Facing Circumstances
![Facing the Dilemma of Uncontrollable Circumstances
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© November 20, 2011
www.pastorkennedy.com
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Uncertain and Uncontrollable Circumstances
How often have we found ourselves in a situation that is uncertain or completely uncontrollable in outcome? In fact, at times we may feel overwhelmed with the complexity, and scope of what we are facing. What do we do? Where do we go for reasonable help? What should be our first step through this maze in front of us?
The Book of John
In recent weeks we have been going through the New Testament book of John. In the sixth chapter we find a circumstance that had never previously been confronted as Jesus confronted it. No one could write a “how-to” book detailing the exact steps that Jesus took at problem solving. Jesus took each new circumstance, and each exacting, provocative, legalistically-loaded question, which confronted Him and dealt with it…as if He knew exactly what to do – and with exactly the right answer.
Moses
Moses, the man of God, in the Old Testament, was faced with insurmountable odds as the Israelites were delivered time and time again by the power of God. God provided “angel’s food” – manna for more than two million Israelites as they wandered for forty years in the wilderness. Water gushed out when, upon God’s command, Moses struck the rock, and quail by the thousands were directed by God to fly as “meat” into the massive discontented camp, but never in the history of the world had thousands of people been fed from a boy’s lunch of five small loaves of barley bread and two small fish. Jesus exploded natural boundaries through His Supernatural Power.
5,000
Feeding a crowd of five thousand in a desolate place as evening was approaching was a huge dilemma for Jesus’ disciples, but it wasn’t a problem for Jesus – because He knew what He was going to do.
Where are we going?
As a parent have you ever planned a special outing for your family, without them knowing it? All our children could say is:
“Where are we going, dad?”
“What are we going to do, mom?”
“What is happening?”
“When are we going to get there?”
“How long will it take?”
Many may have heard these questions over and over again from our children.
God hears those kinds of questions all the time – from us!
When was the last time you appealed to God regarding an unknown or serious issue facing you – testing you; trying you?
Last night? This morning? A few minutes ago?
Sometimes we have the same request go before the Throne of Grace many times in a day.
How did we answer the questions from our children when we heard them pose the same question over and over?
“It will be OK, just wait and we will tell you – we can’t tell you yet, because it is a surprise.”
“Dad knows where he is going, it will be alright.”
“Mom is planning a surprise for you, just wait!”
“It is all going to turn out in a way that you never expected!”
If We Knew for Sure…
If we knew for certain that Jesus knows exactly what He is going to do in each of these uncertain and potential hazardous circumstances of our life; what would be our response to Him and how would this affect our anxiety level – even if we never found out ourselves what the outcome would be on this earth?
Let’s look at the Scriptural narrative of the “Feeding of the Five Thousand”.
John 6:1–15
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
6 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
“Jesus already knew what He would do.”
Faith incorporates the dynamic of trusting God with the reality that He knows exactly what He is doing in each of the obstacles facing us. We reveal that faith by yielding each concern to the Lord – trusting Him for the outcome, according to His will.
Jesus asked the disciples for their solution to the problem – of so many hungry people following them…their answer was purely a normal human response.
“Look, there are 5,000 people out there, which are needing something to eat. 5,000 times $5-7.00 for each meal equals = $25,000 to $35,000. That is what it would cost us to provide the meal this evening for all of these 5,000 people. We don’t have that kind of money.”
“It is a remote place – there aren’t restaurants around here where people can eat.”
“It is late in the day and it is going to get dark soon and people will still be hanging around and sleeping all night hungry, if we don’t let them go now.”
“We can’t provide enough for everyone….”
All the food we can find is this boy’s lunch of five small barley loaves and two small fish – (smile) that won’t go around (smile again).
“So, here is our answer to the dilemma of feeding all these people: send everybody away to scrounge on their own for their own food wherever they can find it.”
But, “Jesus knew what He would do.” His disciples would find that out firsthand.
“Sit everyone down on the grass.” Jesus asked his disciples. They complied, since there was a lot of grass – not necessarily knowing what was going to happen next.
Jesus took the boy’s lunch, and gave thanks. He then began distributing the five loaves and two fish to his disciples – each, most likely, in their own basket, to give out to the seated crowd. The more the folks ate, the more was given to them from the baskets of the disciples. When they had finished eating there were twelve basketfuls collected by the disciples from those who were full and could eat no more.
Can We Trust God to Know What He is Doing?
Can we, as God’s Children, trust God, our Father, to know what He is doing when we are faced with serious dilemmas? Can we trust God to take the worst of circumstances and turn them into something for God’s Glory and our blessing?
God is not surprised nor threatened by the carnality or destructiveness of humankind – obstacles, or abuse, or power, or perversion, or poverty, or war, or drought, or famine, or the national debt – these things do not overcome God.
God loves His children and those who trust in Him will be taken care of by Him.
Faith incorporates the dynamic of trusting God with the reality that He knows exactly what He is doing in each of the obstacles facing us. We reveal that faith by yielding each concern to the Lord – trusting Him for the outcome, according to His will.
God might know about His Knowing what He is going to do, but does He expect us to do something?
Jesus’ Five Confidential Instructions to His Children
Jesus’ has Confidential Instructions to His Children for His Provision for their need, unexpected or otherwise. His instructions begin with: Ask, Seek and Knock.
Matthew 7:7–11
Ask, Seek, Knock
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
The Widow’s provision of Oil
She asked; she sought; she knocked, and God provided.
2 Kings 4:1–7
4 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
Asking, Seeking, and Knocking has to do with being proactive – with following the Leading of God’s Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14), and taking what God has given you and seeing if He wants to use it to provide for you to accomplish His will.
Exodus 4:1–3
What is in your Hand?
4 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.
The Widow of the Prophet had nothing but oil in the house and God’s Servant directed her to use the oil. She did so and her need was provided.
Moses had nothing but a ruined reputation in Egypt – from which he knew no one would credibly listen to him, but God asked him what he had in his hand – it was a staff that, when God used it, declared that he was the voice of God, using the power of God.
The Next Confidential Word of God to those Facing Obstacles: “Wait”
There are two more Confidential instructions that the Word of God gives to those who are followers of Christ: the first of those two words is “wait”. Ask, Seek, Knock and Wait.
If you have seen that you have something in your hand and you have sought to use it, but God has “stayed your hand”, then God’s message to you must be to wait. His timing will bring better use of what is in your hand – or He has a different plan!
Waiting has to do with patiently seeking God’s direction revealed in God’s timing.
Isaiah 33:2
2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
Isaiah 30:15
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling….
Lamentations 3:22–26
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Psalm 130:5–6
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
Testing is part of Waiting: but God knows what He is going to do!
Psalm 105:16–21
16 When he summoned a famine on the land
and broke all supply of bread,
17 he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested [“refined – as gold is refined”] him.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions….
The Internal Problem which Everyone Faces when Confronting Huge Obstacles: Anxiousness and the fear of not knowing what is going to happen. Anxiety and the fear of an uncertain future always rise as an immediate emotion when we are faced with an overwhelming circumstance or obstacle.
Anxiousness prevails when we fail to cast our care upon God.
Matthew 6:25–34
Do Not Worry – Do not be Anxious
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
A Critical Final Instruction for those Facing Obstacles in Life: “Be thankful.”
Thanksgiving to God is the only real thing that can replace anxiousness.
Psalm 92:1–4
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
A Definition of Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving is that supernatural attitude of the believing heart that can supersede all human events, emotions and experiences with a heartfelt spirit of praise and gratitude, to the undisputed Creator of heaven and earth, Lord of our life, and Eternal God and King, Who holds all things in His Holy, Just and Loving Hand. Thanksgiving displays a believing heart in God’s Supernatural Power.
Could a secret of contentment and transfer of anxiety be to Give Thanks to God?
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing,
18 give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
God knows what He is going to do next…
Ask, Seek, Knock, Wait and Be Thankful!
I Think I have Forgotten One More Word
You know, I think I have left out one more word that is critical in the life of the Christian. It goes with the aspect of waiting that has already been used, but it points out a very important part of faith. That word final word is “Rest”.
Psalm 37:7a
7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…
Ask, Seek, Knock, Wait, Be Thankful and Rest in the Lord, because God knows what He is going to do next!](Facing_Uncontrollable_Circumstances_files/shapeimage_1.png)
