Relax, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. God said, I'm there. No matter how dark your day is, I'm there.

I'll write with you. Think about this. Think of the 23rd Psalm, a Psalm we all love. Even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why? For you are with me. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. The word is dark. It's from the Middle English word derk, which is from the Old English word diork. It meant to hide. As a noun, it's pretty easy to understand. It's pretty straightforward as a definition, the absence of light.

But when you think about it as an adjective, then there's a lot more meaning. The word dark can mean depressing, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, fearful. And used in that term, it can happen at any time on any scale from the collapse of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance.

Western Europe went through what was called the Dark Ages. Historians have written that the American Civil War were the darkest days in our history. But most importantly, dark days are part of our life. It's part of my life and it's part of your life. Think of the darkest days that you have had so far.

You know exactly what I'm talking about. Dark days. Most assuredly, if you aren't having dark days now, you will in the future. I mean, we mark our lives with dark days, the death of loved ones, marriages that end, diseases that come, aging as it takes its toll, financial setbacks and a myriad of other things. Dark days are days of fear and anxiety and desperation. In America, we have whole industries because of dark days.

Self-help books. Some of us actually believe we'll read ourselves out of the dark days. Some of us think we can drink ourselves out of the dark days. Americans spend 90 billion dollars a year on alcohol. We spend 18 billion a year in rehab. Some of us think we can medicate ourselves out of dark days.

We're spending about 14 billion dollars a year on antidepressants. You see, with a Christian, when we go through dark days, and we most assuredly will, we cry out to God, help, help. What would God say? He can say whatever he wants. I don't want to speak for him that way.

But I can tell you one thing he would say. 4610. 4610. Lord, I'm in a dark day.

It's desperate. 4610. Would you open your Bibles to Psalm 46 as we look at verse 10? A very famous verse. One of the very first verses I ever highlighted in my Bible. At that time, it was a King James Bible.

This is a New American Standard. Psalm 4610 simply says, Cease striving and know that I am God. If you have a King James Version, it says, Be still and know that I am God.

Now, the question might be, are you sure that the context there is dark days, though? Let's look at verses two and three in verse six, first and verse two. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, and though its waters roar and foam, and though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. In verse six, the nations made an uproar, and the kingdoms tottered. He raised his voice, and the earth melted. Well, the earth is changing. The mountains are falling. There are earthquakes, national instability, and kingdoms that are tottering.

Those are dark days. And what's so interesting about this is when you read the entire psalm, virtually all of the psalm is about who God is and what God does. Except in verse 10, the psalmist gives a command to us.

Cease striving and know that I am God. Actually, it says just cease in a numeric standard. Striving is in italics.

They're just trying for their best. It's an interesting word. It's the word rafa in Hebrew. And that word means to let go.

Literally, it means this, to put your hands down to your side, rafa. In other words, stop being busy. If I were going to use an English word that I think fits the context and fits the dark days of our life, it's this word, relax. Relax.

Now, it seems kind of odd, doesn't it? Because when dark days come in your life, almost always your response is not to relax. In fact, we almost always respond emotionally to something like that. But you know, if you think about it, relax makes sense. I mean, after all, that's what we try to do anyway in the dark days, don't we?

I mean, have you ever heard something like this? Boy, I need to get a drink so I can relax. You see, I need a drink. I need some medication so I can relax. I need some meditation so I can relax. But I need to learn how to relax because I don't like the stress I'm feeling. I don't like the anxiety. Well, God says, relax.

And then he says, and know that I am God. You see, how do you relax? How do you relax in the dark days of your life?

And if you've thought about the darkest days you've been through, be honest. Does relaxation come to mind? You see, how do you relax?

Well, he's going to give us a few reasons, three of them this morning, but one is this. In the dark days of your life, you can only relax if you know something. In the dark days of your life, you can only relax if you know something. Notice it's kind of interesting because in the middle of dark days, you'd expect for emotional words, even words of faith, which is certainly implied, but he gives us cognitive words. In fact, he says the way you relax is you have to think a little differently.

He said, relax and know that I am God. Knowing makes all the difference. You'd be wondering, I'm a little skeptical of that. Okay, I understand.

Let me put it this way. Last year when you were watching the Super Bowl, was that a very relaxing experience for you? No, it was kind of like a mini heart attack. It was stress. You see, I mean, there was anxiety. I mean, until that interception, you know how you felt.

Okay, now let's imagine something here. Let's just say that you bought the DVD. If you're a real fan, you bought the DVD.

Now, you buy the DVD and you put it in to watch the game again. How stressful was it? How much stress do you have?

No, in fact, I guess you could say you are what? Relaxed. Why are you relaxed?

Why? Because you know something, don't you? You see, you know something. And if you know something, it makes all the difference in the world.

What looked like a very stressful situation, once you know it, it changes everything. Notice what God says. He says, relax and know that I am God. That I am God.

Wow. You see, it's almost like God is trying to give you a reference point. Every dark day is different, but one thing that isn't different is God. No matter what you're going through or been through or are going to go through, God says, look, here's what you need to know if you're going to relax. I am God. I will be the reference point for everything that is going to happen. And once you start there, you're in a very good spot.

You can actually figure it out. When my mother-in-law was alive, especially the last ten years or so of her life, she always put jigsaw puzzles together. And when we would visit her in Pennsylvania, she'd always have a jigsaw puzzle on the table. And she loved to do them.

She was very good at them. And I remember sitting down and always wanting to contribute to the cause. And it always worked well as long as it wasn't near the last piece. One thing I've learned about that, if someone's put a thousand pieces together and they got like 960 when you sit on, you better let them put the last piece in. But, you know, when you sit down and do a jigsaw puzzle, just imagine how complicated it would be if you didn't have one thing, the lid to the box. Because what's on the lid of the box? The picture of the puzzle.

Now, just imagine doing a thousand pieces without a picture. But if you've got the, you know how, you've done it, you hold it up, you look at it, you hold it up, you look at it, and you're trying to make sure you have things fit, you need a reference point. Well, our life's a lot like that. Dark days are complicated.

They are puzzles. God says, look, relax, I'll be the lid. You look at me.

You'll figure this out. And so one thing we see for sure is that he knows something. There's something more here, though.

In the dark days of your life, you can only relax if you have a really good example to follow that you've actually seen somebody else do this. And that's what I want to show you this morning. I want you to hold your place at Psalm 46 and go with me to 2 Chronicles 20. 2 Chronicles, a few pages to your left, 2 Chronicles 20, and hold your place at Psalm 46. And the example that we're going to use is a young king.

His name's Jehoshaphat. And he is something special as a king of Judah. In the first two verses, you get an idea of what a dark day looks like if you're the king of Judah.

In the first two verses, it reads like this. It came about that after this, the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Munites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. And then some came, reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram. And behold, it says they are in Hazazan, Tamar.

That is in Gedi. Three different nations. All of them, by the way, with larger standing armies than Judah. And they have formed a confederacy, and now they are going to attack Judah. Now, if you're a king, that's a dark day. And by the way, sometimes dark days happen to kings, especially of the northern kingdom Israel, because they were lousy kings and God was getting them.

That's not the case here at all. In fact, if you look and read in verse 31 and 32 of the same chapter, especially verse 32 only, for example, concerning Jehoshaphat, it said this. He walked in the way of his father Asa and did not depart from it, doing right in the sight of the Lord.

We find out from verse 31 that he was 35 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 25 years. He's a good man. Dark days happen to God's choicest servants. See, everybody gets dark days.

Everybody. Those who sometimes the days are dark because of the disciplining hand of the Lord, but sometimes the days are dark because we live as fallen people in a fallen world. Jehoshaphat's a good man, but he has a dark day.

And notice his first initial response is exactly the same as yours or mine in verse 3. He said Jehoshaphat was afraid. He's afraid. You know that.

The oncologist is shaking his head as he looks across the desk at you and said, I have some bad news. You know that fear. It grips your heart. You get the pink slip? Fear.

You get a Dear John letter? Fear. See, when dark days come, there is fear. It's a natural first response, but it's only an initial response because Jehoshaphat was afraid, and it says, and then he turned his attention to seek the Lord.

So he didn't have that very long, but that was the very first one. Why did he stay fearful? Because he knew something. You see, Jehoshaphat knew something.

If you're going to relax in the dark days of your life, you need to know something. He knows something. Turn back to Psalm 46 now and let's look at what he might have known. Psalm 46. Verse 1. God is our refuge and strength. The first thing that Jehoshaphat knew is God is willing to spend his protection and his power on us. That's what the psalmist says. God is our refuge. Notice that's the protection and our strength. That's the power.

It's not new to Jehoshaphat. In fact, every servant of God had the same idea. The apostle Paul understood that. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Also, God is dedicated to be with us in the dark days, a very present help in times of trouble. He's not only my refuge and my strength, my protection and my power, but he also says, I'm going to be right there.

That's so important to the psalmist. Look at verse 7. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is your stronghold. Verse 11. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Three times, the same idea. He's with us. He's my security. And he's going to be there. In the New Testament, the Lord said concerning all of us, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I won't walk out.

I'm here. Even in the darkest of days. Think of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. He has a lot of dark days.

In fact, he has a dark decade. But during one of those dark days, he has this thorn in the flesh, and it's giving him so much trouble that he entreats the Lord to be there. It gives him so much trouble that he entreats the Lord three times for it to be removed from his life. And God finally talks to Paul, and he lets Paul know that it's not going to be removed. And then he says something to Paul that gives Paul great assurance about his presence and his life as he goes through the dark days. He says, Paul, my grace is sufficient. In other words, I will protect you. I will empower you.

My grace is sufficient to get you through. Notice he didn't promise Paul that the dark days would end. He just promised Paul that he'd be with him as he goes through the dark days.

Think of someone in the Old Testament like Joseph, righteous young man. His brothers hate his guts. So his brothers throw him in a pit, and they're going to leave him to die.

Then they decide, well, no, let's not do that. Let's sell him. So they sell him as a slave to be taken to Egypt. So he goes into slavery at Egypt. He's in prison.

He gets out of prison. And he gets a job, in a sense, for working with someone like Potiphar. Potiphar's wife keeps trying to seduce him. Now, out of respect for God and respect for Potiphar, Joseph wants nothing to do with her.

She then makes false accusations to Joseph. And guess where he ends up? Back in prison. Now imagine, so far he's done nothing wrong. He's hated by his brothers. He's sold as a slave.

He's in prison, out of prison, in prison. Those are dark days. But when you read the narrative literature in Genesis, three different times in that narrative you read this. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph.

You see, the Lord was with him. That's what God said. I'm there. No matter how dark your day is, I'm there.

I'll write with you. Think about this. Think of the 23rd Psalm, a Psalm we all love. Even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why?

For you are with me. See, that's the point. That's one of the things that he knew. He knew that God was willing to spend his protection and his power on him. And he also knew that God promised to be with him. There's something else, though. If you go to 4610 again, he says, Cease striving and know that I am God. Here's something else we need to know. I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.

Wow. God will be exalted even in our dark days. In fact, the way I understand Scripture, he is most exalted as we respond to him in our dark days.

It sounds a lot like Romans 8, 28, how all things can work together for the good. You see, that's what he tells us. The question we often have is, when is he exalted?

When? When he decides. Sometimes he's not exalted to the very end. Sometimes he's exalted somewhere down the line. But often he's exalted right in the middle of the darkest of days. You see, one of the important things that I understand about my God is this. He will never waste my struggle. He will not waste it.

My struggle is very important to him. He will be exalted even in the midst of the dark days. Let me illustrate it.

Let's go back to 2 Chronicles 20 again. And notice what happens in this scenario. In verse 15, Jehaziel, the son of Zachariah, a prophet, stands up, and this is what he says in verse 15. He said, Listen, all Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. He says, Thus says the Lord to you, and to us, Do not fear, or be dismayed, because of this great multitude. For the battle was not yours, but God's. Notice what the prophet says. The battle is not yours. It's God's.

You see, that makes a lot of sense. Especially if you're being overwhelmed like Jehoshaphat. I mean, no matter how he looks at the strategy, there's not much you can do about it. Each one of those armies are probably superior to his.

All three of them together, he has no chance. A lot of times, that's the way it is in our dark days. On our own, we can't do this. In fact, Jesus said, Apart from me, you can do nothing. Life is overwhelming apart from Christ. I have deep feeling for you who don't know Christ. Because I can tell you this, you're going to go through dark days, and they're going to be all on your own.

And you're not sufficient for it. But here, Jehoshaphat is told that the battle is the Lord's. You see, he knows this.

The way you relax as you go through dark days is you need to know something. And I know he knows. And you say, well, how do you know he knows?

Well, watch what happens. Look at verse 18. Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. The Levites, from the son of the Kohathites and the sons of the Korathites, he said, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a very loud voice. Notice that as dark as the dark can be, Jehoshaphat takes what he knows about God.

And what does he do? Worships. Now, let me ask you something. If you've been in dark days, did you worship? You see, is that up front to you, I'm worshipping?

You see, what we want to do is often is this. Lord, just get me through these dark days, and then I'm going to worship. You know, then I'll really, boy, I'll be grateful, and I'll thank you and thank you so much, and then I'll worship you.

But right now I'd just rather be afraid, full of anxiety. Jehoshaphat said, no, I know something. I know the Lord, and I know it's his battle. I can worship him now.

And that's exactly what he does. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana, 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is, as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .