Don't Know What To Do | The Writings | 2 Chronicles 17-20

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

What can you do when you are unsure what to do? How should Christians react in the midst of uncertainty? In today's episode, Jeff looks to 2 Chronicles 17-20 to find encouragement for overwhelming moments. Sign up here to receive the "Our Good King" Holy Week Devotional beginning on Palm Sunday, March 23rd, 2024. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Chronicles 17-20

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. There is a world of difference between feeling overwhelmed about things you're certain about and being overwhelmed about things that are uncertain. Overwhelming uncertainty might show up as a slow burn, drawn-out sense of worry that constantly rumbles around in your head. Or it might be an acute sense of anxiety or stress.

that leaves you feeling completely disoriented. Let's bring that word overwhelmed to life for a moment. Its original meaning carries a sense of being turned upside down or overthrown, a sensation of being submerged or overcome, like a boat being swamped in the ocean. Now, we might casually toss around the word overwhelmed in day-to-day life, yet it's actually rooted in a sense of our lives being tossed around. especially when things are uncertain, when we're disoriented, not knowing what to do.

Please do a big question, what do you do when you're overwhelmed like that? What exactly can you do when you don't know what to do? Maybe that question lands in your life because of unexpected or persistent suffering, a diagnosis for you or a loved one that upends the plans that you had for this year, or this month or even the planes you had for this week. A relationship that used to be thriving is now hanging on by a thread. Or a constant sense of being overwhelmed at school or at work or at home, making you uncertain if or how you'll make it through the end of the day.

Or perhaps it's an ongoing sense of doubt, wanting to know if God is there, you're not really knowing for sure if he is. There are countless, overwhelming scenarios that disorient us and debilitate our ability to know what to do. So back to our question, what exactly can you do when you don't know what to do? That's the question that our passage addresses today in Second Chronicles. Chapter 17 through 20 are dedicated to the reign of the King of Judah named Jehoshaphat.

Instead of surveying all four chapters covering Jehoshaphat's life, we're going to just focus on one of the most powerful, life-giving prayers in the entire Bible, right here in 2nd Chronicles 20. So whether you're a committed follower of Jesus, a skeptic, or somewhere in between, this prayer will invite you to see the God who is with us, especially in those times of overwhelming uncertainty when we don't know what to do. As we prepare to engage with this prayer, let's ask God to form our hearts and minds in this time. Heavenly Father, thank you for the gifts of life and breath. Thank you for your word.

Jesus, help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in Second Chronicles. As we read these words, let these words read us and restore us. And we pray in a special way for those who are overwhelmed, disoriented, and don't know what to do. Lord help us in this time in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's start by putting ourselves in Jehoffat's shoes. At the beginning of chapter 20, we read that he's about to be attacked by three different armies working together against him. This is a sense of overwhelm on a national scale.

So how does Jehoshaphat respond? He could corral his army or try to make a quick alliance with another nation, but there's a problem. The armies coming for him are already about to knock on Jehoshaphat's front door. There's nothing he can do. He is stuck in the state of being overwhelmed. We read in verse 3, Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord. He goes on to have the entire nation of Judah fast and gathered together for prayer.

And the beginning of the prayer sets the stage for the rest of it. Here, the king of Judah recognizes the one true king over all things. He prays in verse 6, O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand you. Now, Jehoshaphat begins by overturning our sense of where the power belongs in times of uncertainty. Based on his circumstances, we could assume that Jehoshavat would say,

In my enemy's hands are power and might. None is able to withstand them. And that, in fact, may be how he feels in some ways in this moment, but his prayer totally subverts that. Even as he is surrounded by his enemies and is overwhelmed, he knows that the power to rule belongs to his creator king alone. in his hand our power and might nothing can withstand the lord almighty the uncertain thing that threatens to turn his life upside down here is not the thing controlling his life and notice that jehoshaphat

doesn't try to make a quick grab for power himself let's skip ahead to verse 12 for we are powerless against this vast army that is coming against us he acknowledges his own powerlessness and the powerlessness of his people. This is so different from our default desire for control. It's as if the factory setting of our hearts is to not only maintain power and uncertainty, but actually to increase it. We imagine that we can eliminate our anxiety or our fear with more of our power, more of our certainty. But Jehoshaphat knows better here. This countercultural, counterintuitive movement in his prayer is simply naming reality. Jehoshaphat is not clinging to control or managing his power. He is fully surrendering himself and his people into the hands of God.

As Jehoshaphat names his powerlessness, he's actually setting the stage for the next sentence. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. In the midst of overwhelming uncertainty, we look to the one who is not overcome, who is not undone. We look to our maker. When life is turned upside down by chaos and we can't see the world with certainty, we can't see our own lives with certainty, there is one person we can and need to see, the one who made all things and is making all things new. Let's bring that sentence of this prayer into some of the overwhelming scenarios of our lives,

or in the lives of people we love. God, we don't know what to do with this terrifying diagnosis, but our eyes are on you. God, we don't know what to do with this fractured relationship, but our eyes are on you. God, we don't know what to do with these disorienting doubts in our lives, but our eyes are on you. We don't know what to do with our helplessness, with our kids and their situations, but our eyes are on you. We don't know what to do with the pain of loneliness, but our eyes are on you. God, we don't know what to do with this weighty situation at work, but our eyes are on you. In these one-sentence prayers, I'm reminded of dear family members and friends whose lives are wrapped up in circumstances like these.

Take a moment now to pause and pray for an overwhelming scenario that you're in right now, or for someone you love. of. The most important question when we're overwhelmed is not, do you know what to do? The most important question is, who are you looking to? In a huge way, this is the difference between the absence of faith and the presence of it. It's not about your strength or about your certainty. It's about who you're looking to. In the midst of his overwhelming uncertainty, Jehoshaphat and his people are powerless, but they're not passive. Notice, they seek the Lord. They come together as a community, and even as they name their powerlessness, they press into the one thing that matters. We don't know what to do, but our

eyes are on you. The Lord responds to that prayer in verse 15, saying, do not be afraid and do not be discouraged because of this vast army. For, the battle is not yours, but gods. He goes on in verse 17 to say, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you. Reminds me of this line from the pastor and theologian, Frederick Beakner. He says this, here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid because the battle is not yours. It's gods. Don't be afraid because your creator will be with you. You can go out. keep going. As the chapter goes on, Jehoshaphat and his people are saved from their enemies. But there's an interesting, revealing line in verse 21, before everyone goes out to the battle,

before the victory, before the overwhelming uncertainty is alleviated, there's a song. Here it is. Give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever. That song is such a striking picture of faith, not just because of the words that are in it, but because of when it happens. The circumstances are not yet resolved. The tension is still there. There is still uncertainty. And yet there is a resolute sense of trust in the God who is there.

So even as we sit in the uncertainty of today and tomorrow, the thing that we need most is absolutely certain. His steadfast love. endures forever. Whether you're convinced of God's presence with you or still considering what you believe about him, know that the steadfast love of God here, it's not just an idea. It's a reality. It's a reality that's displayed on the cross of Jesus and the empty tomb that he left behind. The God who made you is making all things new. And if that's true, then there is no overwhelming uncertainty that can take away the love and life that you have in him. So back to our question, what exactly can you do when you don't know what to do? It turns out that that question isn't

answered with a what as much as it's answered with a who. God, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. You are with us. Your steadfast love endures forever. Amen.