Courageous – 1

Courageous – 1

Subject – Uncertainty is Guaranteed 

By Rick Welborne

2 Samuel 23:20-23 (NLT2)
²⁰  There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it.
²¹  Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.
²²  Deeds like these made Benaiah as famous as the Three mightiest warriors.
²³  He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him captain of his bodyguard.

--One thing is for certain, life is filled with uncertainty. Our lives change in just a moment.

Oswald Chambers – To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways; we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation. 

--One thing for sure, Benaiah did not wake up on the day he was in a pit with a lion knowing every detail that would happen. It was not on his “to do” list or on his “wish list.”

--This lion encounter was as unplanned as a bad toothache. As we read this incident that happened 3000 years ago, we fail to truly appreciate the element of surprise. We know how it ends.

--We read the story and think the outcome was inevitable. Psychologist call this “hindsight bias”. We tend to, as we read scripture, to play the role of Monday morning quarterback. 

--But to appreciate the faith of Benaiah, you need to try to feel what he felt before he killed the lion. As you put yourself in his snow boots, you will experience a lot of emotional uncertainty.

--Him killing the lion was not a foregone conclusion. Statistics were definitely against him. Hand to hand combat with another human is one thing, but fighting the king of the beasts. Yikes!

--So many things to consider; how hard was it snowing? Was the snow hard and slippery? Visibility?  What time of day was it? Had Benaiah eaten his Wheaties? How hungry was the lion? Remember Daniel?

Daniel 6:24 (NKJV)
²⁴  And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions--them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den. 

--One thing that was for certain with Benaiah…He had an uncertain outcome. It could have gone either way. We must ask ourselves, what did Benaiah know?

1. He Knew God Was with Him.

--Yes, he had a sense of destiny but with that sense of destiny there is always a degree of uncertainty. Benaiah did not know if he would win or lose, live or die. 

--He could have run away and running away would have reduced uncertainty and even increased security. But lion chasers aren’t wired that way. The unknown does not scare them. 

--Security and playing it safe scares lion chasers more than uncertainty does. They don’t want to live the rest of their lives saying “What if?”

--So lion chasers, like Benaiah, chase lions. In the short term, it increases uncertainty, but in the long run, it reduces regrets. Embracing uncertainty is one dimension of our faith.

--You have to make the decision that if you are going to reach your God given potential and your God given destiny, sometimes you have to run away from security and chase uncertainty. Verses?

--Isn’t that why Jonathan left the safety of the Israelite camp and climbed a cliff. The military stalemate was driving him crazy so he decided to pick a fight with the Philistines.

1 Samuel 14:6 (NLT2)
⁶  “Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the LORD will help us, for nothing can hinder the LORD. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!” 

--If you read here in the NLT it says “perhaps” and in the NKJV it says “may be”. I don’t know about you but it sounds like there was a measure of uncertainty in Jonathan’s mind and heart.

--Jonathan says for nothing can hinder the LORD. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few! In other words, even though he was uncertain, he felt that the Lord was with him.

--Let us think about Abraham. Isn’t that what he did when he left his family and his country to pursue the promise of God? 

--In a day when the average person did not travel more than thirty miles from their birthplace, he decided, even with a great measure of uncertainty, to follow God’s destiny for him.

Hebrews 11:8 (NKJV)
⁸  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

--Isn’t that what Noah did when he built and ark in the middle of the desert? I am sure there was a great measure of uncertainty. But lion chasers go after whatever God wants them to do.

Genesis 6:22 (NIV) ²²  Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

--That’s what lion chasers do; they climb cliffs, they move to foreign countries, and they build boats in the desert. They are considered crazy.

--But they did amazing things because they were not afraid of uncertainty. Key. They knew God was with them. 

--Lion chasers do not have to worry about what is coming because God knows. They don’t need explanations for every disappointment because they know God has a plan.

2. You Cannot Plan Pentecost.

--One of our biggest mistakes in serving God is that we focus our energies on telling God what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. 

--We even repeat ourselves over and over again just to make sure that God did not miss any of the important details. What if, instead of spending energy making plans for God, we spent our energy seeking God?

--Isn’t that what happened on the Day of Pentecost? The disciples did not have a plan. They were clueless. Sometimes uncertainty makes us pray like it depends on God. They did for ten days.

Acts 2:1-4 (NIV)
¹  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
²  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
³  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
⁴  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 

--God could not have scripted the Day of Pentecost any better. The outpouring of Holy Spirit happened during the Feast of Pentecost, when Jewish pilgrims came from all over the ancient world to Jerusalem.

--Those pilgrims were all able to hear the gospel in their native tongues. Not only were there 3000 believers baptized, but 3000 missionaries went back home to spread the good news.

--You could not have coordinated an event any better than this but here is the point; from the perspective of the disciples, the Day of Pentecost was totally unplanned. Amazing!

--It was not like they woke up that morning and said, “I believe I want to speak in a foreign language today.” They had no category for what was about to happen. It was unprecedented.

--It was not like they had made an appointment that after 10 days they would be filled with Holy Spirit and I am sure Peter had not prepared a three-point sermon. Not even a change of clothes for the baptism. 

--Even though Jesus told them to go and wait in Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father, they had no idea what that could possibly look like. You can’t plan Pentecost! Jesus told them:

Luke 24:45-49 (NIV)
⁴⁵  Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
⁴⁶  He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
⁴⁷  and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
⁴⁸  You are witnesses of these things.
⁴⁹  I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

--Okay guys, Jesus told us His plan and our plan…here it is in a nut shell. Jesus is sending the Promise of the Father (hands raised…what’s that?). Don’t know!

--We go to Jerusalem and stay there until whatever this is happens to us. Well, that’s clear! So what did they do? They obeyed!

Luke 24:51-53 (NIV)
⁵¹  While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
⁵²  Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
⁵³  And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

--So what happened? They obeyed. You can’t plan Pentecost but what you can do is seek Good, fast, and worship for ten days and watch what God does.

--What if we sought God with the same intensity they did instead of spending all of our time giving God instructions about what He should do. 

Acts 2:38-41 (NKJV)
³⁸  Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
³⁹  For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
⁴⁰  And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."
⁴¹  Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 

--At Pentecost the disciples were uncertain about what God would do…what a wonderful surprise.