Read 2 Chronicles 20:1-30
King Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Judah were being
ganged up on BIG TIME! The armies of the
Ammonites, Moabites and the Meunites allied together and declared war against
this little nation. Their single objective was to annihilate Judah. They had
the manpower and resources to do just that.
3 against 1 = fear! Fear in this
situation was natural and appropriate.
Even more appropriate was King Jehoshaphat’s response.
Jehoshaphat feared God far more than the combined
forces of three powerful enemies. He allowed this justified fear to propel his
focus in that direction. His response to the frightening and the urgent was
worship. Jehoshaphat also gathered his people together to do the same through
fasting and prayer. The king along with every man, woman, child, even infant,
gathered at God’s house. Together they
focused first on who God was, second on what God does, and third on their
complete dependence on Him.
What Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah faced was
unique, but not unusual. Fearful and urgent situations are inevitable. We will be outnumbered, overwhelmed,
isolated, and picked on. Every one of those situations comes with choices: Am I going to focus on the fear or my God? Am
I going to gather divine guidance and prayer support or ammunition to justify
and fortify fear?
When we choose the fear, we then have to try to come
up with a strategy on how we are going to fight what we are afraid of. By focusing first on God, Jehoshaphat
discovered God already had a battle plan. The battle was the Lord’s. God knew
how to handle it. He had a better battle plan than Jehoshaphat, or we, could
ever devise. God even invited them to come to the battlefield and “stand and
see the salvation of the Lord on [their] behalf.”
In faith, they all went out to the battle sight
to see what God was going to do. As they went, they sang praises to and about
their God. When they got there, they
discovered that while they had been praising God, God had been at work
provoking the enemy to attack each other.
None had escaped! It took Jehoshaphat
and his people three days to carry all the spoils back to Jerusalem. Not only had God delivered them from their
fear and provided them with an unexpected abundance, but other nations “heard
that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel, so the kingdom of
Jehoshaphat was at peace!” Because they
chose faith over fear, praise over panic, they went from terrified to peace.
Making It
Personal
Do you feel like someone has declared war on you?
Verse 12 says, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” (NIV) Does that
describe you? Is your focus on the fear or on God?
In the Message’s account, the messenger told Jehoshaphat,
“There’s no time to waste.” The king then set an entire day aside for prayer
and worship. In your high-pressure,
fear-ridden, urgent situation, which is more important to you: making workable
plans or worship?
How can this fear-filled situation motivate you to
turn to the Lord?
What role can or does praise and prayer have in
dealing with your fears?
How can God’s perfect love cast out this fear (1 John4:18)?
What assurance does Exodus 23:22 give you when someone
declares war on you?
How does remembering that “the battle is not yours but God’s” help you in this
fearful situation?
