In 2 Chronicles 20 we find that Judah has been invaded by the Moabites, Ammonites and later those of Mount Seir. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah and for the most part was a righteous king. He made some alliances with Israel that would hurt him in many ways. In the case before us we find many attributes that we ought to emulate. Let us study these for the purpose of our article.
The first attribute is found in 2 Chronicles 20:3, “and Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast thought all Judah.” This attribute would be that the king and all Judah (verse 4) sought the Lord. They took time and effort to find out what God wanted done. They set time aside to go to God and find the will of God. Since, “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4) let us apply this to our lives. How often do we, when faced with a problem or difficulty take the time to seek the Lord?
The next attribute is found in 2 Chronicles 20:4, “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.” Not only are they seeking the Lord, but they are coming together to ask the Lord to help. How wonderful it would be if we would all come together to ask the Lord help on anything that is placed before us. If there were facing personal problems how wonderful would it be if the whole congregation was to come together and pray for the Lord to help? If the congregation were facing a challenge that we i.e. the whole congregation would come together to ask the Lord for help? Do we know one another well enough to do this? Would we want to invest the time with the Lord’s people to do this? Would we come together at a time different than our regular worship time to pray to God about our Gospel meeting? We are fighting a fight against the devil and are we asking God’s help in this battle?
We could come together and ask the Lord’s help for many areas the church is involved with, the need for teachers, elders, and, deacons. Would we come together and pray about doing this work? Would we take time or invest time out of our busy schedule to come and pray to God for help? You might say we could pray at home; hopefully this is being done already, but notice in our text that the people came together and asked the Lord for help. They might have done this at home, but there is something to be said for presenting a united effort to God about the work that is placed before us and the opportunities before us.
Next in verse 12 of 2 Chronicles 20 we find, “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against his great company that cometh against us neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.” You mean to tell me that there was not a commander in the whole of Judah that did not know how to yield a sword? Do you mean there was not a commander in Judah that did not know how to plan a fight? There could have been several capable military commanders, but they showed complete dependency upon God by making this request of God. Would we surrender our will, knowledge, and stubbornness to do the will of God completely? Would “we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Can we trust in the providence of God this much?
Notice also that their eyes are focused upon God. The New Testament tells us in several places to keep our eyes focused upon the Lord. When we do this we will not fail or fall. We will keep our eyes on Him we will not care or notice the wind that is surrounding us during the storm (In Matthew 14 Peter took his eyes off the Lord and seeing the winds boisterous he became afraid and began to sink) . He promised He would take care of us (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:6) and He will keep His promises.
The Lord does respond to them by the Spirit of the Lord coming upon Hahaziel. He tells them, “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is nor yours but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). Has not God told us this? Has God not given us the protection we need (Ephesians 6 we are told several times to put on the whole armor of God). There is no need to be afraid of the devil we can overcome him with the help of God (Matthew 4 Jesus overcame the devil by quoting scriptures. We can do the same.).
They were told, “set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.” They had something to do and they are also told to stand still. How often do we need to heed this advice? We want things done in our time and in our way! We want it done now and we want it done our way. God does not work on our time table. Time with God means nothing. Our ways mean nothing to God. There are times that we are to be ready and when the time is right God will be with us and we can overcome the problems in our life.
The attribute that we want to notice is found, “And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord” (2 Chronicles 20:18). They worshipped God. Is it worth on time and effort to worship God? Will we take the time to bow our heads before the God of the universe and worship Him? Are we too busy to worship God? Let us learn and copy these attributes in our life.
Love, Keith
