2 Chronicles 20:1-37

There are times when the circumstances of our lives our simply too overwhelming for us to bear.  When these things happen, we respond in one of two ways: either we lose hope and fall into despair or we trust God and recognize His sovereign control over all circumstances.  Jehoshaphat found himself and the nation of Judah in an impossible and hopeless situation.  There was no way that he could hope to escape the disaster that was coming upon him through his own efforts.  When we are called upon by God to face battles with impossible odds, we need to follow the example that Jehoshaphat provided for us.

JEHOSHAPHAT TOOK HIS PROBLEM TO THE LORD: When Jehoshaphat heard that there was a coalition of nations coming against him and knew the size of these armies; he quickly realized that there was no way he would be able withstand the onslaught of this huge army.  At this point there were several things he could have done.  He could have fallen into the depths of despair and lets his life be filled with worry.  He could have simply surrendered to the army and given up.  He could have desperately written to the kings of surrounding nations promising to pay them if they would come and help him.  Instead he set his heart on the Lord and took the problem to the Lord.  He reminded the Lord of His promise and how Israel had taken pity upon these nations when they had left Egypt on the Lord’s command.  Now they were coming up against Israel and Jehoshaphat cries out to the Lord to come to his aide.  We must learn to take our problems to the Lord in prayer.  When trials come into our lives we can worry, walk or work; but what God really wants us to do is wait on the Lord and tell Him about our fears.

JEHOSHAPHAT TRUSTED THE PROMISE FROM THE LORD: Jehoshaphat gathered all of the people to pray to the Lord and as they were calling on Him, God revealed himself through a prophet.  God promised that He would give them victory over the enemy and that they would not even have to fight the battle.  They were simply instructed to go out where they could see the massive army and watch the provision of the Lord.  God does not always just call us to watch; there are times that He empowers us to work but in both cases the help comes from Him.  Jehoshaphat led the people out to where they could see the army below them and simply watch the Lord work.  The different armies started fighting against themselves until they were all dead.  All Judah had to do was go down and carry off the spoils of their enemies.  It is a hard thing to just wait on the Lord and trust in His Word, but that is what He calls us to do on many occasions.  If we desire to please the Lord and see Him work on our behalf, we must learn to trust Him.


JEHOSHAPHAT THANKED THE PROVISION OF THE LORD: Once the problem was behind them and they had seen the provision of God, Jehoshaphat led the people in a service of praise and worship of the Lord.  We are often guilty of asking God to help us in times of need but then we fail to thank Him for His provision in our lives.  God is pleased when we rejoice in His provisions in our lives.  This episode brought great fear upon all the other nations and ended up bringing peace to Judah that ware greater than they had experienced before.  God has a way of taking desperate circumstances and working them out to be sources of great blessing in our lives.  Unfortunately, Jehoshaphat did not use this provision of God as motivation to remove all of the high places and continue trusting exclusively on the Lord.  Instead, he tolerated this form of idolatry in his kingdom and he then went and made another alliance with Ahaziah, the wicked king of Israel.  May the Lord allow us to learn from the example of Jehoshaphat so we will imitate his obedience and avoid his mistakes.

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