When Things Go Awry

August 23, 2009

Scripture 1 Kings 8:22-53

Title When Things Go Awry

Desired outcome: Our response to facing life’s difficult circumstances will bring about God’s response to us.

I was driving down a back country road on vacation when I heard a funny grinding noise. This was before I was married so I was vacationing on my own. I was on a back road tour of WI that would finish at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. When I heard the noise, I pulled over and looked under the car. It sounded like it was coming from a front wheel, but I couldn’t see or smell anything that seemed out of place. I decided to drive to the nearest mechanic to have it checked out. As I slowly moved forward, the noise disappeared, so I decided to keep driving. This happened to me 3 or 4 times except the last time it sounded horrible. My next town was Dyersville, so I stopped at the first car mechanic I found and asked them to take a look at it. They said they could get to it sometime that day, so I figured instead of waiting around in the waiting room, I’d bike 3 miles outside of town and hang out at the Field of Dreams. After a few hours of shagging flies, and smelling corn, the mechanic called me and told me the ball bearings on my left front wheel had ground loose and the wheel was barely hanging on! Sometimes vacations don’t exactly go as planned!

What is our response when we encounter tough situations in life? How do we deal with them? Sometimes they are our fault. Other times, it’s just what life hands us. Sometimes they’re light-hearted and fun. Other times, those tough situations can change our lives forever- like an unexpected death in the family or the loss of a job. Our scripture passage this morning laid out quite a depressing list of “life gone bad” scenarios: Conflict with a neighbor, being defeated by an enemy, experiencing a year of drought or floods, various kinds of famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, insect invasions, feeling surrounded and attacked from all sides, plague, and sickness. Can anyone here identify with any of those? Let me add to that: swine flu, downturn in the economy, insects destroying our forests, world hunger, AIDS, flooded basements, leaky roofs, family conflict and turmoil. Are we depressed yet? What about sick children, overdue bills, and our personal, everyday struggles? Let’s face it. Life is not always easy, and it’s not always fun. But what are supposed to do? Just hold on and hope we make it through? Suck it up and endure it?

Here’s the interesting thing about this depressing list from 1 Kings. This was prayed by King Solomon during the dedication of the new temple. This was a moment that had been a whole generation in the making starting with his father King David’s vision to build a house for the Lord. This was a momentous, celebratory time! The whole nation gathered together to celebrate the huge event. And King Solomon fell on his knees before the Lord and cried out this petition. This seems significant to me because out of Solomon’s wisdom, he knew that times wouldn’t always be this good; that there would be struggles and hardship and sin down the road.

So during this celebration, he lifts up a petition to the Lord which also contains some helpful responses that we and the Israelites can have during tough times.

1. Confess the name of the Lord

a. When? When you feel defeated by an external enemy or by your own sin.
b. Why? It gives us perspective. When the world seems too big, it means our view of God is too small. It’s not that our God IS too small; it’s just that when we aren’t focused on Him, we lose the proper perspective of just how big and powerful God is.
c. How?
i. Start in the Psalms. For example, from the Psalm we read this morning- How blessed is the man whose strength is in You (v.5), My King and My God (v.3), For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly (v.11).
ii. Focus on different names of the Lord. Each of those names brings out different attributes. For example, Psalm 91 refers to God as a shelter, a shadow, a refuge, a fortress, a cover, as being under His wings, as a shield, a bulwark, and a dwelling place.

Here is the A to Z list of God’s character to confess while praising God from Jack Hayford:
Almighty, Beautiful, creator, dependable, everlasting, fulfiller, glorious, holy, immutable, Jehovah, kind, loving, mindful, new, omnipotent, precious, quick, righteous, sensitive, terrifying, undergirding, victor, wonderful, eXcellent, Yesterday today and forever, Zestful.

2. Pray and make supplication
a. When? In every situation, at all times, without ceasing.
b. Why? Because God will hear in heaven and respond. He will respond with what we need when we need it. He will respond because He desires a relationship with us. He will respond because He is our heavenly Father and He loves to lavish on us good things.
c. How? Prayer is simply a conversation with God, but a helpful tool I like to use is an ACTS prayer. That is an acronym that reminds us within our prayer we should include these elements: A- Adoration of God, C- Confession of our sins, T- Thanksgiving for what God has done for us, and S- Supplication or letting our requests be made known to God.

3. Turn from sin and turn to God (repent) with all of your heart and soul. This is the very definition of repentance. This is ultimately what God calls us to when we first begin our relationship with Him. We are going our own selfish way (which is a way of sin) and God calls us to turn from that way and turn to His way through a life in Christ. This is not a half-hearted effort, but something to be done with all of our heart and soul. But even after we’re walking with Christ, so often within our hearts, sin can creep in. The sooner we can acknowledge that sin and turn away from it, the better it will be for us.

In the early days of the automobile a man's Model-T Ford stalled in the middle of the road. He couldn't get it started no matter how hard he cranked nor how much he tried to advance the spark or adjust things under the hood. Just then a chauffeured limousine pulled up behind him, and a wiry, energetic man stepped out from the back seat and offered his assistance. After tinkering for a few moments the stranger said, "Now try it!" Immediately the engine leaped to life. The well-dressed individual then identified himself as Henry Ford. "I designed and built these cars," he said, "so I know what to do when something goes wrong." God, as our creator knows how to "fix" us when our lives are broken by sin.

a. When? Whenever we are convicted of choosing our own direction instead of God’s.
b. Why? As we’ll see in a minute, it is when we turn to God that we can see His good response to our situation.
c. How? God has made a bridge to Himself for us through His son, Jesus, in order that we could be forgiven of our sin and walk in His direction. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us and gives us the power to turn from our own way and acknowledge God’s way is better.

So there I was in Dyersville, IA- out of vacation days and no way to get home. As I prayed about how to get out of this mess, I knew that it was a circumstance that wasn’t too big for God. Within an hour, the new wrestling coach from the town I lived in came up to me and started talking to me. To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure who it was. As we talked more, he shared with me that he was here with his wife and were just driving around for the day. I told him my story of adventure and misfortune. We parted ways as he went back to talk with his wife. A few minutes later, he came back to me and said they were heading home right after this and he wanted to know if I would like a ride! And if that wasn’t enough, they had room for my bike! AND he liked to drive back roads like I did so even my back road adventure was able to continue on! Although this is a light-hearted story, it does illustrate the blessing that God has for us if we respond to difficult situations in the appropriate ways.

So listen now to God’s promises if we choose to respond by 1) confessing the name of the Lord, 2) praying and making supplication, and 3) turning from sin and to God with all of our hearts and souls:

The Lord promises to hear in heaven and forgive. He promises to bring us back from the clutches of our enemies. He promises to teach us the good way to walk. He promises to send rain when our hearts are dry. He promises to act and deliver to each according to the ways of our hearts. He promises to maintain our cause. He promises to make us objects of His compassion, to look on us with open eyes, and to listen to us with open ears.

May we respond to our difficult circumstances in such a way that God can put within our hearts a melody- no matter how trying the situation. Amen.

Desired outcome: Our response to facing life’s difficult circumstances will bring about God’s response to us.