Jehoshaphat was one of the good Kings of Judah.
He reigned for 25 years. In 2nd Chronicles 19:4 it reads he went through the land and “turned them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.”
In this chapter he gave them orders, “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord…you are to warn them not to sin against the Lord otherwise his wrath will come on you and your brothers…Act with courage, and may the Lord be with those who do well.”
But he was to face a great test in which God showed his power and faithfulness during a time of great alarm.
When things seemed to be going well, some leading men came to him reporting a vast army was coming against Judah. Alarmed, Jehoshaphat did what we need to do today. He called the people together from all parts of the land, and proclaimed a time of fasting and prayer.
Verse 8-12 records one of the great prayers of supplication in the Bible. He ends it with these words. “O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you.”
We are facing similar conditions today. There is a vast army approaching us today. They come not with spears or military might but with ideas and an ideology which is attempting to displace the faith of our fathers with secularism and an anti-God philosophy thinly veiled behind half-truths and outright deception.
Jehoshaphat got it right. He admitted he didn’t know what to do as far as the human element was involved. But he didn’t throw up his arms in defeat, but as the KJV puts it, “Our eyes are fixed on you.” He recognized that the sovereign God of the universe was not in hiding. He had not turned his back on His people.
God was not silent. Speaking through a prophet, the Lord said, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Then he gave them some instructions that would sound absurd today.
He sent the choir out at the head of the troops. They were to sing praises to God for the splendor of his holiness. The enemy was so confused that they turned on one another so ferociously that the next morning all the army of Judah could see was dead bodies of the enemy. The plunder left behind was so great that it took three days to collect it.
This is not intended to be a strategy for modern warfare but it does present some points to consider. Ultimately, the battle is not ours but God’s. This past Thursday, May 6, was the National Day of Prayer. As the Apostle Paul said in 2nd Cor. 10:3b-5, … “We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
I challenge every believer to gather in homes with friends of like mind this next week, to praise God, plead for His guidance, and call for repentance. Truly, we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are fixed on the only One who has the power to overcome.
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