We'll turn again in God's word to 2 Chronicles and chapter 20. I'm gonna pose a question to you and I want you to think about it quite honestly for your life, because for those who have gone to church for some time, the answer is obvious, at least you know the right answer. But the question I'm asking you, I want you to think about what your answer is to that question. What do you do when life throws up difficulties? What do you do when an impossibility is set before you? What do you do when there's a challenge, a roadblock in the way that you thought you were going? How do we approach difficulties? I'm sure for many of you, you could write my sermon for me because you know the right answer. who's grown up in the church knows the right answer to that question. But what do you actually do when life is difficult? How do you respond to the challenges that come our way? Because one thing is for sure, that life is not easy. We're not promised an easy life. Even Christians are not promised an easy life. And in this chapter we see that for Jehoshaphat, a man of faith, a man of God, there was a time in which he was brought into dire circumstances and the nation was going to suffer. Look there and you see in chapter 20 that we have these enemies who come, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and with them some of the Mayonites. And they're gathering as forces to come against Judah to attack and to invade. Now, we can take a step back and consider what we've been studying over our series here. And we've seen in the life of Jehoshaphat that he had made a wrong choice. He had joined forces with Ahab, the wicked king of Israel. He had incorporated his army, the army of Judah, with the army of Israel. And so, good was working together with evil. The children of God working with the children of the devil. Light working with darkness. And as a result of that, we've seen that Jehoshaphat has been chastened. He had been disciplined. Chapter 19 verse 2, he was rebuked by Jehu. Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this wrath has gone out against you from the Lord. There's a time of discipline, a time of chastening. You have done the wrong thing and you're going to face consequences for that. And this is one of the consequences. Chapter 20 is showing us one of the consequences that Judah would face because of their sin of joining in with rebellious Ahab in Israel. But it's interesting, isn't it? Because although that rebuke came to Jehoshaphat, we saw last week that Jehoshaphat responded to it in the right way. He humbled himself and he put his heart and soul back into the work of reformation. Do you remember how he establishes judges? It was one thing to have the word of God taught, but now he realizes the word of God needs to be put into practice And so there needs to be judges throughout the land of Judah. And that was a great thing to do. That was something that the law of Moses had told should be done. It was something that had fallen into neglect. Jehoshaphat brings that reform, which was necessary. But friends, I think that's interesting, isn't it? That after Jehoshaphat does something good, he is still brought into a time of affliction and trial. We often think from a very human perspective about the way God should deal with people and how God should deal with us. If Jehoshaphat had sinned as he did and hadn't repented from it, we could quite easily see how chapter 20 would follow on, couldn't we? Chapter 19 verse 2 was immediately followed by chapter 20 verse 1. We would nod our heads and we would say, yes, wrath has gone out against Jehoshaphat, and here is that wrath. He's being attacked by these nations to the east. Makes sense, doesn't it? Sin is followed by consequences. But it's much harder for us, isn't it, humanly speaking, for us to accept how God works in this way. that Jehoshaphat actually performed a lot of good. He turned over a new leaf. He was back at Reformation. He was working to see God's glory manifest. And this is how God repays him? This is how God rewards him? Surely those who honor me, I will honor. Why is it that God is bringing difficulty into Jehoshaphat's life after he has done all this work of Reformation? From a purely human perspective, we think, would it not be better if God made his life easier for him because of the good that he has done? And yet, friends, God does not work as man works. God is not a man to work in our way. God often interweaves light and darkness in our lives. God often, in his sovereignty, in his overarching plan, He often works in ways that we least expect, but he is in control and he's doing it for good. Yes, affliction can come. And this affliction here in the land of Judah, I think is the chastening that God has said, wrath has gone out against you. And yet verse three of chapter 19 said, nevertheless. So although wrath is coming, nevertheless, there is hope. You are not dead in your sins. There is some good in you that has been worked in you by my grace. And therefore what we've read here today is not the end of the story. And so you have to come back next week and hear how this prayer that Jehoshaphat offers is answered and how God does work salvation for his people. But friends, I want us to see for ourselves that hard times in our lives are often God's way of discipling us. It may be discipline for a particular sin, or it may not. But nevertheless, affliction is his school of discipleship for us. Do you not find in your own life, Christian brothers and sisters, that when you suffer, you learn far more than when you don't? When you're brought into hardship, you learn far more about yourself. You learn far more about the roots of sin that are still in your heart. You learn far more about your faith or lack of faith, where your confidence really lies, whether you're being self-reliant or relying upon God. In times of affliction, you learn far more about God. You know he's a sovereign God. You know he's a powerful God. You know he's a gracious God. But when you're suffering, you're called to put your knowledge into practice, put it into faith. And now you must rely upon God in that moment. And so truth can become precious truth. You see, truth that is abstract, you can assent to it, you can nod your head and say, yes, God is in control. But when you're suffering, it becomes precious truth. You have to rely upon it. God is in control and you're clinging to him with all the faith that you have, the little faith you have, you're clinging to him. You're putting the truth to the test, into practice, And affliction, therefore, is for our good. God is discipling us. He wants us to be mature in the faith, and he's taking us along that way. And friends, don't be surprised if at times in your life things seem to be going well, and then you hit a roadblock. Don't be surprised if in your faith things are going well, and you feel that you're growing in your faith. Don't be surprised, even as a congregation, when we're working hard for the Lord, that we can sometimes hit times of affliction and hardship. God does not always give us things on the schedule that we think he should give us things. Just as Jehoshaphat here, reformation is not followed by a great reward initially. Reformation is followed by affliction, hardship, a test. A trial. The question is, how do we respond? And that was my first question, wasn't it? How do you respond? What do you do when life throws these difficulties in your way? Jehoshaphat is put to the test. For him, there is a really existential threat. Judah could be wiped out by these nations that are coming from the east. Look at verse one, and you see that it's three separate groups that have come together against Judah. One of these nations invading Judah would have been bad enough, but it's three of them working together, and this poses a threat to them. These three nations, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Maonites, are all coming from the east. They're coming across the river, beyond the sea, the Dead Sea, they're coming over into Judah. It's interesting that they're coming from the East because over the previous chapters, Jehoshaphat has been so concerned about the North. I wonder if God has allowed him to be so tunnel vision. He's looking to the North. He's been helping Ahab against the Syrians. That's the direction he's been looking. Perhaps he's let down his guard in the East because that is where these nations come from. And verse two tells us that it's a great multitude. It's not just a few people, it's a large army, so much so that in verse three, it tells us Jehoshaphat is afraid. Now Jehoshaphat was a man who had been in wars. He was a man who had fought battles. I'm sure he was a bold, courageous man. He certainly was in terms of his reformation, that he was willing to do hard things in the land of Judah. But now he is afraid. And that shows us that these forces against him or a mighty army. Perhaps even, and we can only speculate on this point, remember that Jehoshaphat had brought his army north to fight with Ahab. Perhaps Jehoshaphat had lost a lot of his army, or perhaps he had lost many of his good fighting men in that disastrous battle alongside Ahab. Remember that Jehoshaphat himself almost lost his life. So perhaps he had lost good men, And so now he's faced with this threat, how can we withstand these nations? This was a dark hour for Judah, one of the darkest. It's like, and I've used this illustration before, but it's like at Dunkirk in the Second World War. This is a threat that's coming that there's no way out of it, no human way out of it. And what is a nation to do in their darkest hours? Well, there are two solutions. It's really one solution, but two parts to it. First of all, humiliation, and secondly, prayer. And that's Jehoshaphat's answer. And this should be our answer as we think about the difficulties of our lives. Humiliation and prayer. What is humiliation? That's our first point. I'm not thinking of humiliation in the sense of shame. These nations, the Moabites, Ammonites, and Mayonites could come in and humiliate Judah. They could put them to shame. But that's not what I'm saying. Rather, it's that Jehoshaphat humbles himself before God. He doesn't wait to be humiliated by these foreigners. Rather, he goes before God and bows in his heart. He, as Psalm 95 was saying, he kneels humbly before God. Look there at verse three and you see that in his fear, he set his face to seek the Lord. And every word there is important. It's not just that in his fear he sought God, but he set his face to seek the Lord. There's almost a preparation. There's almost a baby step. Before he can seek God, he has to actually set his face to do it. Because he knows, doesn't he? And you and I know, in times of difficulty, our face is looking all around us. Our eyes are looking towards the problem. Maybe even our eyes are looking to our own hearts for solutions, for answers. But Jehoshaphat disciplines himself to seek the Lord. He's going to humble himself to go before God. And the main way we see this humiliation in verse three again, is that he proclaims a fast. There's gonna be a time in which the people of Judah abstain from food. They're not going to eat. They're not gonna have their regular meals. They're going to humble themselves before God and cry out to him for mercy and for deliverance. I want you to notice just a few things here This wasn't just a private fast. Any one of you has the liberty, by God's word, to fast at any time you choose. There are no set times of fasting. Roman Catholicism has set times that it expects its adherents to fast. There are no such times set down in God's word. Fridays are not fast days. Lent is not required of God's people. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't fast. There are times where it's appropriate and you have the liberty as an individual before God to fast at any time that you would choose. But Jehoshaphat here is not acting as an individual, just individually fasting before God. He proclaims a fast. He announces it. He commands it. He uses his royal authority as king. And he says, we are going to fast before God. Royal authority calls for this fast. Look at verse four. And you see that out of this royal command, Judah assembles to seek help from the Lord. Where did they come from? From all the cities of Judah. So it's not just Jehoshaphat and his royal advisors. It's not just those people within the court in Jerusalem. No, it's people coming from all the cities. And if you look at verse 13, we didn't read verse 13. Meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. There's a gathering of everyone, even the little ones, the young people. Young people should be in worship. That's one application of this. We see it through the scripture. Young people are gathered together at times. But here particularly, even for this fasting, they are there on this day of humiliation and a day of crying out to God in prayer. All the nation is to gather before the Lord. By the same principle exists today that royal authority could call a fast That's something that nations, that political rulers do have the power and authority under God to do. It's not something that is frequently done. I don't know when the last fast announced would have been, but a day of humiliation would be a good thing for a nation to do before God, especially when we consider the sins of the nation and the judgment of God that is so manifest against us. There's no such desire. to call such days of humiliation. But not only can royal authority call for a fast, church authority can also call for a fast too. And we have to distinguish between, in Roman Catholicism, of course, the church authority calls for a fast every Friday, particularly on Good Friday and so on. No church has the authority to set regular times of fasting. This must be done on certain days like that. But on occasional days, As there is need, as there's an emergency or there's some unique set of circumstances, church authority can, and perhaps we should say, should call for days of humiliation. It's not something that we do often. I think perhaps that's to our own shame that we do not do it as much as there is need for it. Perhaps you remember, I wasn't your minister at that point, it was up in store anyway, but at the start of COVID, presbytery did call for a day of humiliation and prayer. And we gave out reasons for that. And it was to be a day of fasting before God and calling upon him to lift judgment from us. And such a thing would be appropriate. You can look back at the history books of our denomination, you would see that that was something that commonly happened, far more than it did today. Where there was a need, humble yourselves before God. And fasting is just an expression of that, isn't it? As we abstain from eating, as we're not enjoying times of table fellowship, we're instead thinking about the Lord, humbling ourselves before him, focusing our prayers upon him. Jesus certainly expects that we would fast. He doesn't tell his disciples, if you fast, rather he says, when you fast, it's the same It goes on, if you pray, no, no, it says when you pray, you see? So just as Jesus expects Christians to pray, so Jesus expects Christians to fast. The Old Testament prophet Joel says in chapter two, verse 12, now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your hearts and not your garments. So tear your hearts instead of tearing your clothes. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. Friends, do we believe that, that God is gracious, that he's merciful, he's slow to anger, he's abounding in great kindness? Do you believe that? Well then, friends, when we're in our sin, Surely we should go to him in humiliation, tearing our hearts, not literally, but opening up our hearts to him and fasting and weeping and crying out to him for the mercy. When we unite fasting with prayer, there's a greater urgency in it, isn't there? And you see that in the book of Acts. There were various times in which there were fasts amongst God's people, I think particularly You can look yourself through Acts and try to find every reference to fasting. I think in particular it comes at times of setting aside men for ministry, times of ordaining and so on. That seems to be one particular time where the church in its early days focused intently on prayer. Perhaps that's something that should be emulated by us today. But certainly, When there's fasting, there's a greater urgency in the prayer. I want to be very clear. You can fast and still be an unbeliever. That should be obvious because there are religions that have fasts, aren't there? Think of Islam, Roman Catholicism, they have fasts, and yet there is no true faith. The hypocrite can fast to be seen, like the Pharisees did, and Jesus rebuked them for it. They fasted to be seen by others. And Jesus says, you have had your reward. That's the reward you get from public fasting, to be seen by others. You get some people who congratulate you, some people who say, well, isn't that a religious and a devout man? There's someone who really believes their principles. That is all the reward that a hypocrite can expect. There's no merit from God in fasting. We don't gain brownie points with him. We don't twist his arm into saving us. Salvation doesn't come by fasting. What is the only way in which you and I can be saved from our sin? It's through the cross. How can there be peace with a God who is angry against sin? How can we be at peace with him? How can we be reconciled to him? And how can he be reconciled to us? not by us persisting in our sin, but we cannot solve the problem. Christ can, and Christ has. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe in him, in him as a person, as the God-man, in him as the Savior, the Christ, in him who died upon the cross, whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. There is salvation. There is hope. And so friends, in that verse that's so well known, it doesn't say that you must fast in order to have eternal life. It doesn't say that you gain heaven by fasting. That's what Roman Catholicism teaches. That's not the way. We don't gain credit with God through fasting. Jesus condemned that attitude in his parable. I referred to it last week, the Pharisee and the tax collector. How does the Pharisee believe that he is right with God? I fast twice a week. That was one of the things he lists, isn't it? These are things that I do over and beyond what other people do, over and beyond what the law of God requires. I fast twice a week, therefore I am righteous, therefore I am holy. No. The only person who goes home justified is the tax collector who cries out, Lord, have mercy upon me. a sinner. And so friends, there is no merit gained by God through fasting. But fasting is not therefore useless. Fasting is a good thing for believers to do. Those who have cried out to God and received salvation through Christ can and should, on occasions, fast. Because it brings us into a better attitude for prayer. It helps us to come before God with the humility that is required. And it helps us particularly when there are dire circumstances and great need. And that is where Jehoshaphat is, that is where Judah was, and that is why Jehoshaphat with royal power calls for a fast. But a fast by itself is not enough. So our first point is the humiliation, that is the fasting. The second point is prayer. What do you do when life throws you a difficulty? Humble yourself before God and pray. I told you there was nothing new in it. I told you you could write the sermon yourself. The answer is so obvious. We all know it, do we not? And yet, how often we forget and fail to put it into practice. Jehoshaphat comes before God in prayer. And I think this prayer is really a masterly prayer. It really is an excellent prayer for us to take as an example. And if you study it, I think you'll see that there are two rhetorical questions that become the basis for developing an argument with God. Rhetorical questions, in case you don't know, rhetorical questions are questions that we don't expect an answer to. They are questions that the answer is so obvious, the answer is already implied. And in prayer, it is appropriate for us to ask God questions. But of course, we're not expecting him to answer the questions. We're expecting him to answer our petitions. But the questions, we know the answers already, don't we? Jehoshaphat begins here by addressing God with the name Lord, verse six, O Lord, but also as God of our fathers. And I think both of these together, the name Lord, Jehovah, And the title God of our fathers shows us that Jehoshaphat is laying hold of the covenant of grace. He's believing that God is gracious and faithful throughout generations. Prayer can be strengthened by using the titles of God find in the word. And this title God of our fathers is used only eight times in the Bible. So if you want a challenge, you can go and try to find all eight times, use a concordance, use the internet, you'll find it. Only eight times is this title used, but yet I think it's quite a rich title, God of our fathers. Some of you perhaps have the privilege of coming from a covenant home. Your parents were believers. Perhaps your grandparents were believers. Your great-grandparents were believers. And therefore, in a sense, you can say this quite truly, oh God of our fathers, you've been with us throughout generations. Perhaps that's your prayer for the generations that are following, oh God of our fathers. But even if you don't come from such a line, remember that the church is a family. And even if you're grafted into the family, you're a part of the family, and you share the history of the family. If you're adopted into the family, it's your family, and that family tree is your family tree. And so in a sense, we can all say, oh God of our fathers. We can look back to Abraham as our father. He's the father of the faithful, is he not? Moses is a father, Paul is a father, and so on. And God has been a God to our fathers, the spiritual ancestors throughout church history. There's a long line of Christians, and we're part of it. There are Christians who have died long ago and are in heaven. And friends, if you read biographies, you read the stories of the saints, you know as well as I do, God was faithful to them. He was with them. He was the God of our fathers. Well, the implication here is, will not God be our God today? If he was the God of our fathers, will he not be our God? God is not a short-termer. He's not someone who is only invested for a moment. He's not someone that blows hot and then cold. God is constant, he is faithful, and he maintains his relationship with his people. He never breaks his promises. Friends, if God is with you, he is with you for the long haul, and he will never leave you. nor forsake you." And so addressing God as God of our fathers reminds us of that. There's a bigger picture that this part of our lives, this affliction that we're suffering, which is momentary, is really that. It is short in comparison to the long history of God's faithfulness. And somehow it fits in. Somehow this is a jigsaw piece that fits into God's faithfulness. And he is doing something good. The first rhetorical question that Jehoshaphat asks is in verse six, O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? And of course the answer is so obvious. If I were to ask my children here, is God in heaven, they would all nod and say yes, because they know the answer. It's so obvious, God is in heaven. Why is Jehoshaphat wasting his time with very obvious questions? Friends, the rhetorical question is building an argument. The answer is obvious. God is in heaven. Therefore, verse six continues, you rule over all the kingdoms of the nations and in your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand you. Jehoshaphat, in a sense, is not questioning God, are you in heaven for God's sake, but questioning God rhetorically for his own sake, reminding himself and the people who are hearing his prayer, the God that we're approaching is in heaven, therefore he has sovereign power. And that's how we can summarize this, development of the argument, sovereign power. Look at it, you rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, that's his sovereignty. You rule, you are king, you're in control. You rule over the nation of Judah, our nation. This kingdom is under your authority. But you also rule over all kingdoms. The Ammonites, the Moabites, the Maonites, they are under your kingly rule too. And therefore we trust in you. In your hand are power and might. If God is in heaven, therefore he is mighty and all powerful. and no one can withstand him, not even these mighty nations that are coming in. Do you see how this argument he's making fits in with the dire circumstances all around him? The rhetorical question is developing this argument. You're full of sovereign power. In other words, you have both the right and the might to do something about it, the right and the might, the authority and the power to do something about these circumstances we find ourselves in. Are you not the God in heaven? The second rhetorical question is in verse seven. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people, Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend? Again, he's not asking that question as if God doesn't know the answer. He's not even asking the question as if he doesn't know the answer. It's obvious, but he's calling it to mind again. God is the one in his sovereign power who has given this land to Judah. It is theirs. It belongs to them. We know the story, perhaps, of God driving out the nations and planting Israel like a vine. That's what he did. God has given it to them. And notice he has given it, verse seven says, to the descendants of Abraham, your friend. What a wonderful little section there that you could easily breeze over. Abraham, your friend. The scripture shows us, it reveals to us, that Abraham was a friend of God. And how was he the friend of God? Because God had reconciled Abraham to himself. Abraham believed in God. He believed in the coming Christ, and therefore God justified him. He accounted it to him as righteousness. You see, Abraham is looking forward to the cross of Jesus Christ. By faith, he was justified, declared innocent, pardoned of his sin, and therefore at peace with God, reconciled through the blood of Christ's cross. We'll be thinking more about how we can be friends of God this evening. the gospel of peace. So I encourage you to think more about that as we come this evening. But here, it's just a wonderful thought that you and I can be friends with God as Abraham was. We are the descendants of Abraham, Jehoshaphat says, and he was the friend of God. Are you not therefore on our side? So the rhetorical question, it's not, that he wants an answer to, but he's reminding himself of what God has done for them. And then he develops the point in verses eight and nine. Verses eight and nine. We built a sanctuary, that is the temple. We've done what you have told us to do. And you have said this prayer of Solomon that's quoted in verse nine, that if there's disaster that comes, if there's a dire circumstances, famine, judgment, pestilence, sword, whatever it is, if we pray towards this place, this temple, you will hear us, you will hear in heaven and you will forgive and you will save us. Do you remember that prayer of Solomon? We looked at it, it was quite some time ago now. in our studies through Chronicles, but Solomon had made that big prayer and he'd worked through all these different circumstances. If this happens and we pray, if your people who are called by your name humble themselves and pray, won't you hear in heaven and forgive? God has pledged himself to look at the temple. because God was present there. His glory filled the temple. And so here Jehoshaphat is saying, look, we are doing the thing you've told us to do. In time of need, we're to call upon your name in this temple, looking to you, the one who saves. So you see this prayer, it hinges on these rhetorical questions. He's saying, you're the God of sovereign power. You have given us this land. Your sanctuary is here. We're looking towards it now, praying to you what is going to happen. Well, only now, in verse 10, does Jehoshaphat bring the problem before God. It's interesting, isn't it? We so often pray we just immediately lunch into the problems. Jehoshaphat has laid an awful lot of groundwork before he even comes to tell God what the problem is. Verse 10. And now behold the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom ye would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy. Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. Of course, At the very heart, very basics of prayer, we are to bring our problems to God. And I hope you know that, friends. I hope you know it and believe it and practice it, that when you have problems in your life, that you take them to the Lord in prayer. Cast your burdens upon the Lord because he cares for you, Christian brother, Christian sister. You don't trouble him. You don't bother him by bringing your prayers to him. But it's interesting, isn't it, that in prayer, we're telling God things he already knows. Our prayers are not giving him new information. God knows our problems even before we bring them to him. Sometimes it's been said, why should the Calvinist pray? If God's in control, if God's sovereign, why pray? Perhaps even this, if God already knows, why bother praying? But yet there's something in the practice of prayer, isn't there? of drawing to him in faith, relying upon him alone to solve what we cannot solve. And that's what happens here. And Jehoshaphat closes this prayer, verse 12, with the petition. What does he want? He's highlighted the problem. What's the solution? Well, he says, verse 12, O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? That, in Jehoshaphat's mind, is the solution. It's a moral problem. These foreign nations are coming in and doing what they ought not to do. And therefore, you must not just simply save us from them, that would be good enough, but you must judge them for their sin. We were good to them. When we came in to the promised land from Egypt, we didn't attack these nations because you told us not to attack them. But now, how do they repay us? They're fighting against us. These nations are like cousin nations of the Israelites. Remember that the Moabites and Ammonites came from the line of Lot, who was the nephew of Abraham. So these are like cousin. It's like if America or Canada or New Zealand or Australia invaded the United Kingdom. We belong to a certain group of nations that share some common ancestry. We expect ourselves to be friendly with one another. In many ways, we are. That's kind of like what is happening here. And so the only solution is not salvation alone, but judgment, that God would act to judge these nations that are sinning by invading Judah. But notice the last part of verse 12. Another reason why God should act is because his people are powerless. A worldly perspective on problems is always to try to play your cards right, isn't it? And to play the upper hand, and to always give a show of strength. That's why we approach problems from a worldly perspective. We put forward our strengths, and we hope that that will get us somewhere. But not with God. Putting forward your strengths to God will not get you anywhere in prayer, because God opposes the pride. but he gives grace to the humble. And so there's a humility here, isn't there? We are powerless. We can do nothing against this great horde. And not only are we powerless, but we're clueless. We don't know what to do. You see the desperation there. Jehoshaphat, this wise ruler, who has done these works of reformation, he knows what to do to implement reformation. He's been impressive to us in the pages of scripture, but here in this time of need, I have no idea what to do. We don't know how to solve this problem. But friends, when you find yourself powerless and when you find yourself clueless, it's okay if you know the one to whom you should look. Look at what it says. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. We're looking to God. It's a wonderful confession of faith, isn't it? And this is the answer to the question I posed at the very start. What do you do when life throws you the most trying and difficult of circumstances? You go before God and you say, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. We don't know where to go. We're powerless and we're clueless. But one thing we do. We know that we can go to you. Eyes on God. Eyes on God to guide us, eyes on God to work salvation for us, eyes on God to overrule these circumstances for our good. The problems that we don't know how to solve, the problems that we don't know what God will do, yet we look to God and trust him that he will do it and he will do it well. Friends, seek God. Have your eyes fixed upon him, set upon him, rigidly set upon him, not turning to the left or the right. Look to your problems and you will drown as Peter did. When Peter was walking on the water, he was fine as long as he looked to Jesus. But as soon as he looked to the left or the right and looked at the waves and felt the winds, then he doubted, didn't he? The problems were too big. They distracted him. And he began to drown. Save me, Lord. I'm sinking. And Jesus had to reach his hand to him and save him, didn't he? Keep your eyes on Christ and all will be well. For some of you, you're going through difficult times. You don't know what to do. All I can say to you, look to God, look to him. God may direct you to a particular duty that you should be doing. If your eyes are fixed on him, therefore respond with obedience. He may make it clear that you have to wait, well then continue trusting in him with patience. He may answer your prayer with the immediate deliverance that you've been craving. Well then, if so, rejoice and give thanks. We're gonna see that that is the response that comes next week. But whatever your problems, whatever you're going through, make sure that you look to God. Verse 12 again, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Amen. Let's pray.