Into the Unknown with Gratitude

we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you that's what they say in that situation of

facing these threats and not quite knowing what's going to happen

we do not know what to do lord but our eyes are on you what might that look like

do you ever get an email or a letter from somebody and it ends with that in the the actual letter or

email they're they're asking you to do something and then there's a phrase at the end of it apparently

this is a phrase that really really gets on people's nerves okay the phrase is this after

they've asked you to do something they then sign off by saying thank you in advance

apparently that's a phrase that we really don't like very much and the reason why we don't like

it very much is because it's it's loaded it sounds it can sound presumptuous and um it puts the recipient

under some pressure it's kind of hard to say no to what's being asked uh it demands something of a yes

and um i was reading about this apparently there were some some suggestions are made as to

alternatives that can be used in that situation an alternative could be um do you think you'll have

time to do this for me or i appreciate your help in this situation but that phrase thank you in advance

can be a phrase that can really really get people's backs up my apologies if i've ever signed off an email

like that question is in this situation we've got the people of god who are surrounded by enemies and

they're about to be obliterated and their response is to start giving thanks to god to march into that

situation where humanly speaking it looks like they're about to all be killed and they give thanks

to god for the victory that they believe he is going to give them they give thanks to god in advance

in anticipation that they are going to be saved from death is there a sense in which it seems to have

all the signs of a thank you in advance

what i want to suggest is that there's something really important about faith and thanksgiving that

actually does involve that sort of prayer that sort of dynamic but not in a presumptuous kind of way

but rather there's something about that that has something really important when it comes to christian hope

and christian expectation so let's just unpack this over these next few minutes is what might that

mean to dare to give thanks to god before we are actually aware of how he's going to resolve a given

situation the first thing that we need we can pull from this this story is something that is repeated

as the story unfolds that we must know that the lord will fight this battle that's what they're told

they're told the lord will fight this battle they don't quite know how it's going to happen

as it unfolds it turns out that the enemies just turn against each other and wipe each other out but

they don't know that at this point they're simply told to have faith that the situation that they are

facing right now does not belong to them the pressure is not something that they need to feel

themselves because it is god's battle

now we've got to perhaps be really careful where we how we handle that kind of idea when it comes to

faith facing our daily battles whatever they may be that this is not yours to fight god's going to

fight it for you it's important we understand that what we're not talking about here is some kind of

passive spirituality where we just remove ourselves from anything and we just hand it over to god and

say well it's got nothing to do with me god's just going to sort it out

back in the 1970s there was a brazilian goalkeeper who was a christian and he used to be quite visible

in the way he would pray before matches he didn't pray before he came out onto the field he would

actually get out to the field get into the goal uh get between the pope the goal posts and get down on

his knees close his eyes look upwards and pray for everyone in the stadium to see

one particular occasion because everybody knew he did this and um one particular occasion i can't

remember what team it was they were playing but they were um they wised up to it and they thought

here's an opportunity so the match started and this guy was still down on his knees with his eyes closed

praying and somebody from the halfway line decided to chance a shot the pope went straight into the neck

that's not the kind of image that we're talking about when it comes to handing everything over to god

it's not about closing our eyes and removing ourselves from the situation

when it comes to to to engage when it comes to handing something over to god

that's actually a very active thing it takes a huge amount of courage

to let go of control it's not about giving up but it is about giving over to god

and we read in verse 17 of that passage um god says to the people look take your position

and stand still tomorrow go out against them in other words they're being called to go into this

situation to take their position but that position is one of handing over to god

that might seem quite a challenging thing to do because it is it takes a huge amount of courage to let

go of control and not to give up but to give it over to god

i'm going to share with you a story which is um i'll be honest with you it's quite a weird one

and i was in two minds as to whether to use it this morning because it can seem so removed from

perhaps everyday experience including my own that i was thinking does it connect but i think it i think

it i think it's quite an important story so i'm going to share it with you

it happened about um 30 years ago when i was a student and i was involved with the christian union

um this is when i was at university and we had a mission uh a mission week to the student community

and um we uh as part of uh that mission week we had a number of different speakers coming to

uh talk about a number of different subjects we have one particular um person that drew quite a lot of

attention because of her story because she was previously a witch and she was quite a prominent

witch and she had an experience of christ she became a christian and her ministry was one of

going around to various different places sharing her story of how she had turned from witchcraft to

christ and this particular occasion she was coming to speak um with our christian union to the student

community now this was the days long before social media but still word got out and um a lot of people

a lot of students came piled into the uh the the common room that um for this event but also quite a few

people from the local witch's coven turned up and um there were quite a few of them dotted around the

room and as this woman began to speak and to give her share her story um they began to get quite vocal now

i need to say there weren't any pointed hats in the room but there were quite a few very very vocal

hecklers and this kind of began to get sort of out of control there was quite a lot of noise quite a lot

of people shouting out i don't eventually um she said okay we're just going to pause now and then we're

going to come back in a moment hopefully in a more orderly fashion and people can ask me any questions

now i'd been involved in organizing this event and um just as much she said that and she kind of

paused everything for a moment she then turned to me and she said you'll be okay to come and uh just

chair this discussion won't you now i was pretty new to public speaking in those days and i was

absolutely terrified i had not a clue what i was going to say or what i was going to do and immediately

i felt plunged a million miles out of my depth i decided to just grab a few moments uh outside just

somewhere quiet and i i went just outside the moment i did there were two people who i'd never seen

before or since who just came up to me and they said that we won't worry about introductions we're just

from one of the local churches and uh we know what's going on here we know that you've just got

to go out and and um try to sort of deal with this situation um don't worry about saying anything we're

just going to pray for you and they did now i can't remember what they prayed and i can't actually

remember what subsequently uh i said when when i went out for the the second half

what i can remember is that in that moment this mysterious sense of peace that is beyond all

understanding came beyond me it came upon me and whilst i can't remember what those words were i do

remember that i was given the words to say

and the witches shut up

i told you it was a weird story but i share it with you because i think it's important to understand

that whilst that situation probably doesn't happen most days of our lives

plenty of other situations do where we face uncertainty and stress and anxiety we think

what earth is going to happen i feel totally out of my depth in this situation i don't know what i'm

going to do i don't know what i'm going to do and we need to be reminded in those situations and hold

close to this promise that those battles that we face when we trust in jesus are not ours

they're his now that doesn't mean to say that we step back in some passive recipient way and do

nothing the very opposite but it does mean a letting go of control in a way that perhaps is much easier

to say than it is to do but nevertheless is something that we need to do that's the first thing the second

thing that i think we can learn from this story is to take note of the way that in this situation

where these people were suddenly surrounded by armies threatening to wipe them out

they sought out the lord immediately it was the first thing they did

now that's important because it generally tends to be the last thing that we do

prayer we tend to think of as the last resort rather than the first one

a few years ago um before we had children uh tamara and i were going on holiday uh to a place that we

needed to go and have some we need to have some vaccinations before we went and um tamara used to

kind of by the way before i go on before i continue let me just reassure you in case you're feeling

uncomfortable about this i have her full permission to share this story

we had the conversation a few weeks ago remember yeah she's shaking her head all right

tamara used to have a problem with with with injections and with needles for for many years

but then three children later and lots of vaccinations and uh and blood tests and things uh no more but

but but but this these days back in those days this was it was a thing and we sort of uh tamara would

faint when uh at the side of a needle or when when an injection was about to happen and so

we went to the the the the gp to to have our our vaccinations and um we explained um i explained

the situation this is why i'm here in case in case she happens to faint and uh he kind of looked a

little bit blank but said no so seriously she needs to lie down while this happens and um and i'll just

be here in the room so he said fair enough so he went on and gave the injections and sure enough

tamara fainted for a very long time in fact it was a really long time and the doctor was there talking

to her and it felt like a really really really long time uh and uh and he was sort of waiting for her

to come around and then sort of turned around to me and i i said what can i do anything and he said

with a really serious look on his face pray

now when your doctor tells you that you need to start praying you really really worry now absolutely

everything was fine uh but the point is is that

most of the time prayer is regarded as something that you actually only turn to when you've absolutely

exhausted all the other options it's the last resort this passage tells us that in fact if we're to

take ownership of faith and to let go and to let god prayer is the first place we need to go to

which is also the last and everything else in between but it's our first resort and not our last resort

and the last thing that we can pick up from this story

is that we need to know what happens when they go out and they face these vast vast armies that are

threatening to kill

because we read how they position their own armies

you would think that they would put their strongest and their biggest and their best soldiers

on the front line

but they don't

in fact

they don't put any soldiers on the front line at all

what they choose to do

is set their worship leaders

on the front line

how about that

the singers go in front

singing give thanks to the lord

for his love endures forever

what we've got there is a picture of what it is to go into our daily battles

when we put worship first

when we put prayer first

we don't understand what's going to happen to us

but we can be reassured

that we go there

with god first

and that's his promise

that though we do know what is going to happen

he's there

and he will fight those battles

we do not know what to do

but our eyes

are on you

let's fix our eyes

onto jesus

let's do that in prayer now

if you can ask the music team perhaps to

come to lead us in a moment

let's take a few moments

as we come before god in prayer

and as we

perhaps think of whatever battles we may be facing

whatever that might look like

whatever it is

whatever it means

whatever situations that we're facing

over the coming days or weeks or months

or maybe they're longer term

things

hold these before god

in prayer now

we ask that he would

give us that deeper reassurance

that those battles are not ours to face

they are in his hands

lord god we thank you that you are always so much bigger and greater

than any battle that we may face

forgive us for those times

when prayer and worship becomes

the point of last resort

rather than the first place that we go

lord as we face whatever pressures or fears

that we have in our daily lives

so we ask that you would station your heavenly armies around us

keep our eyes focused on you

help us to trust you and to know

that the battle belongs to you

and to dare to give thanks

in advance

so lord we thank you that you are sovereign

we thank you that you know our future even when we don't

help us to trust

help us to focus our hearts

not on the battles

but upon you

amen

amen

Amen.