2 Chronicles 20:4-12 "And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. (5) And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, (6) And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? (7) Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? (8) And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, (9) If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. (10) And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; (11) Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. (12) O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee."
I use more Scripture this morning than I normally incorporate into the
devotion. For many years, I have admired the prayer of Jehoshaphat and have
tried to imitate his prayer to make it my own. There is much humility, wisdom,
and worship in this prayer and it behooves us to simply think about the prayer.
I confess to you that as a pastor, I often feel frustrated because I do not
have all the answers. What? Isn't a pastor supposed to be able to help and
remedy all the problems of mankind? If so, I am deeply deficient in doing
so. I feel responsible many times because I could not prevent situations or
circumstances from occuring in the lives of God's people. I even feel my
prayers to be incapable of giving assistance to others. I feel this may be the
position of Jehoshaphat when Jerusalem was surrounded. He found himself in a
state of fear. The king was not supposed to ever show fear, nor any emotion in
front of his people.
Yet, he was in a situation where he did not know what to do, so he did what he
knew he could do. He bowed on his knees before his people and began to pour
out his heart before the Lord. I encourage you to read his prayer. Go back and
read it often. It is an incredible prayer that gives comfort, assurance, and
hope to himself and to his people. The Lord of all heaven and earth is the One
to Whom he is praying. He reminds himself in the prayer that the Lord had
defeated enemies before and would again. He reminded the people through the
avenue of this prayer that the Lord had given them the land and defeated
the inhabitants of the land in order for Israel to be able to live there.
But the part of the prayer that grabs my heart is found in verse 12: "we
have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know
we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee." Lord, I don't know what
to do. I have no ability within myself to go against them. I have no tactic to
fight against them. But Lord, we are looking to you. We are depending upon you.
We need you.
Can you identify with Jehoshaphat? If so, then lift up your eyes and look to
the Lord of Glory and Grace. He has promised to give peace and rest. Trust Him.