This morning, we will be looking at 2nd Chronicles beginning at chapter 20. This is where Jehoshaphat was up against a great army. Scripture says that Jehoshaphat was afraid but, in his state of panic, in his state of fear, we will look at what he did. We have looked at this portion of scripture before, but today its viewed in a different context.
Let's begin our worship and sing, Down At The Cross. No accompanying voices. Sing out loud.
Let us listen to the Band as they bring to us; Wall Of sound/Paul Lovett-Cooper. Its wonderful arrangement.
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As we move into a time of prayer, pray our country and Government. Pray for the world situation as we journey through uncertain times
Let us sing, Great Is The Lord
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Let Us pray.
Lord, we come to you and we thank you for drawing near to us when we draw near to you. To know that you are mindful of us — overwhelms the soul. But Lord, today our spirit is heavy and the body is weak. At times, we cannot bear the weight of this anxiety and panic any longer and the fear that we sometimes feel. We recognize that we cannot get through this alone, and We pray against the very active enemy who is trying to shake our faith. Help us stand strong in you. Fortify these weary bones and remind us of the truth that this pain and panic will not last forever. It will pass.
Fill me with your joy, peace and perseverance, Father. Restore my soul and break the chains of anxiety and panic that bind me. I trust you with my panic and I know that you have the power to take it all away. But even if you don’t, I know I don’t have to be a slave to my fear. I can rest in the shadow of your wings and I will rise and overcome by your unwavering strength. I will look towards you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Please take time now for your personal prayers
Let us share together in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
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Before we go to the word we will listen to the Songster as they bring to us.
One Life To Live
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
When someone scream out, “Don’t Panic” – it’s normally when they’re panicking. But panic, I would say, is a natural reaction to fear. But, may I will also say that panic is pretty useless, because it burns up a whole bunch of energy! Energy you need to get through the situation.
In this day and age, one of the things that they teach us is to be self-reliant. To have confidence in our own abilities. Nothing wrong in that. But, what happens when the situation you are in, or the circumstances that you face are so far beyond your own abilities to deal with them? That notion of self-reliance is completely ridiculous. Put it this way, what happens when the Tsunami hits your life? What do we do when the enemy that gathers around us, completely outnumbers, and outguns us? What do we do? This isn’t some theoretical exercise. This is life. It’s my life and it’s your life, because this happens to us all. This is real. One day, the hurricane will hit us.
There are times, in our lives when the enemy, whoever or whatever that is will be so much bigger than our ability to survive. It happens in families. It happens in work places. And it happens in our hearts too. When depression hits for no good reason. When a loved one is taken in their prime and the grief overwhelms us. When the economy takes a nosedive. When there isn’t enough food to feed the family. When sickness strikes. The list just goes on and on. This is life. Its real life.
Let me ask you something. When the enemy is so much bigger and so much stronger than anything you could ever handle, what do you do? Well, some people panic and run around in ever decreasing circles. And that is a waste of precious energy. I mean, panicking takes a lot of energy. You have seen it. I have seen it. We’ve all been there from time to time. Some people pull over and stop, immobilised by fear. Others run around like headless chickens. Both ways are exhausting. Believe me, I’ve done both. And wallowing in self-pity is destructive too. So, what do you do?
I want to introduce you today to one of the kings in Israel’s history. We have spoke about him before. He was the king of a couple of the tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. His name was Jehoshaphat and he was one of the good guys. And there was a time when he was confronted with an enemy that was way, way beyond his ability to fight.
Let’s go to scripture for this morning. Please read with me 2nd Chronicles beginning at chapter 20:
After this the Moabites and the Ammonites and with them, some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for a battle. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, far from beyond the sea. Already they are at En Gedi.’ Jehoshaphat was afraid.
Before we read further, I just want to establish here that Jehoshaphat was human just like you and me. Not some super human king. Armies were coming against him. He was completely outnumbered. This was a life and death situation and he was afraid. He’s just one of us, but, it was what he did in his fear that made all the difference. He didn’t let fear immobilise him. He didn’t get into a flap and scream, don’t panic.”
So let’s carry on with that portion of scripture.
Jehoshaphat was afraid. He set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. From all the towns of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem.
In the house of the Lord before the new court and said, ‘God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand a power and might so that no-one is able to withstand you. Do you not, O God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people of Israel and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? They have lived in it and in it they have built your sanctuary. If disaster comes upon us, the sword of judgement or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house O God and before you. For your name is in this house and cry to you in our distress and you will hear and save.’ ‘See now, the people of Amon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy. They reward us now by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. God, will you not execute judgement against them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you. Amen.
In the face of overwhelming odds, Jehoshaphat turned to God. Sometimes that’s the only way. I would like to tell you all that, my first port of call is always God but that would be lying. Yes, we may go to God with our personal devotions and prayer. But, the majority of situations that come our way, many of us, see them through In our own strength. We only turn to God when the situation that we are facing is overwhelming us.
Now a king is supposed to have all the answers. A king like Jehoshaphat should have a powerful army and contingency plans based on a detailed threat assessment. He should have been self-reliant. But listen again to what Jehoshaphat says when he’s praying to God:
O God. Will you not execute judgement upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you.
Oh, how many times have we prayed those words.
“I am powerless against this situation.” “I just don’t know what to do.”
You see, sometimes we think, following Jesus is going to be easy. And when we come up against it, we start to think, why is this happening. It should not be like this. We can do all the planning we like. We can put all the risk assessments in place. But when the hurricane hits, none of them, and I will say that again, none of them, will help us. What helps, sustains, protects, uplifts is the unending love, grace and compassion of God.
This is exactly the place that Jehoshaphat is in. Remember they’re God’s chosen people. They are in God’s Promised Land. Jehoshaphat was a king who honoured God. Jehoshaphat put all the necessary plans in place for a secure strong Israel. He was wise and prudent and competent. But in the face of overwhelming odds, he admits to God, ‘I don’t know what to do. All my plans. All my strategies. All my contingency plans are no good in the face of this situation. I don’t know what to do.
So what was his solution? How did he cope with this? Well, In the same breath he said,
but my eyes are on you O God.
Those words from Jehoshaphat just brought a lump to my throat.
Through his storm he cried out in complete faith, I look to you My Lord And My God.
You and I, we cannot help but be afraid. Jehoshaphat was afraid. Its a natural human reaction. I’m not here to tell you somehow to pretend that you’re not afraid when fear is rocking you to the core. But its what we do when fear strikes that makes all the difference. You can panic and burn energy. You can freeze and be immobilised. And that’s probably the end of you. Or we can just look at God and say,
You know something Lord, this is to big for me. I don’t know what to do but my eyes are on you. I’m just going to wait on you. I don’t know what you’re going to do. I don’t even know if you’re going to show up. But my eyes are on you. Amen
Remember that God is our weapon against fear and panic
Let us turn our eyes upon Jesus as we come to the place of pray and dedicate our lives to him and step out in faith not fear.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
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