What do you do when you're up against some real trouble in life? Fight, flee, or bury your head in the sand? My first response is to fret, working myself into a lather over and over again adding insult to injury. Worries get bigger with consequences more disastrous. Maybe this makes me a fighter? Worry won't let me flee or play make-believe dreaming that nothing rotten has happened. So I wrestle, spar, and poke at whatever is bothering me.
Still, what to do? Often I haven't a clue. Which direction to turn in. When in a toxic church fight, it was flight that took me far away from this poisonous malignancy. I hadn't a clue what to do. Prayers were mixed with gut-wrenching jitters coupled with pins-and-needle anxious tremors. Tomorrow looked bleak. The day after only worse. For that's how it felt.
Biblical Judah's good king Jehoshaphat faces foreign enemies on all sides. The Bible says that this mighty king was filled with fear (2 Chron. 20: 3). But that's not all. He comes before his Lord God, seeking help and guidance. Fierce adversaries gang up on Judah.
What to do? Where to turn? The king shows the way--seek help from the Lord God. Pray your heart out. Express your fears to Him. Hold nothing back. Try not to have boomerang prayers where worry circles overhead only to come crashing back on your anxious mind (as I do too often). Here's what Jehoshaphat prays--'We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you' (2 Chron. 20: 12).
When it's confusion time in the old town tonight, love on your Lord God big time. Jehoshaphat doesn't know what to do but he knows where to look. Get an eyeful in your Bible. There you'll gaze upon the beauty of Jesus, and the glory of the Father along with the good counsel of the Holy Spirit. Zero in on your Lord God. And thank Him for whatever help He has in mind for you. Wait on Him. Trust Jesus as best you can, as fallible as we are. Me especially.
And then watch and see how the Lord acts on your behalf. That's what to do.
Thank you, Jesus, for all your goodness, warmth, and love for me. Amen.
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