Randomly opening the Bible some mornings can oftentimes lend itself to finding some very cool and new stories that one hasn't been privy too or possibly forgotten. The other day I found such a story. It was a story of battle, a story of warfare, it was the story of God's people. But it started with fear initially and ended in faith. It was in the time of King Jehoshaphat and he had just appointed judges to help govern the land. Soon after, the Moabites and Ammonites plotted against him and came to wage war. The King and all the people were very worried and distressed. They inquired of the Lord, prayed and fasted because they heard of the enemies approaching and they were afraid....
Do
you know that fear keeps us from doing many things? Paralysis by
analysis can sometimes be caused by fear. Over analyzing every little
imperfection and scientific reason something won't work. Sometime people
leap and believe that the net will appear. I admit I fall into this
category(no pun intended.) Others are a wee bit more cautious....they
will not leap without a net guaranteed below and sometimes not at all.
They want to know who the net maker was, how many certifications they
have and where they bought their material, right? I mean, if I'm going
to jump and land on a net, it better be the best net ever made. Too many
people are frozen by fear and "Ice"-solated by worry. Paul says in
Philippians 4: 6-8
"Do not be
anxious about anything but in everything through prayer and
supplications present your requests to God and the peace of the God
which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus."
What a
promise! God's peace surpasses, exceeds and overachieves every bit of
our human intellect and understanding. His Shalom(peace) trumps anything
we can begin to know or comprehend. How awesome is that?!? It's one of
my mom's favorite verses and has become one of mine as well. I encourage
you to memorize it and recite it when fear creeps up on you.
Oftentimes, we need to replace our negative thoughts with positive
thoughts. It sounds remedial or elementary but believe me, it works! How
many times have you been daydreaming about something like your wedding
day or graduation or house chores you have to do or whatever and the
phone rings. It's your customer on the other line and they need some
product over-nighted to their new store location. Are you still
daydreaming after the call? Absolutely not, you are kicking it in high
gear to get things done for your customer. It is the same concept.
Replace the fear with other thoughts. Think about your gold medal
winning track meet in High School. Think about how you met your
significant other. Think about your last company promotion and how it
all came to be. Think about how God has brought you this far, why worry
about how much further he will take you in the future? There are so many
times that God has watched over you and protected you in the past that
you probably don't remember.
For
me, it was a time when I was a toddler. My young mother was busy doing
something around the house and I wanted my dad. So I kept asking her
about him and she said, "Go find daddy." So I went to find daddy, which
meant going out the front door to the end of our dirt road street that
met a busy 4 lane highway. You see, unknown to my mom, my dad had gone
for a run down Highway 123 in between San Marcos and Seguin, Texas. So, I
started out to find him like she had told me too. She soon realized
that she couldn't find me and quickly noticed that I just steps away
from the busy traffic. She persuaded me to come back to her arms and I
was safe from the traffic, but not from her stern lecture. In the midst
of danger, God was with me. I'm sure we all have moments
like this in our past and can praise and thank God for the triumphant
outcomes. Think about these things when you are afraid, think about how
God saved you once and has a plan for your life. He can surely do it
again.
Another thought
replacement strategy is to think about others, pray for others and help
others. Most of the time our fears, worries and concerns focus only
around one person and that is Me, Myself and I. Its amazing what
happens when we take our mental concentration off our own selves and
begin considering and caring for others. A wonderful thing happens, our
fears, worries and concerns go away. Calling a friend and praying with
them is a start. Volunteering our time at church, the local food pantry
or neighborhood charity is another great option. Stepping out on faith
to do something new and trusting God is not always easy and it wasn't
for the Israelites either. But it often takes action and actually doing
something. The Israelites did something, let's see what happens in the
story I mentioned from II Chronicles.
When the enemies were surrounding the people of Yahweh, note the instruction:
He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow
march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz,
and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”
They
faced their enemy and went out to meet them that day. But another great
task was instructed and followed by God's people, one that sometimes we
often forget about; they sang praises to God in the middle of a
battlefield:
"After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his[c] holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the Lord,
for his love endures forever.”
for his love endures forever.”
22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The
Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to
destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men
from Seir, they helped to destroy one another."
The
end result, the invading army fought each other! They went against
themselves and were wiped out! Not a one sword was lifted by God's
people. They didn't have to throw one punch or one spear. Their chariots
were still in pristine condition and their armor still shiny and clean.
God did the heavy lifting. He saved the day. He made the enemy kill
each other and saved Jehoshaphat and all the people of Judah. God was
the main ingredient in the battle cake and his amazing baking power
lifted up the rest of the ingredients to produce an amazing work of
confectionary.
Having faith, all
the people had to do was show up and sing. Life is all about showing up,
that is the first step. Being ready, being available and letting God
lead us from where we show up to what He wants to show us. All He may
want us to do is stand still and sing praises. Or he may have other
plans where we actually need to get our hands dirty and start working.
Either way, both require Faith. Faith to trust God's provision. Faith to
trust God's way. Faith to trust more than our abilities. Faith beyond
our past mistakes. Faith past our past. Faith to see something when
there is nothing. Faith to believe beyond fear, beyond worry, and beyond
anxiety. Faith is not a sprint, it's a marathon.
Believe
me, You already have tons of faith in your life. You believe that the
chair you are sitting in will hold you up, even though not knowing the
laws of physics or gravity completely. You have faith that if you boil
water that it can produce enough heat to cook your oatmeal this morning,
even not understanding all the laws of chemistry. You have faith that
the granules you put in your coffee maker will actually make coffee,
even though not knowing what vines the beans originated or where the
seeds were harvested and packaged, you still trusted that the water and
the granules would make coffee. If we can trust ourselves to those small
everyday things, why can't we trust ourselves to the major things? We
already believe in something, we all have faith somehow, somewhere.
Therefore, Choose to trust in God whose faithfulness has already been
proven. Like the old Baptist Hymn says, "Trust and Obey for there's no
other way." Jehoshaphat trusted God and we know what happened, can we do
the same? It may just be that we need to show up and sing.
