Making Tough Decisions

Introduction

Testaments with me to 1 Kings chapter 22. 1 Kings chapter 22. Of all the things that are difficult in life, and that spectrum ranges from hard decisions in life to deciding where to live or where to work to simply deciding I gotta drive on I-4 today. That’s one of the things that we like least. Making difficult, truly tough decisions. One farmer one time needed some extra help for the summer, and when the summer and the sun was at its hottest, he went into the town and offered a generous wage. He said, I need some help for this year’s crops. And he offered it to everybody. He made flyers, he made conversation with any stranger who would walk by. He said, I will reward you generously if you will just come work with me.

And he couldn’t get any takers. And after a week of trying the flyers of talking to anybody and everybody, he went home. He went to his farm and then he saw a man who he figured was a scoundrel sitting there just looking for a cheap wage. The man said, I’ll work for you. I’ve seen what you’ve offered to pay, and I’d like to work for you. The man said, I don’t know if I can trust him, so here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna hire him. I’m gonna give him the toughest job that I have. And so he gave him a job that he expected to take ten days, and it was out in the hot summer sun. And that man finished it in five. And he said, Oh, he’s just working really hard so that I’ll trust him and give him the easy job.

So he gave him another difficult task, although this time it only would take him six days. And the man again half did, and he finished it in three. And the farmer said, Well, I I’ve got really lucky. I found myself a great worker. I’m gonna give him the easiest job I can to reward him because I was being a little mean. He told the man, I want you to go into the barn into the shade, out of the sun, and I want you to sort these potatoes into two piles: potatoes for the hogs and potatoes to sell. And he left and he came back a few hours later, and only one potato had been sorted. And he looked at the man and he said, I don’t understand.

What have you been doing? You worked so hard, you have every assignment I gave you. The man looked up at him, he said, Hard work is easy, but making decisions that are tough is hard. It was the decision that killed him. He would work hard, he’d do whatever he was asked to do, paint, chop wood, feed the animals. But if it came to making a decision, that was tough for him. I think when it comes to making tough decisions, we’re not altogether that different. Some of us like figuring out problems, figuring out dilemmas, but not when it’s truly personal. Not when it not only impacts my walk with God, but my walk with others in this life to please God. And in 1 Kings chapter 22, we learn about both Judah and Israel with a really bad problem, and they had to decide, what does God possibly want from me in this circumstance?

1. Inquire First for the Word of the Lord

Read with me in verse 1. For three years Syria and Israel continued without war. But in the third year, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria? And he said to Jehosaphat, Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth Gilead? And Jehosaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are, my people as your people, and your horses as my horses. But verse 5, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire first for the word of the Lord. Unfortunately, that’s mostly as good as this story gets.

Because here’s what you have going on. Syria is oppressing parts of Israel. And Israel and Judah have already divided, they’re in two separate kingdoms. In the north there is Israel, and by the way, you know who the unnamed king is, everybody’s favorite, King Ahab. So you know the story’s going to go great from the beginning, anytime Ahab’s in the scriptures. Then in the south, you have Jehoshaphat, who did a lot of good things as king. You have Judah, who are the more faithful of the two, albeit a low bar on that. And they have to decide, Jehoshaphat, will I go to war with Israel? Israel, will I fight the king of Syria over this land? Ahab does the calculus, says, I can’t do it alone, or at least we’ll most likely not be able to do it alone.

Jehoshaphat says, Well, I got to help my kinsmen. But Jehoshaphat has a good idea. It makes you wonder why Ahab didn’t think of it until you read more about Ahab. But Jehoshaphat says in verse 5, Okay, I will work with you. We will be all in on this battle. But we have to ask the Lord first.

And you know, preachers aren’t people. Did you catch that? But as you’re as we’re living, you know, as we think about our daily lives, what do we do? We say, Well, I gotta trust God. What does that mean? What happens if I ask God for something and I don’t get an immediate answer? Because in this text, they’re gonna go to people who had the will of God. But interestingly, they also go to people who claim to have the will of God who don’t actually have it. So you notice that first of all they’re considering war, but then notice who they go to to understand what is God’s will in this tough matter. Verse 6. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go to battle against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?

And they said, Go up, for the Lord will give it into your hand. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire? And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire the Lord, Mekah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. And the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, Bring quickly Mekaiah the son of Imla. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

And Zedekiah the son of Chenea made for himself horns of iron and says, Thus says the Lord, with these you shall push the Syrians until are they destroyed. And all the prophets prophesied so and said, Go up to Ramoth Gilead and triumph. The Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

It looks like a good decision until you remember Ahab’s the king, and so Ahab probably knew what kind of prophets he was seeking the counsel of. Because if you notice in verse 6, what does he do? A good step. He says, I need prophets, they have the word of the Lord. I need to figure out what God thinks, so I need God’s messengers to understand God’s message. Good step. I’m going to ask four hundred prophets. Overkill, but good step. And what do they all say? They say, You go for that war you want, Ahab, and not only do you go for it, the Lord’s going to give you victory. The victory is going to be in the hand of the king. Ahab, you’re the best. You go to war, God’s going to bless you.

And you might think, well, what’s the problem with that? Certainly God could decide to bless Israel. And from 1 Kings, 2 Kings chapter 14, we learn that not only did God bless Israel, even though they did wicked things, under Jeroboam the Second is when the kingdom grew to its largest extent. So God’s not against blessing a wicked people for certain circumstances. But notice what Jehoshaphat says in verse 7. In hearing these 400 prophets that Ahab summoned who said, You go for it. We’re going to make this decision easy for you. Should you go or should you refrain from war? You should go, you’re going to win. Jehoshaphat in verse 7 says, wait a minute. Is there not another prophet of the Lord whom we can inquire from?

Translation, I don’t trust this. Because if he had even an ounce of trust in these 400 prophets who were speaking on behalf of the Lord, whether qualified or not, that’s enough evidence. How many times does God have to say something for us to believe it so? Just the ones. Ahab says, look, I have 400, and of course Ahab feels guilty, and he knows immediately in verse 8. He says, okay, okay. I do have one guy. But what was Ahab’s problem with Micaiah? He hates me. Why does God’s messenger hate Ahab in his mind? Because all his prophecies about him are of bad things and evil rather than good. Can we think for just a moment of maybe one kind of simple reason? Ahab would get a lot of negative prophecies from God.

How about because if we’re weighing the scales of who does evil to whom, Ahab’s the one doing evil in the sight of God, rather than God just choosing to spite Ahab for no reason? But he says, okay, Jehoshaphat, I need you for war. I need Jehoshaphat to be happy, the king of Judah. So I’m going to bring Mekaiah. But first though, I want to emphasize what is the message. Zedekiah in 11 and 12 says, Look, not only are you going to win, here is the headpiece that’s going to give you victory. That’s not exactly what God’s messenger is really going to say, though. In verse 13, the messenger who went to summon Micaiah says to him, Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king.

Let your words be like one of them and speak favorably. Translation, Micaiah. Ahab really wants this. Maybe even Jehoshaphat really wants this. Make sure you tell him what they want to hear. Because that’s how we should work as messengers for God, of course, right? And in verse 14, Mekah says, As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak. And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, Mekaiah, shall we go to Ramath Gilead to battle, or shall we refrain? And he answered him, Go up and triumph. The Lord will give it into the hand of the king. And you think, well, that’s great. Mekaiah matches the prophets. But notice, even Ahab, verse 16, knows this is a sham or a farce.

In verse 16, the king said to him, How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? So he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master. Let each return to his home in peace. And the king of Israel says to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? And Mekaiah said, Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing beside him on his right side and on his left. And the Lord said, Who will entice Ahab? That he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead.

And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, By what means? And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets. And he said, You are to entice him and you shall succeed. Go out and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put his lying spirit in the mouth of all of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster for you. Then Zedekiah, the son of Shania came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you? Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.

And the king of Israel said, Seize Mekaiah, take him back to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son, and say, Thus says the king, put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water until I come in peace. And Micaiah says, If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, Hear all you peoples. Whew, it’s a lot to digest, isn’t it? We think about what’s happening as we think about verse 13. Micaiah shows up, but he’s warned first and foremost, you make the king happy. Yes, you’re a messenger of God, but you tell him God wants him and his ways to be approved. Micaiah says in verse 14, and add to that perhaps smear as 1 Peter 4 11, you know, we say we should speak as the oracles of God.

He says, I will only speak what the Lord speaks. I don’t care about the king’s opinion. And I don’t care about how much they want to have this battle. I’m going to speak what the Lord does. But then when he shows up before the kings, they say, Shall we go to war? And he says, Oh, yes, it’s going to be in your hand. But you can tell. Look at verse 16 again. You can tell even Ahab knows this is not honesty. Whether he said it with all sorts of dripping sarcasm or not, it’s hard to tell from the text. But in verse 16, Ahab’s reaction is, okay. How many times do I have to tell you? You have to tell me the truth. And in verse 17, he does.

2. God’s Will Is Always Accomplished

And what is Micaiah’s message? Do not go to war. Why? There is a disaster waiting for you. Don’t be distracted by the elements that are very interesting and woven into the story, the idea of a lying spirit coming into the mouths of the prophets, that there is disaster waiting for Ahab. Why is there disaster waiting for Ahab? The evil he was constantly doing before the Lord. It was prophesied that Ahab and Jezebel would both meet a particular end. And we know God’s will is always accomplished. And so guess what happens when Ahab and Jehoshaphat go into battle, despite the warning of the true messenger of God. Verse 30, Ahab says to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel. And when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Surely this is the king of Israel. So they turned to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out, and when the captains of the chariot saw it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. Verse 34 But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded. The battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians until at evening he died.

3. Trust His Way as Best

And about sunset, a cry went through the army, every man to his city and every man to his country. So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. And notice verse 38. And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria. The dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken. I want to think for a moment about two very basic facts before we go into some application of how do we make tough decisions. One is the easy and right answer always is right off the bat, we have to figure out what does God think about this decision. What is the will of the Lord?

But secondly, equally easy to say, but difficult to put into practice is the idea that I have to trust his way as best. I want you to think about what Ahab and Jehoshaphat did. They knew correctly that Syria would be gunning for Ahab. Remember, the Syrian commanders were told, nobody touches anybody but Ahab. You don’t battle with anybody small, you don’t battle with anybody great, you go for the king. And with some wise military strategy, Jehoshaphat and Ahab get together, although I think Jehoshaphat drew the short straw here, and they say, Look, I’m gonna disguise myself, Ahab talking, as a regular person. You wear the robes. Isn’t that a fun job, Jehoshaphat? They’re all gonna come for you. And I’m gonna be disguised, I’m gonna be fine.

Well, was Jehoshaphat fine? No, he cried out, and guess what happens when he cried out? They figured out this is an imposter. Verse 34, though. Do you ever wonder how does God accomplish his will, and will we ever understand it? Verse 34 tells us some good news. The answer is no. Verse 34 How was the will of God accomplished? A certain man, read random man, drew his bow at random. And who did his arrow catch? And end up killing. Clever, disguised King Ahab.

Remember, one of his last moves, at least as recorded in chapter 22, was to tell Mekaiah, until I arrive in peace, he stays there. And Mekaiah says to him, If you come back in peace, the Lord didn’t speak to me. Ahab died, just as Mekaiah told him, as Mekaiah said God had revealed, and it was all out of their ignorance and refusal to do just what God said. This is an interesting story because you think it’s pretty basic and it makes sense. Ahab, mean guy, doesn’t do what God says, gets what’s coming to him. But I think sometimes when I’m being honest, making tough decisions is hard for me because, like Ahab, notice why he made that decision. I either felt feel unfairly oppressed, or I just really want something.

4. Don’t Settle for Yes Men

And in the case of Ahab, he had both. Why was he fighting with Syria? Because he just wanted extra territory? No. The Syrians were oppressing Israel. You could say unfairly so. But Ahab wanted that land back. And he wanted it really bad. He was willing to do whatever it took to make that decision. I want to notice one thing from this chapter. Don’t settle for yes men. It’s easy to say, point number one, of course, what is the will of the Lord? Inquire of the Lord. But can I tell you one really difficult step in America about this? Everybody has an opinion. Insert funny joke here. There are so many opinions out there. You have no idea what’s true, what’s not. And here, by the way, notice that when it comes to the 400 prophets, or Mekaiah, who’s the one outnumbered?

Micaiah, the one with the truth. 400 prophets didn’t make it right. Can I point out something too, though, that sometimes I fall prey to? Just because the minority says it, and Jesus says the narrow way leads to life, doesn’t mean that’s right either. Any evaluation of what God’s word is based on numbers is wrong. There’s a reason we can know what God’s will is. Because it’s here. But the tricky part is when I have a question, when I’m trying to consider a tough moral question, a biblical question, or I’m even trying to decide how does God feel about ex-life choice? You know what I do because I’m in the 21st century? I do what every responsible adult does. I type it into Google. And you know what pops up?

A bevy of websites. Some incredibly helpful, some incredibly hurtful, some in between, some with a little truth, some with a lot of truth, some with a lot of passages used correctly, with some used incorrectly, some with a lot used correctly with a little bit used incorrectly, some with no scripture, some with only scriptures. How do we sort through the noise and figure out what God is really saying? It’s easy to say, read your Bible, memorize it, then you can just kind of go through your catalog and say, well, I’ve been reading Psalms this year. Psalm 132 says this, so boom, there’s my decision. Even if that was possible, and I think it is with a lifetime of reading and study, that doesn’t necessarily help my decision making today.

Because you’re probably like me and don’t have the entire Bible memorized. So how then do you understand what the will of the Lord is? There’s two easy answers, and here’s where it gets difficult. The easy answer is find a teacher who can help you or read the word yourself, because certainly that will help you. But then how do we understand what the will of God really is? Look in 1 Kings chapter 12. There was another important dilemma. We’re going to be in this chapter, although not in these verses later this morning. But in 1 Kings chapter 12, back at the beginning of the divide, in 1 Kings 11, we learn about Solomon and his 700 wives and 300 concubines. Can’t talk about Solomon without counting the 700 wives and 300 concubines.

And God had told Solomon, the wisest person on the earth, do not marry foreign women. Not because I don’t like them, but because they will turn your heart away from me. Guess what happened in 1 Kings 11? They turned his heart from him. As part of that, Solomon was told the kingdom would be ripped not out of his hands, but out of his son’s hand. Enter 1 Kings chapter 12, King Rehabam. Rehaboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, for he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, then Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, Your father made your yoke heavy.

Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you. So he says to them in verse 5, go away for three days and then come again to me. So the people went away. So now Rehoboam’s going to have a choice, and in verse 6 he says he took counsel with the old men, those who had stood in the feet or in the shadows of his father wise King Solomon. And he asked them in verse 6, how do you advise me to answer this people? Notice their advice is verse 7 if you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words of them, then they will be your servants forever. Raboam, if you will lower your pride, if you will give up what you really want to accomplish in the short term, in the long term, they will be your servants.

You will be a good king and they will be a good people. But verse 8, but he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And guess what this wonderful group of guys had to say? Should I make it easier or harder on them? All of my dad’s wise counselors told me, make it easier on them. So guess what the friends come in? Make it harder. Tell them who’s boss. You put them in their place. That will make it work. And again, to spoil the story, it didn’t. And that’s how we have Israel and Judah by the time we come to Ahab and Jehoshaphat’s story in 1 Kings chapter 22.

The people revolted, as God had predicted. Because Rehaboam made a choice, not made by God, but allowed for. When Jeroboam said, leading the people, will you make our make our load or lighten our yoke a little bit? Rehaboam says, No, I’m going to come down heavy upon you. I’m going to make it worse. See, the problem with Rehabam is not that he didn’t get good advice. The problem with Google or any Bible study is not that there isn’t good wisdom available. The question is, will I choose it? And if so, how do I know which ones to choose? Again, the simple answer is to say, well, read the word of God and then compare it. So I want to talk for just a moment. Then, as we think about Rehaboam’s decision process, think what possibly went wrong for him in this.

Because it’s one thing to take advice. Proverbs talks repeatedly. A wise man accepts instruction. Although I will add some Proverbs do, and certainly we should add the asterisk there. A wise man accepts wise instruction. Sometimes you just get bad advice. You don’t have to say anything rude about it. You just have to move on and say, I’m going to take the best I can out of that and move forward. You think about 1 Kings chapter 12, though, in verse 9, when he asked his friends what he advises them, and they tell him in verse 10, you make it worse, and that’s what he comes out saying. The question is, did Rehoboam really think that was best? And if so, why did he think that advice was better?

Can I perhaps draw a parallel between Rehobam and Ahab? Remember, in 1 Kings 22, what did we say were two of the main reasons Ahab entered battle in the first place? Because Syria was oppressing him in their land, and he really wanted to. He wanted that land back, and he wanted to take it by war, and he wanted to take it by war with Jehoshaphat, and he was willing to be as clever or unclever as he needed to be because he wanted the land. And in case you’re wondering if that’s an unfair characterization of Ahab, remember, he’s the king of Israel who wanted Naboth’s vineyard so bad that he pouted about it and was like a child laying on his bed refusing to eat until Jezebel had Aboth lied about and stoned to death.

This is a pattern of Ahab’s. Do you think maybe Rehoboam really wanted this type of position? If Rehoboam was all about doing what was best and being a good king, if you go back to verses 6 and 7, that’s exactly what advice Solomon’s advisors gave to him. They didn’t say you step back. They said you step back for a moment. Verse 7. If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, the last part of verse 7, then they will be your servants forever. Rehaboam, be reasonable, trust our wisdom. Serve today, and they will trust you for the rest of your days. But Rehoboam wanted to be king. He wanted his people in subjection to him, and he wanted all that came with being the in-charge and powerful king.

And so he went with his friends, who, just like the 400 prophets did for Ahab, told Rehoboam exactly what he already wanted to hear. One other reason we know that’s what Rehoboam wanted to hear. Verse 8. Have you ever been leaning towards a decision that you wanted to make? You really wanted to, you’re just saying, you know, maybe there’s something in the Word of God that violates it. So you’re going to research it. I’m going to find all these resources that support my point of view. Do you do what verse 8 says? He hears this advice, and then what does he do? He abandons it and goes and gets more. Why would he get more if that’s already what he wanted to hear? Because it’s not what he wanted to hear.

He wanted to hear a different solution, and he was willing to seek answers until he got it. And can I tell you a really frightening truth about today? You can find an answer for whatever you want to believe, whether it’s about church usage, church functioning, whether about how to be saved, whether how to live, what showing kindness means, what having a marriage means, what type of marriage can you enter. You can find anybody who will say anything. One time reading a QA of a bunch of preachers, and I think even rabbis on homosexual marriage, just to use an example, they were asked two questions. Does the Bible prohibit homosexuality? And the second question was do you essentially prohibit homosexuality? Would you teach that it’s wrong? One answer startled me.

It said, the Bible is very clear to answer one, and it’s condemnation of homosexuality. Answer number two. It doesn’t really matter. Someone can get married to anyone they want, and God will still love them. See the problem? It’s not just that somebody has a contradictory statement, that that person is a leader of some kind. There are some people somewhere who look to what that person says and say, they have the words of God. And then we’re like Ahab. We have to be able to see through that. Even Ahab knew Mical was not telling him the truth at first. He said, I want to know the truth. Jehoshaphat heard the 400 prophets of Ahab and said, No, no, no. I need somebody who truly has the word of the Lord.

5. Ask, Seek, Knock

And Ahab didn’t like it, but he knew what he meant. If we pray to God, we can know that we can understand what it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s about where to move, what type of job to have, what type of church to be a part of, or how to act in our lives. If you look with me in Matthew chapter 7, you wonder if this is just some sort of simple speak or not. Or if this is just some sort of simple theory but difficult practice. Notice what said in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 7. Jesus says, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds.

And the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or which one of you, if a son ask him for bread, we’ll give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish, we’ll give him a serpent. Verse 10, my worst nightmare. Verse 11, if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him. Jesus says, you ask, seek, and knock. And God will answer and open and deliver. How well will he deliver? I say verse 10’s my worst nightmare. First of all, I don’t like to eat fish, and I certainly don’t want to get fish, which I already don’t want, and instead be handed a snake.

It’s not my kind of a good day. But verse 11, knowing that even we give good gifts to people. Verse 11, how much better is God’s wisdom going to be? Sometimes, you know what we do, even though we know it’s simple, we need to ask for God’s will. And we know it’s simple, we just have to trust that it’s true. We don’t do it in sincerity. Because we really don’t think we’re going to get that answer. Or maybe we ask a couple times, and we’re like Paul, we have to ask repeatedly to remove the thorn of the flesh, and we don’t really see a difference. And because we don’t have Micaiah sitting out there, because we don’t have the direct inspiration of Jesus in our hearts that the apostles had, we think maybe I’m not going to get an answer.

And so we either stop asking or stop asking in faith. Jesus says, you seek. You need to be willing to knock. But where does it start? You have to be willing to ask. Does God not know our needs certainly when we put them before him? Absolutely, he does.

Yes. And that is amazing. Can you believe that God who created the heavens and the earth, not only will he hear our prayer, he cares about my request? That Jesus, the Son of God who died in my place, tells us if you seek me, if you seek the Lord, he will answer. That is amazing. We have to believe that if we’re going to truly ask with the right spirit. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open. Everyone who asks receives. That does not say you will get exactly what you wanted. But God has promised us our needs, albeit not our greeds. When I think about making tough decisions, I have to know that God will be right.

Because when I examine it, I give myself bad advice because I read it. If I want to believe a certain position on something, or I want to make a decision in my life that I think may or may not be pleasing to God, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to find the people who agree with what I want. And that makes me like Ahab the wicked king, and it makes me like Rehoboam the foolish king. We want to be in good company scripturally. And more importantly, if we want to be in good standing with God, we have to be willing to say, whatever God says goes, because I know his way is best. Look at verse 11 again. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

6. God Does Care

God will give us exactly what we need. If I took a poll, and for some this would apply less than others, but said, How many of you thought your life would go the way it had the last 10 years? How many hands said, Yep, I had this exactly on the nose and on the number. Ever have something happen that you didn’t expect that turned out to be the greatest blessing you’ve ever had. Or that it opened your eyes to something that God needed from you or wanted from you, or a lesson you learned that is invaluable to your faith. Sometimes we don’t like God’s way even when we seek it, even when we find it. Because we think our way is better. Ahab wanted to fight, and so fight he did, and he thought he’d be clever.

He hid. That’s a good strategy. It worked. Ahab and Jehoshaphat’s strategy in battle worked. They all went for Jehoshaphat. Until they didn’t. Until a certain man shot an arrow at random and took out the wise King Ahab. Just as God had always promised would happen if he went into this battle. When I think about what God says, I have to not only know that his ways are best, that his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. When I make tough decisions, I don’t just have to remember that even though it’s hard, I don’t want to, that God does care. There is no scripture that teaches God doesn’t care about you. There is no scripture that says this problem is too small for God. But sometimes we act like God doesn’t care.

Conclusion

And that’s not the God of the New Testament. If you believe, think, or act as if God doesn’t really care for you, you’ve gotten bad advice. The will of the Lord over and again says, please ask, seek, knock. Cast all your cares on the Lord because he cares for you. Do not worry. Rather, seek first the kingdom of God as righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Yes, it’s true. Matthew 7.21 says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Jesus has given us all we need. We have to not only practice that, we have to believe it first. Please don’t ever leave and live a single day thinking God doesn’t care for you.

That when you make a tough decision, that God doesn’t care. God cares for us so much that he not only made us, that he sent Jesus to die on the cross because of my sins. He cares for you. He will not forsake you. Our God is truly awesome, powerful, and faithful. Trust His ways in any decision making process. Will you go to our great and powerful God in prayer with me at this time? Our dear God, our most gracious, loving, merciful Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for being a God who supplies wisdom. We come to you recognizing that humbly before you we are nothing, and that you have chosen to love us. Help us to always trust in you. Help us to never doubt that you don’t that you care for us, or to doubt that your way is truly best.

Help us to have the humility to say that your will is best and that your will should be done no matter what. Thank you for both the sacrifice of Jesus and the example of his life, and how over and again he lived out your will, even to the persecution and shame of the people of this world. Forgive us of our sins, of when we violate your will, of when we refuse to trust in you and stubbornly go our own way. Thank you for the word of God that you have given to us in written form. Thank you for not only allowing us to read it, but to listen to it and to openly share it in this country. We thank you for these blessings. We pray that they never leave us unless it’s part of your will.

Help us to always be pleasing to you. Be with those saints who are struggling. We know you care. Please watch out for them. Comfort them, guide them, and give them the peace that only you can offer. Thank you for your blessings. May we trust you in all ways. It’s in your Son’s name we pray. Amen. We’re now dismissed to our Bible classes.