2nd Chronicles 20 FAITH IN THE TRIAL It would have been an event of great impact to those who read the account the chronicler wrote about the invading army, the concern of the people, the prayer of Jehoshaphat and the answer of the Lord through Jahaziel. This amazing account of God working for His people would have encouraged those who were beginning again the testimony of the nation, to seek the Lord themselves in every situation that seemed insurmountable. When we are faced with disaster and feel totally inadequate to meet the need: fasting, separating ourselves from the normal events of the day, devoting ourselves to that which God wants, and earnest prayer is what we should do. Fear and fasting go together. Believers often do much better in their walk of faith under opposition and stress than they do when the world is kind to us and shows us favor. Actually, when the world is favorable to us, we are in danger.
When Jehoshaphat was afraid of the invading armies, he knew his only hope was in God. If God worked for them and was favorable to His people, His power, and His alone, was able to deliver them. Prayer and fasting take the place of fear when we seek the Lord with a whole-hearted desire and true faith. By setting himself to seek the Lord, his influence spread through the whole nation of Judah who knew him because he had previously visited them all. It is a good principle of leadership to know the people well enough that they know you care for them sincerely and will respond to your exhortations when they are given in the fear of God. Men, women and children called a halt to normal daily living and fasted as a way of concentrating on the urgency of the moment and their collective awareness of their need of God.
The prayer of Jehoshaphat began with committing the situation to God knowing that only God could save them. He appealed to the sovereignty of God who knew the whole situation. By giving praise to God for His power, he emphasized their need of God because they were powerless to meet the enemy and prevail. He wisely sought the favor of God who gave them the promised land in the first place and is a covenant-keeping God. He appealed to God for the nation because they were God's people. It is well for us to remember who we are and to whom we belong when we pray. God is sovereign over every situation in life we face, and as His children it is only right that we earnestly supplicate our Gracious Father in our times of need.
The prayer of Jehoshaphat also included praise for God's glory and the comfort to be gotten from His promises. It is important that thanksgiving be given whenever prayer is made. In this prayer he professed complete dependence on God for deliverance by focusing entirely on God's power, not human ability or ingenuity. His prayer was an intelligent awareness that the God who gave them the land in the first place could preserve the land and protect it from the invaders who wanted to take it over. Knowing our limitations is an important part of intelligent prayer. When we do not know what to do, we can pray with confidence in an all-knowing God. Then we keep our eyes on Him for answers and the needed understanding of our responsibility in the matter. Expressions of confidence in God, thankfulness, trust even in times of despair are appropriate when earnest, fervent prayer is made. "We don't know what to do. Our eyes are on Thee."
God's answer came through a servant of longstanding reputation. The men women and children were standing waiting for an answer and it came immediately. Not all answers to prayer come immediately but when the matter is urgent, we can expect our Father to give us the response that best suits His sovereign will. The Spirit of the Lord came and the answer was plain. "The battle is not yours, but God's." What a blessed relief it is when we are confident that this is what God wants, and we have no doubts about it. God was going to do what needed to be done but they were not to stay home and take it easy. There was an immediate responsibility they were to meet. It wasn't go home and get ready. It was. "Tomorrow, go ye down against them." Then they were to "set themselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you." God was identifying Himself with His people and He intended them to identify themselves with Him. It is not right for a believer to seek to remain incognito and still think that God is going to do for them what is needed.
The testimony of Jahaziel was plain, specific and it made perfectly clear what the responsibility of the people of God was. They were not to fear nor retain a sense of trepidation, but were "tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you." They did not know how victory was coming but they were to be part of the process. It is always right when God gives His answers to prayer, to bow, kneel, fall down before Him, worship and then stand up and praise Him. "Whoso offereth praise glorifies God." The outcome was assured but the way it was going to be accomplished was not. It is important for God's people to be in the right place, at the right time, in the right spiritual condition and be ready at all times to do the right thing as our God makes it plain to us.
When tomorrow came, they didn't linger but rose early in the morning and went. How good it was that Jehoshaphat their leader was there before them, and was ready to encourage them all with plain words: "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper." That principle has not changed at all for us. Our confidence is in God. Those who speak for Him must be trusted and their words accepted as authentic. Of special interest is the fact that the choir went before the army. The words of their hymn, would have struck a chord; maybe even of terror to those who heard the sound of singing coming towards them as that of "Songs of victory, songs of glory." Whatever was the ambush God used, it worked exactly as He had intended. Powerful singing and the sounds of a marching army, and God working for His people by some form of ambush, confused them to such an extent, they didn't know who their enemy was and attacked each other in fear that the one next to then was their enemy. "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform."
By the time the people of Judah arrived at the battlefield, the battle was over. "The battle is God's." Singing saints and the Lord God of hosts are a wonderful combination for success in the things of God. When God's people sing even in times of difficulty, there is a special power given to rise above the present distress. "The joy of the Lord is your strength" is still a fact for us in our times of extremity and weakness. When God fights for us to meet our need He takes responsibility for the whole matter. Our limitations and weakness demonstrate God strength and power, and the fact that His interests are in the same place as those who are in need.
Victory comes in ways most unexpected when it is God who is in control, not only of His own people, but the setting of the battle, the circumstances in which the enemy is found and the outcome. His people came out singing and returned with great joy and greatly enriched because of all the opposition left behind. Beside that, the other countries around were made to fear because "the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel." God gave rest to His people and they gave glory to God. But even though Jehoshaphat reigned twenty-five years doing right, the people he ruled had not prepared their hearts unto God. They had come to expect that God was working for them, which He was, but felt they had no responsibility to remove the high places because they probably were worshipping the Lord in their own way at the place (high place) for their choosing instead of where the Lord had placed His name. A similar practice is done today by those who may be Christians but want to worship God in their own way without accepting scriptural guidance.
There are times in the lives of some of God's people when there has been victory and blessing that obviously came from God, but the attraction of more of this world's goods become one's desire. Jehoshaphat entered into an unequal yoke business deal that failed. He apparently had not learned that alliances with the ungodly are bound to fail. He could have learned that from those who were before him, but he didn't. Unequal yokes are wrong because they are built on unequal foundations. Faith contrasted with works. When thinking about entering into a questionable business venture stop to think: What are my motives; what am I expecting to get out of this and what might I lose? What problems am I going to avoid by entering into this partnership? What problems can I expect? Is this partnership a quick fix or the best solution in the long run? Have I prayed to God and taken counsel from godly men? Are the goals of the partnership the same in both partners? Would I be willing to settle for less money in order to do God's will?
When faith is put to the test it usually involves trials that affect me emotionally, spiritually and physically. A trial will test my obedience to God, my commitment to truth, my responsibility to the assembly of the Lord's people, my testimony before the world as a Christian, my family life and my personal devotional life. No financial profit that negatively effects my joy and testimony can compensate for what I will lose in an unequal yoke.