Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, here we are in a brand new year and I am very excited as we start our second year of the Newsletter.
As I prayed and pondered over what I would write this month, the following scripture got into my mind, heart, and spirit – 2 Chronicles 20:1-30. There are so many great truths in this chapter it’s impossible to touch on them all in a limited space. I do want to share some of the nuggets I have discovered as I have read and re-read this chapter several times over the past couple of weeks. I’ve also listened to and read several sermons on this chapter. I encourage you to read it as well.
In verse 1 we find that some enemies came against King Jehoshaphat to battle. They had declared war on him. In verse 2 we find some people came to the King to inform him that there was a great multitude coming and, in fact, they were pretty close already, nearly at his doorsteps.
So I got to thinking about battles and bad news. It seems life is full of battles and bad news. We hear it all the time and experience, ourselves, that one thing after another just keeps coming against us.
Our pastor recently preached a powerful message on the armor of God from Ephesians 6. He emphasized the importance of having on the armor and being ready and equipped because we are in a battle. There is spiritual warfare going on. We have an enemy who only wants to deceive us, defeat us, discourage us, depress us, distract us and ultimately would love to destroy us. He is ruthless. He doesn’t play fair. And there are no rules that he follows.
I think it is safe to say that in 2023 there will be some battles or some bad news that we will have to face. It may be personal. It may be with our families. It may be in our nation or in the world. You may already be in a battle. You may already be facing and dealing with bad news. It may be carried over from 2022 or you may have been dealing with it for a long time.
There is good news and great truths and principles found in this chapter that will help us be victorious and overcomers in whatever crisis we may be facing. I pray that the Spirit of God will encourage and strengthen you as He has me as we look at this scripture.
Jehoshaphat was facing a very serious problem here. There were three groups of people, three armies, coming against him almost on his doorsteps. He didn’t really have the time to get his army ready.
Nor did he feel like he had the manpower to stand against this massive group preparing to invade his nation.
His very life was at stake. His family’s life, as well as his city and his nation, were at stake. They were all in danger. Their freedom was at stake. There way of life was at stake. Sounds like where we are in our own country today.
The problem was bigger than he could handle in his own wisdom, strength, or power. So we see in verse 3 that the first thing Jehoshaphat did was to seek the Lord. He set the example by his own personal seeking of the Lord. We see this several times in the Book of Chronicles, leaders who seek the Lord when facing a crisis. Boy, it sure would be good if we had leaders today who would sincerely seek the Lord!
How often is seeking the Lord the first thing we do when facing a crisis, when facing difficulties, or something that looks like there is no possible way to make it through it? So often we try to figure it out ourselves, fix it in our own strength, and try everything else first before we seek the Lord in the matter if we seek Him at all.
Jehoshaphat determined to seek the Lord for help, direction and guidance. He turned his attention to God. He wholly, fully and sincerely gave himself to God in prayer. He knew he needed the favor of God in this situation. He even sets aside a day for prayer and fasting.
This would seem absurd to many or most. He had been invaded, taken by surprise, and didn’t have time to waste in getting his forces ready to defend and yet he devotes a day to prayer and fasting. Wow! He believed in the power of prayer. In verse 4, people from all over Judah had come to pray. Jehoshaphat stood up and began to pray. His first words in verse 6, according to the KJV, are, “O Lord God”, and verse 12 reads, “O our God.” That little word “O” jumped out at me.
“O” is an exclamation that is used to express surprise, fear, pain, grief, or desire and longing. It is used to lend earnestness to an appeal. It is full of emotion and passion: it’s a groan, if you will. How about you? Have you ever groaned that little word out of the depths of your heart, your pain, your need? I cannot count the times I have groaned myself – O God; O Father; O Jesus; O Holy Spirit!
Jehoshaphat’s prayer is full of emotion and passion. This was real prayer. Charles Spurgeon once said, “There’s a real difference between play praying and real praying.” He continues, “I can at the prayer meetings readily tell when the brother is praying and when he is only performing or playing at prayer. Oh, for a living groan! One sigh of the soul has more power in it than half and hour’s recitation of pretty, pious words. Oh, for a sob from the soul, or a tear from the heart.” I’m fairly sure Jehoshaphat was not performing or playing at praying.
This is the first nugget in this story. In the time of crisis, in the heat of the battle, it’s not a time for performing pretty, polished, pious words and call it prayer. It’s a time to groan, to get real with God.
When seeking God in the midst of a crisis, the next thing to realize is our helplessness. In verse 12, Jehoshaphat says we have no might against this great company and, we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on You. Jehoshaphat recognized that he could not fix the situation on his own. That was the root of his intense praying. The acknowledgement of our helplessness should drive us into God’s presence. It should motivate us to cry out intensely for God’s grace, mercy, power and help. It should cause us to depend on Him for strength, solutions, and direction. It can move us into a deeper more fervent and faithful prayer life.
I remember when I was in the County Jail, with my head leaning into the bars of my cell, facing death row, for the first time in my life I realized and recognized I was completely helpless in the situation I was in. I couldn’t fix it. I couldn’t change it. I had no power, no means to make anything different. There was absolutely nothing I could say or do that would change the circumstance I was in. I began to pray and cry out to God for help.
After realizing our helplessness, the next step is to commit ourselves to seeking the Lord. This indicates intensity in prayer and, at the same time, it indicates perseverance. Jehoshaphat determined to seek the Lord until he received an answer. He was going to pray and wait. That is the hard part, waiting. In verse 13, after they had prayed, the Bible states that all Judah stood before the Lord. They were waiting to see or hear how God would answer. The first word in verse 14 is “then”. Then God began to answer.
So many times I have prayed, “Lord, I don’t know what to do but my eyes are on You. I’m going to trust You.” And I would have to wait for that then moment. Sometimes answers come immediately; other times there is a lot of waiting. The words commit yourself to seeking the Lord and wait on Him can sound so superficial at times. They can sound kind of empty especially when you are really hurting and when you are facing some real problems; when you really need to see God work in your life and you have been waiting.
But, my friend, they are not superficial words spoken to simply cover up or ignore real pain or problems. They are the spiritual counsel right out of God’s Word. Who else can we turn to? Who else has the answers we need? It’s God alone who can strengthen us. It’s God alone who can sustain us by His grace. It’s God alone who has the power to help and provide what we need. He is our rock and our refuge.
I remember well that first day at Central Prison walking around crying out to God about how I was going to make it through a twenty year prison sentence. He spoke to me that day right out of His Word and told me He would be my refuge, my strength and my very present help. (Psalm 46:1) He can be yours too!
So what was it that helped them in their waiting? What helped them to persevere, to stand, to wait and to trust in God? I believe, in this story, it was because they had focused on the character of God. In Jehoshaphat’s prayer, in verse 6, he reminds himself and the people of God’s sovereignty – that God rules and is in control. He prays and focuses on God’s almighty power. He focuses on the faithfulness of God as he reminds God of His covenant with the people; of the promise that He had made to the nation; promises God had made at the dedication of Solomon’s temple to intervene in their lives when danger or disaster would come against them (vs.8, 9).
Jehoshaphat pleads with God on the basis of who He is and asks Him to respond accordingly. I’m so glad that we can take God’s promises right back to Him and remind Him that He said it. Not that He forgets but, it shows that we take His promises seriously and expect Him to fulfill them.
Jehoshaphat focused on God’s greatness in verse 12. He stated that they didn’t have what they needed to face the great company that was against them. Going back to Chapter 17 we see that there were over a million men, men of war, men of valor, men who were prepared to fight that were in Jehoshaphat’s army. His confidence was not in the power of men, but in the greatness of God.
Jehoshaphat admitted he didn’t know what to do but, what He did know was the God who knew what to do. He did know the God who knows how to handle every situation. He did know the God who is never surprised, never dismayed, never frightened, never worried and wringing His hands wondering about what He is going to do. He did know that God and he loved that God. More importantly, he knew that that God loved him and his people.
Jehoshaphat is a powerful example of how to pray in the midst of a crisis, a battle, or bad news. He explained the situation, confessed his helplessness, yet concentrated on God’s character and attributes. He is consumed and immersed in who God is.
In Job 22:21 (KJV) it reads, “Acquaint now thyself with him (God)…” Some of the most rich and rewarding studies I have done over the years were on the characteristics and attributes of God. It truly helps one become acquainted with Him. It helps you understand more about who He is and what He is like. As I began to concentrate more and more on who God is and learn of His attributes – the sovereignty of God, the immutability of God, the holiness of God, the power, the faithfulness, the goodness of God, the grace of and mercy of and love of God, and there are more – God began to deepen my understanding of Him and I was able to start experiencing Him through those attributes in the midst of my crisis. This helped me focus more on His greatness and goodness rather than on my problems. This sustained me and helped me to stand strong as I waited through the most difficult time of my life.
The next thing they had to do was be obedient to God’s leading and instructions (vs.13-20) regarding answering their prayers. God gave some specific instructions. They would experience victory because they sought God, listened to Him and obeyed Him.
In our seeking God in a situation, we must listen for His leadings. He may reveal a plan of action we need to take. He may point out specific promises He wants us to claim and expect Him to fulfill them.
There may be times He doesn’t give us any specific insight or leadings. What do we do then? We stay faithful to what we do know. We stay in the Word. We continue to enter into God’s presence and seek Him.
The scripture states in verse 15, “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” Often, in battle, it’s God’s opportunity and occasion to work powerfully in our life or for Him to reveal Himself in new and fresh ways to us. Everything that happens to us is not good. In fact, they can be very agonizing and devastating to us and yet, at the same time, God uses those times as opportunities to work in us, to speak to us, to change us, and to ultimately use us for His glory and our good.
It’s easy to lose sight of this when you are hurting and struggling. So we have to remind ourselves or be reminded to surrender it all to God and plead for His peace and power to flow into our life as we “stand still and see the salvation (or deliverance) of the Lord.”
The last thing I want us to look at is praising God through the crisis. When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, (vs.14) he began to speak and tell the people how God was speaking to them about His promise to fight for them; His promise to be with them; His promise to take care of this situation. Jehoshaphat (vs.18) bowed his head, along with all Judah, before the Lord and worshipped Him.
Matthew Henry wrote, “An active faith can give thanks for a promise though it’s not yet performed, knowing that God’s bonds are as good as ready money.” Or as we would put it, it’s like money in the bank.
They praised and worshipped God before the deliverance came to pass, before the promise was fulfilled. In the midst of the crisis, praise poured out of them (vs.19-22). If we are going to be able to praise God in a crisis, in the heat of the battle, we must develop a lifestyle of daily praise. The last thing we want to do is praise God when we are in the midst of the battle. It seems that trying to cope with the adversity just saps all of our energy and causes us to focus on the impossible. Yet praising and thanking God can help us face these times and enables us to not only endure but grow through them.
What can we praise and thank God for in the midst of our battles, bad news, or crisis’? One writer helps answer that question and uses James 1:2-5 as a model that provides truth we can put into practice. He writes, “Praise God that He prepares us to face crisis times. Thank Him for the joy we can have in the midst of the crisis. Praise God for His willingness to help us. Thank Him for using all the circumstances of our lives for His own purpose. Praise Him for His patience with you. Thank Him for the endurance He is creating within our lives. Praise Him for being the Potter who shapes and molds our lives even through adversity. Thank Him for loving us so much that He works to change us. Praise Him for being a God of purpose and having a plan for our lives. Thank Him for accomplishing that plan in everything that we face. Praise God for being the generous and giving God who pours out His blessings on us and supplies our needs even in the midst of our crisis. Thank Him for knowing what we need and granting it to us at the right time. Thank Him for never getting tired of hearing us cry out to Him.”
Verse 22 says, “And when they began to sing…” I want to share some of the words of two songs that I have been worshiping God with as I’m waiting for God to work and move in some areas that seem impossible. In verse 20, Jehoshaphat tells the people to “believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established.”
The first song is titled We Believe For It – They say this mountain can’t be moved. They say these chains will never break. But they don’t know You like we do. We’ve heard that there is no way through, we’ve heard the tide will never change. They haven’t seen what You can do. There is power in your Name, so much power in your Name. Move the unmovable, break the unbreakable, God we believe, we believe for it. From the impossible we will see a miracle. God we believe, God we believe for it. You are the way when there seems to be no way. We trust You, You have the final say, You said it and we believe it.
The second song is titled Way Maker – You are here moving in our midst. You are here working in this place. I worship You. I worship You. You are Way Maker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God that is who You are. You are here touching, healing and mending every heart. You are here turning lives around. Even when I don’t see it You’re working, even when I don’t feel it You’re working. You never stop, You never stop working. You are the Way Maker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, My God, that is who You are.
This is such a powerful chapter to me with so many great truths and principles we can use in our own lives. I pray that the Holy Spirit will use something out of this message to encourage your heart, to believe God – His person and His promises. I pray you will seek Him with all your heart, commit your life to Him, be obedient to what He says, and worship Him in Spirit and Truth in all that you face in 2023.
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