The feeling of not knowing what to do in our lives our can be terrifying. It's especially terrifying when that comes from someone in leadership. When our leaders don’t know what to do, and that happens all the time in the world, it can crush us. This phenomenon also happens in our personal lives when we encounter hard situations.

All of the sudden we have no idea what to do about them. So I want to show you a man who was in a position of leadership, who didn't know what to do, and how he dealt with it, and hopefully that can encourage us and equip us in our lives for when we don't know what to do.

That man is Jehoshaphat. You remember all the things leading up to this king… He's one of the good kings of Judah and I want to notice what kind of king he was!

2 Chronicles 17:1-4, 6: He got rid of idolatry

2 Chronicles 17:7-9: He had the people learn the law. He was concerned with the law Jehoshaphat made the people do what was required of him.

2 Chronicles 18:1: Restored the relationship of Israel and Judah

2 Chronicles 19:4-7: He cared about justice and established a judicial system for what God expected.

This guy is a great man! He's an extraordinary king! But then in chapter 20 oppression comes.

2 Chronicles 20:1-2 - Isn't that how our life happens a lot of times? We're doing good and everything is great and something bad happens that’s hard to deal with!

But look what he does! He does exactly what you'd expect a righteous king to do:

2 Chronicles 20:3-4 - He set his face to seek the LORD, He also got other people to seek God. He fasted when oppression came, he was really seeking. And he prayed.

2 Chronicles 20:5-12 - His prayer is so powerful in many ways, but I want to focus on the last statements in verse 12.

Three Statements:

“We are powerless”? Was he really??

2 Chronicles 17:10-19 — He had 1,160,000 men and that’s not including verse 19! He had a lot of power! So why did he say that he was powerless? Remember Zechariah 4:6? I think he was saying, “If you're not with me LORD, then I'm powerless! Jehoshaphat understood where power came from.

“We do not know what to do”

That’s a scary thing! Can you imagine being in the army of Jehoshaphat? It'd be scary if our president said that! It shows that Jehoshaphat trusted God!

“Our eyes are on you”

What great faith. When things got chaotic for Jehoshaphat he kept his eyes on the one who could do something about it.

So what can we learn from a man like Jehoshaphat?

Be honest about your circumstances!

God already knows you can't handle it alone. Acknowledging it is the first step! AA says the first step is saying you have a problem. We cannot blind ourselves to the situation! We need to be honest with ourselves.

Confess our insufficiency

It's hard to say I don’t know what to do! I like knowing what to do. But you know what, that doesn’t always happen especially in the life of a Christian. Jesus acknowledged that in Matthew 19:25-26. We are insufficient without God! Sometimes there are things out of our reach, but that's okay, because everything is in God's reach! He's in control especially when it comes to our salvation. We don’t have to be in control of everything in our lives, even when we feel like we do.

Acknowledge your dependence.

"Our eyes are on you". You hear that statement, "you know when life is hard put your eyes on God. Look to him" and we hear that and think: "You know what, that's just what the preacher is supposed to say." He needs to tell me that. But there's so much good that comes from that statement. It’s not just looking at God, but knowing WHO you're looking at!

So I want to finish by learning more of WHO God actually is. So let’s look over to Isaiah 40.

This is God telling his people about who He is! Verse 28-31. Starts with two rhetorical questions. Of course you know who God is, of course you've heard. But I'm going to tell you anyway. That's helpful in these situations where we feel powerless. I think most people reading this probably have some grasp of who God is… remind yourself anyway!

Who is God? The everlasting God! He's eternal. He's been here from the beginning and he'll be here after the end. That means for your specific problem. God has seen it before! God can deal with any subject He is the creator of the ends of the earth. I love looking at the stars The sun is one of the stars we have in our galaxy. You know it's huge! But it’s one of a trillion stars God made it all. HE'S HUGE! Psalm 19:1 says, “the heavens declare the glory of God”. When you see what he's made its amazing.

He does not grow faint or weary We get tired… everyone does! God doesn’t need that. He doesn’t need a nap or to take a break There's never too much to handle.

His understanding is unsearchable. You can never exhaust what God knows. We understand that on a macro level, that God has all understanding but that's true on a micro level He understands everything about me. You think no one really gets this. Jesus said God knows even the hairs on your head! I love Psalm 56:8. “You put my tears in your bottle.” There's not one struggle that the people of God go through that he's not aware of and cares about. Peter says cast your cares on the LORD because he cares for you! And he can do something about that!

Isaiah 40:29 - He gives power to the faint and increases strength. That is the second most beautiful thing in the entire universe The first is that God forgave me. He could have just had enough and destroyed it all but instead he redeemed us! The second is that this God who has all of these attributes wants to give His power to me whenever I need it for good. He would do that for me and you and everyone who calls on him.

But that's the catch, he doesn't force that on anyone. Even youths faint, it will happen to everyone! If you wait on the LORD he will give his power to you. Those who trust in Him and increase their faith. When you trust in something you put your weight on it. Waiting on God is trusting that God can handle the weights in your life. Give it to God!

Jehoshaphat's story ends well and with victory. What will you do when you don’t know what to do?

We’re also in a battle in our lives - Hebrews 12:1-3 - Christ died for us so we don't have to be weary, and overcome by sin and trust in God.