I Don’t Know What to Do

It’s easy to sympathize with King Jehoshaphat. His country as in dire peril and there seemed to be no way to escape. A huge alliance of Judah’s enemies was arrayed against him, and were aiming their forces toward Jerusalem.

The text tells us, “Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.” (II Chronicles 20:3 NIV)

He then prays a heartfelt prayer to the God of Israel and ends it with these words: “We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (verse 12)

Many times when facing unbearable challenges that we lack the wherewithal to solve, we agonize and anguish over realities as we see them, and the only thing to do is cry out, “I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on you.”

The good king models a great lesson here: When in dire need, don’t try to tell God how to do his job. Make the need known, admit your inability to deal with it, and then leave it in his capable hands.

The text shows that God in fact worked things out in his own way and time, and in a way that Jehoshaphat likely could not have anticipated. Don’t know what to do? Take your cue from King Jehoshaphat, then walk forward in faith with a song on your lips.

Gossip Kills Friendships

An old Irish proverb says, “Who gossips with you will gossip of you.” How monstrously true that is!

Back in my schooldays I learned the truth of that little aphorism. I used to hang out with a “friend” whose favorite pastime was not baseball (he was terrible at the game), but watching for people with personal quirks or habits (chinks in their armor, as it were) that he could exploit for laughs and other unkind, cruel behavior.

It was great fun when he would sidle over and nudge his elbow into my side just before making some demeaning remark. It was only later that I realized when I wasn’t around, it was someone else getting the nudge in the side, with me at the other end of the laugh equation.

At the time I didn’t log that he was at heart an insecure soul, and that this mimicry of a henhouse pecking order was his way of attempting to inflate a badly bruised ego. Worse, it became almost an addiction, and certainly was a bad habit.

That old Irish proverb hits it about right, as does the Biblical book of Proverbs.

A gossip betrays a confidence, so avoid anyone who talks too much. (Proverbs 20:19)

Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. (Proverbs 17:9)

A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends (Proverbs 16:28)

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels. They go down to the innermost parts. (Proverbs 26:22)

Remember that those prone to gossip are often struggling with their own insecurities. That means you shouldn’t hate them. But it also means you shouldn’t confide in them.

Emil Gets It Right Again

Emil is an old guy at church who reminds me a lot of Festus Hagen. Reliable, dedicated, principled, and like as not to show up at church in farmer’s overalls. And smart. Very smart.

In early December he said to me, “I been watchin’ these things since afore any of you was born, and I’m tellin’ you, I’ve seen weather like this, and around here we ain’t gettin’ no snow till middle o’ January. You wait and see”

Old Emil is right again. Why am I not surprised?

The Rule of Minimal Differences

From a Teaching Company course by Professor Gary Rendsberg re: the rivalry among first century religious groups:

First, there is the "rule of minimal differences", whereby one group sees as its greatest adversary the group that is closest to it. We saw this earlier in our course with the Qumran community where it sees itself as the sons of light and the other Jews as the sons of darkness, without concerns for peoples who were even further removed such as the polytheists of the Greco-Roman world.

Many of you will recognize this immediately from your own experiences. Recognize it for what it is when you see it, and then avoid it.