Later the Moabites and Ammonites, along with some of the Meunites, attacked Jehoshaphat. Messengers arrived and reported to Jehoshaphat, “A huge army is attacking you from the other side of the Dead Sea……” Jehoshaphat was afraid, so he decided to seek the Lord’s advice. He decreed that all Judah should observe a fast. The people of Judah assembled to ask for the Lord’s help; they came from all the cities of Judah to ask for the Lord’s help. Jehoshaphat stood before the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the Lord’s temple, in front of the new courtyard. He prayed: “O Lord God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you…… For we are powerless against this huge army that attacks us! We don’t know what we should do; we look to you for help.” (2 Chronicles 20:1-12 — New English Translation)
Joshua led the people of God to conquer and take possession of the Promised Land. After his death came the time of the judges, men and one woman who were raised up by God from time to time to lead the Israelites, in most or all cases, when their enemies were threatening them. Then came the time of the kings, Saul, David and Solomon who reigned over Israel. After Solomon, Israel split in two and was known as the northern and southern kingdoms: Israel in the north consisted of ten tribes and all of its kings were bad, Judah in the south consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, had kings from the royal line of David, and some of its kings were good. After several hundred years the northern kingdom was destroyed by its enemies and only the southern kingdom remained.
Jehoshaphat was the third king of Judah, the southern kingdom, and the first king since David to remain faithful to God, “walking in the ways of his father David”. He made some mistakes, but for the most part he was a great king.
Here we see his response to an attack by enemy armies that were far superior to his own. Three nations were attacking him, and he consisted of only two tribes. He felt afraid, as is normal when we are faced with big problems, but turned to God for help. He declared a nation-wide fast in an attempt to get God’s attention, and called people to the temple in Jerusalem to cry out to God. His prayer focused on the greatness and power of God, and contained a confession that he did not know what to do and that his eyes were on God — he did this publically, in front of all the people gathered at the temple. In a portion of the passage that I have not included in today’s reading (but you can read for yourselves) he reminds God that He had promised to save His people whenever they cried out to Him from His temple.
It was not easy for the king to confess his weakness in front of his people. As king he would have liked to appear strong and invincible, to act like he had a strategy to outwit his enemies. But whenever we are too proud to confess our weaknesses, to ask for God’s help, or for others’ help, we block God from doing the miracle that we need. Demons make us proud, make us pretend. They hate honesty and humility. And so when Jehoshaphat made this public prayer for God’s help, confessing that he did not know what to do, that he was looking to God for help… he forced God to reach down and rescue him.
Tomorrow we will talk about what happened after his prayer. It was unexpected. What God did was shocking. God made it abundantly clear to everyone that Jehoshaphat was His chosen king and that He was with Judah. — This is what we need in our lives. The next time an impossible problem appears, immediately cry out to God, confess your weakness and your dependence on Him, and then act in faith.
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