Feeling Helpless

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt absolutely helpless? Can you remember a time when you felt totally powerless? It isn't a pleasant experience for any of us. Even people who claim to have relinquished their full lives to God still like to feel like they have some control over their circumstances.

Jehoshaphat faced a moment like that and we can benefit by considering his experience. In 2Chron 20:1-4, the good king was given travailing news: there were three different armies that had joined forces to lay waste to Israel. Even as the king listened to the report the armies ... "a great multitude" of warriors ... was already on their way to attack (v2).

What was Jehoshaphat's reaction to the news? Verse three says that he was afraid and understandably he felt totally powerless. But even so, in the moment of helplessness, he knew exactly what to do to save his country. The Bible doesn't tell us that "Jehoshaphat was afraid and ran away," or even that "Jehoshaphat was afraid but charged his enemies head on." No, Scripture says that "Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord (italics mine.)"

We can learn from Jehoshaphat's perfect response in a helpless situation. The king knew this was not the time to give up, nor was it time to take drastic action motivated by his fear. Instead, he did the only wise thing to do: he prayed! Short. Sweet. Simple. And more than that he got other people to pray, and quite suddenly, the entire situation changed for him, because he had brought God into his helpless situation.

When we feel powerless and our situation looks hopeless, the first word out of our mouths should be "Father." From that point on hopelessness ceases to be an issue, because God will work every thing out according to His great plan and He will provide all we need.


********

Don't worry. I won't bombard you with another 10,000 word essay into what's going on inside my head today. Monday I just had a lot of things on. Monday's blog from Heather was depressing because she has to struggle so hard at times. Not to be obedient, but to just carry on. Eric was only 41 when he died and they had just finished fully adopting two children from Liberia. All of this just at times seems so wrong. Like God made a mistake when He took Eric home to live with Him. Her blog was saturated with sorrow and tears and it rubbed off on me. I too struggle with God's purposes and timing. I know it was the right thing, no, the perfect thing at the perfect time. Help me, Lord, to really see that in her situation.

Then Ginny had a blog that make me cry for an entirely different reason. They had to put down their dog as old age just caught up with her too soon for their liking. Lot's of death in cyber space lately. And I'm not saying that putting down the dog was on the same level of sorrow as Eric's death. There is no comparison. It's just that life seems so hard lately yet I know that God is good. All the time. And lately I've had to keep reminding myself of that fact. This morning in Stacy's blog she informed us that her next to the youngest is suffering from something, maybe cerebral malaria and they had had to take him to the hospital for a blood transfusion. So there's just a lot of sadness out there to deal with lately. And those questions surface: If God is a God of love, why is Heather grieving from such deep wounds? If God is a God of love, why do we have to put our animal companions down long before we want to? Why do babies, pure infants who have never done anything good or bad have to suffer such debilitating illnesses? Because God is Sovereign and as sovereign, He alone sees everything. He alone knows all the answers. But as a Christian, I have to be prepared to answer each of these questions for I never know but what they might be tossed up for me to answer and defend my faith. If God is so good, why do people die before their time? If God is so good, why do babies suffer? And if God is so good, why to we have to suffer such painful losses of our dear animal friends? I don't have the answers to these questions. I've asked them and tried to answer them in two different ways and I have not yet found an explanation that fully satisfies me. I don't think that we are meant to have all the answers for there must come an element of faith in our walk with the Lord. If we had the answer to every single question, and it was all down in black and white for us to see and analyze and understand, where and how would our faith enter that picture?

Hubby and I splurged and bought Chinese take out for dinner last night and I'm sitting here eating a bowl of left over rice. So good! To be truthful, I like my rice better but then I have to go to all the work of cooking it. Take out is almost as good. It's a good think I like rice because I will probably eat more of it for dinner tonight. We used to buy take out and have it cost us only $15+ for the rice, pork chow mein, and sweet and sour pork. Last night it was $19+ for the same three dishes. The cost of every thing is going up. When you have escalating gas prices like we've had and every thing is shipped by truck, you have to expect the prices to go up. But it would be nice if our income would go up too. It was a luxury to buy the take out last night but we'll eat on it for two or three days, so that makes the cost more tolerable. Well, that bowl of rice just made me want more! The fact that I have had enough for lunch hasn't yet caught up with my brain.

We're supposed to be really hot again today. Yesterday's high was 104 and today is supposed to get to 104 in the valley and when it's 104 in the valley it's about 110 up here. [Added later on Edit: Today's high temp reached 113.4. How's that for summer time? Ugh, I hate it!] Hubby put the cooler on early today in an effort to ward off the hot temps this afternoon. I got in and got my housework all done while it was cool and now all I have to do is write or read or nap or study. Whatever it is, I'm all set to go. I have decided not to go to the luncheon tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly why but I just decided it would be better if I didn't go to this one. If it were close here in town I might still think about it. But it is out in the country and is quite a ways away and I'd have to ride with somebody and I just decided to stay home.

I finished 1Corinthians yesterday evening and got a good start on 2Corinthians and I'll probably finish with it tonight. I go out in the evenings after the sun goes below the ridge line and sit in my chair on the deck and read until it gets too dark to read anymore. I know I've said it before but I'm going to say it again, I love this translation. It has been such a blessing to me. It's the New Living Bible. Very well done. It actually tells a better story than most of the translations on the market. I found that The Message makes me too uncomfortable. It's just so radically changed from other Bibles. It is way too flippant. Way too casual. The Message doesn't even sound like a Bible and I want my Bible to have an authoritative sound to it. The New Living Bible is great!!

My hubby just brought my shoes (thongs) over for me to look at. I had torn that particular thong or the strap that goes between the toes that is, when I first fell and sprained my ankle/foot back a couple months ago. Then yesterday I caught the tip of the shoe on a nail out on the deck that was sticking up and completely pulled the strap loose. So he put it all back together for me using epoxy glue and clamps. They were just a cheap pair of sandals but I really liked them. I get lots of compliments about them so I'm happy to see that he has it all back together and they look as good as new. He said not to wear them until tomorrow so I will stay in my platform strawberry thongs for today. I am so blessed by having a husband who can and will do most anything. He seems to thrive on doing little things like repairing my thongs. He enjoys doing little things for me. And he even does a lot of big things for me too. I thank my God for him every day.

I think it's time for me to lie down and take a short nap. I usually only nap about a half an hour but it's enough to make me feel rested. [Added on edit: I slept 30 mins.] I really don't like to take long naps. But I've got all my chores done and my blog typed so I may as well take advantage of the situation. I was actually supposed to mop my floors today but they still look great from the other day so I decided to skip the floors until next week. I need more floor wax anyway. Well I think I will publish this and come back and make my corrections and additions or changes when I go back on edit. Again, I apologize for the last blog being so long. I'll try to watch that a little closer from now on. Until next time...