Trusting in the Lord
2 Chronicles 20
1Some time later, the armies of the Moabites and the Ammonites, together with the Meunites, invaded the country of Judah. 2Some men came and said to Jehoshaphat:
– A huge army from the country of Edom came from across the Dead Sea to attack you. They have already conquered the city of Hazazão-Tamar. (Hazazão-Tamar and Fonte de Gedi are the same place.)
3Joseph was afraid and prayed to God the Lord for help. Then he ordered all the people of Judah to fast. 4 Everyone gathered to ask the Lord for help; from all the cities in the country the people came to Jerusalem.
5The people of Judah and Jerusalem gathered in the new courtyard of the Temple, and Jehoshaphat stood among them 6 and prayed like this: – O Lord, God of our ancestors! You are the God of heaven and you govern all the nations of the world. You are strong and powerful, and no one can resist your power.
(the prayer continues and is very long, let’s skip to verse 12)
12O our God, punish these people, for we are not strong enough to resist this huge army that is advancing against us. We don’t know what to do and we look to you for help!
13All the men of Judah were standing there in front of the Temple, along with their wives and children and even the children in their arms.
(at that moment the Spirit of
will attack when they come up the Zis climb. You will meet them at the end of the valley that faces the desert of Jeruel. 17When you find them, you won’t have to fight. Stand there and see how the Lord God will save you. People of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, do not be frightened, nor be afraid; march against enemies tomorrow, for I, the Lord, will be with you. ”
(so they praised God)
20The next morning, they all got up early and went to the Tecoa desert. As they left, Jehoshaphat stood and said:
– People of Judah and Jerusalem residents, listen! Trust in the Lord your God and you will be safe; trust his prophets, and everything you do will work.
21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat ordered some singers to wear sacred clothing and to march in front of the army, praising God and singing like this:
“Praise God, the Lord, because his love lasts forever.”
As soon as they began to sing, the Lord God caused confusion among the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Edomites, and they were defeated.
Glory to God!
Brothers today, the message that the Holy Spirit brings us is a message of encouragement: Trusting in the Lord is the theme for us to reflect on.
Our entire planet today faces a common enemy called the corona. It is natural that our thoughts turn to this great problem every time we speak of “enemy”, “ordeal” among other words that represent difficult situations in our lives. So let’s use this topic as an example for today and compare it to the situation of King Jehoshaphat we just read.
(one caveat, however, is that we will use it as an example, but please do not limit today’s word to the corona virus in your life)
Like us today, this king was facing a problem that he was unable to face. The enemy army was marching to Jerusalem. Our first point of comparison is that Jehoshaphat did not go to war with this enemy. He was quiet in his kingdom and was attacked by him. This shows us that the situation was totally out of Jehoshaphat’s control, just as the virus presents itself to us today. In other situations in the Bible, God commands his people to attack a specific enemy, but this is not the case here.
In our Christian life many believe that if we are in communion with God, then nothing will attack us. Is not true. In addition to this example here, remember Job and Jesus himself. How many battles they had to face without provoking such situations! Being in communion with God does not guarantee tranquility, but it does guarantee peace, if we trust in the Lord!
Jehoshaphat was attacked and was afraid (verse 3). The Christian may be afraid. Fear shows us that we are facing something that we do not know how to deal with, and even if we have a reaction, we know that the result can be very bad. What do you do when a situation takes you by surprise? Jehoshaphat prayed to God for help.
This prayer must have pleased our Lord very much, as it was the king’s first reaction to the problem. By placing God first on our “help” list, we declare that we trust in his absolute power. After asking God for help, Jehoshaphat called everyone in his kingdom to do the same, to follow his example. God’s whole people asking for your help before any other initiative. The invasion of the kingdom would not only affect the king, but the entire people. Joint prayer was also aimed at protecting the entire people. Imagine at this moment how many people who had put God somewhat aside in their lives were at this time returning to Him, humbly asking for help! (verse 12)
Here we can stand before the reason why God allowed this invasion. It is not clear in the Bible, but it may be that our Lord wanted to give a message to the Jews: remember to trust me!
Brothers, now try to imagine the scene: all together praying to the almighty God who is the only true God and He answers!
2 Chronicles 20: 14-15
14 Suddenly, the Spirit of God descended on a Levite who was there among the people. His name was Jaaziel and he was a descendant of Asaph. Jaaziel was the son of Zacharias, grandson of Benaiah, great-grandson of Jeiel and great-grandson of Mataniah. 15Jaaziel said: – People of Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, pay attention! Listen to what the LordGlory to God! What a fantastic moment!
And God continues to guide his people. Note, however, that the orientation is not to stay at home waiting. The orientation was to meet the enemy.
2 Chronicles 20: 16-17
16Tomorrow you will attack them when they come up the hill from Zis. You will meet them at the end of the valley that faces the desert of Jeruel. 17When you find them, you won’t have to fight. Stand there and see how the Lord God will save you. People of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, do not be frightened, nor be afraid; march against enemies tomorrow, for I, the Lord, will be with you. ”
Brothers, here I need to make a comment: we are using the situation of the corona as an example, as this is an evil that is attacking the whole world as well as in the case of Jehoshaphat where the whole kingdom was being attacked. However, we will not understand that we should throw the masks away, ignore the restrictions and run to hug someone with a corona. Unless God told someone to do this, as it happened during the prayer of Jehoshaphat. In each different situation, God guides in different directions as in Isaiah 37 when King Hezekiah was surrounded by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. At that time, the angel of the Lord himself killed the enemy soldiers. God says: “Do not be frightened, do not be afraid of this huge army, for the battle is not against you, but against me.
Glory to God! What a fantastic moment!
And God continues to guide his people. Note, however, that the orientation is not to stay at home waiting. The orientation was to meet the enemy.
2 Chronicles 20: 16-17
16Tomorrow you will attack them when they come up the hill from Zis. You will meet them at the end of the valley that faces the desert of Jeruel. 17When you find them, you won’t have to fight. Stand there and see how the Lord God will save you. People of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, do not be frightened, nor be afraid; march against enemies tomorrow, for I, the Lord, will be with you. ”
Brothers, here I need to make a comment: we are using the situation of the corona as an example, as this is an evil that is attacking the whole world as well as in the case of Jehoshaphat where the whole kingdom was being attacked. However, we will not understand that we should throw the masks away, ignore the restrictions and run to hug someone with a corona. Unless God told someone to do this, as it happened during the prayer of Jehoshaphat. In each different situation, God guides in different directions as in Isaiah 37 when King Hezekiah was surrounded by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. At that time, the angel of the Lord himself killed the enemy soldiers.
What is in focus here is that when God is called, He responds and guides. Sometimes their guidance can cause us astonishment, as in the story of Jehoshaphat, where they knew they were weaker and yet God sent them into battle! The message here is to seek guidance from the Lord and trust God!
And one last point for us to leave today with the full course of asking and receiving help from God: the enemy needs to know that we are under the protection of the Lord!
Jehoshaphat did this when he placed singers in front of his army on the march against the enemy (verse 21). They were worshiping God, declaring that the one who is leading this fight is He, the almighty God! We must always remember to give glory to those who have it. When we pray for different causes, it may be that God guides us to do something. We must follow this guidance by declaring that it was divine guidance. Otherwise, when we are successful, it may be that people attribute the glory to you and not to God!
May the Holy Spirit speak to us all. Let us pray:
Lord, thank you again for bringing us together in your name. Thank you for calling us to be your children through Jesus Christ, our teacher and savior. Thank you that we can trust your power and your protection. May all glory be yours forever. Amen!