This was a hugely influential book in my life, and today it is being offered for FREE at Amazon.
When I Don’t Know What to Do
I went to bed last night looking forward to the week, determined and eager for the days ahead. I woke up this morning under a cloud of discouragement and fear.
How does this happen?
I don’t know. I slept well. I woke up and walked through my morning routine. I’ve worked hard. And yet I’ve not been able to shake this heaviness. The worry about the future. The discouragement.
I do know that we all have days like this. And when these days come, we have to fight to keep pushing forward. As much for myself, I’m writing out steps here to help combat the oppression that occasionally threatens to overwhelm us:
1. Do the next thing. Keep moving. Make a list and work through it. Even when “crawling back in bed” sounds so appealing, doing so will only serve to prolong the situation. If you don’t know what to do, be productive.
2. Embrace Joy. Choose joy. Joy is not happiness, it’s not dependent upon the circumstances of life-a new car, a good job, a stellar vacation. No, joy comes from acknowledging salvation. Psalm 51: 12 says “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” If you don’t know what to do, ask God to restore the joy of His salvation.
3. Serve. I really need to practice this. I tend to be tremendously introverted, to the point of being isolated. When I become this way, I lose out on one of the greatest callings God has placed on my life, (and yours, too!) and that is to serve. When I serve others, I get outside of myself. I see the larger picture of the world, beyond my petty problems. I learn when I serve. How do you serve? Simple. Find a need and meet it. Don’t make it more complicated than that. If you don’t know what to do, serve others.
4. Worship. God delights in our worship. Worship strips away all other peripheral issues and brings our focus, our souls, to the very throne of God. There we learn what is truly important. There we learn who we are in Christ. Take a few minutes to listen to this worship song by Tommy Walker titled, appropriately, When I Don’t Know What to Do. (lyrics and video at the bottom of this post). One line sings “When I don’t know what to do, I’ll speak Your praise.” If you don’t know what to do, worship Him.
5. Keep your eyes on God. Here’s the verse that I found myself back to this morning as I have fought for solid ground. The last half of 2nd Chronicles 20:12 reads “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” It’s easy to take our eyes off of God. The world demands much of our attention. We get caught up on what others think about us. We worry about our financial future. We think we have it all together. Or we realize we have nothing together. But this verse, with a hint of desperation, describes what our plea should daily be. If you don’t know what to do, place your eyes on God.
Naaman–Or “Running From the Cure”
We had a great morning of worship at Seaford Baptist Church in Seaford, VA this morning. Our youth pastor preached on What the Gospel Is, using the story of Naaman in 2nd Kings 5 to provide “Gospel snapshots”, presenting a clear explanation of the Gospel (a good explanation of the Gospel can be read Here).
But I was captivated by the story of Naaman itself. I don’t think I’ve ever paid attention enough to remember this story. Wow! It’s a great one! Essentially, Naaman was a tremendous leader–the commander of the King of Syria’s army–but he had one huge problem. He had leprosy. A death sentence.
A servant girl from Israel, who had been stolen by Syria, worked for Naaman’s wife. She told her mistress that if Naaman knew this man, a prophet, from Israel, he would be healed. Naaman, desperate for healing, approached his king about the idea. The Syrian King then sent Naaman, with a letter to the King of Israel.
The King of Israel just nearly falls out. He can’t do anything to help Naaman! He believes that the King of Syria has sent Naaman, knowing that the king can’t do anything to help him, in order to start a new round of fighting between the two kingdoms.
But Elisha, the prophet, sends for Naaman. When Naaman arrives at Elisha’s house, Elisha sends a messenger out to him to tell him to dip 7 times in the Jordan river and his leprosy would be cured.
This angered Naaman; he was furious that Elisha himself did not come out himself to see and cure him. He was in a rage!! He came so close to going away, uncured. Unsaved. A dead man.
Naaman’s servants, however, managed to persuade Naaman to at least try the instructions given to him by Elisha. So he did. Seven times he dipped himself into the Jordan, and after the seventh time, his leprosy was cured. He was saved. Alive.
Several things struck me about this story, one of them being this:
The prophet Elisha did not act in the way that Naaman expected him to, so Naaman got angry and nearly went home, uncured.
What do we do when God does not act the way we expect Him to? When He doesn’t provide the answers we expect? When He doesn’t cure in the way we ask Him to? When He allows unthinkable disruptions to the way we perceive life is “supposed to be”?
I know my tendency, and it isn’t pretty. In fact, my reaction at times hasn’t been too far off of what Naaman’s original reaction was. Rage. Turning my back to walk away from the one thing that will save me.
I finished reading The Idiot by Dostoevsky this week, and I think one of the quotes from that book has application here:
“We degrade God when we attribute our own ideas to Him, out of annoyance that we cannot fathom His ways.”
I think I know best. My pride leads me to often tell God how I think things should be. How wrong! How arrogant!
When God speaks, and it’s not what we expect or want to hear, how do we react? Because God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are beyond us. He sees and knows. What we see and know is so limited. He establishes our steps. Are we going to follow them?
O that my soul would not be so rebellious.
To read the story of Naaman in scripture, click Here.
Sunday Sundries
It’s raining. I love rain.
1. My home state of Iowa just completed their infamous State Fair. Here’s an article about the newest debut of fair food: Deep Fried Butter on a Stick. No Joke.
2. Another great Muppet story….11 Muppets who made very infrequent appearances.
3. See what happens when a supposedly dead body floating in the water suddenly sits up, shocking the crowd of onlookers.
4. Did you know that everyone sleeps for an average of 24 years during their life? Here’s an article that takes a good look at sleep and debunks some of the myths perpetuated about sleep.
5. Take a look at what might be the scariest hotel swimming pool in the world.