Have you ever fought a loosing battle?I know that life can take sudden turns for the worse and when that happens we tend to react with panic, fear and sometimes even feel like running for our lives. Isn't this so true of almost everybody in the world today? Yes, there are still a few unusual people who bow their backs, hold their heads high and will fight on to the death. There are those people who will begin to plan another strategy and another angle of attack to hold off the approaching army, but there are times when even those brave and stubborn people must realize that they too must seek help to win.
In the Word of God we find a King who had just experienced that feeling of fear and panic and just didn't know what he needed to do. His name was Jehoshaphat and he had just been given the message that he was going to be attacked, not by one, not by two, but by three armies. These armies were of the children of Moab, Ammon and the Ammonites. He was informed that the group was of a very great multitude coming from the sea and they were getting closer every minute. Don't you think that this king who had been placed over the children of Israel and had served the Lord in all his ways may have been a pretty fearless kind of guy? After all he had the Lord of all creation on his side! how would you have reacted to this message knowing that you had a much smaller army? Let's read a passage that shows his reaction to this message;
2Chronicles 20:3-4 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
Wow! Can you believe that? It says that Jehoshaphat feared! What did he fear? He was afraid of the armies headed his way and he felt that he was in a situation that was impossible to win. He couldn't help his feelings of fear and panic, BUT he could help how he responded to this feeling that had come over him at that moment of surprise! Don't we all get surprises in our lives that shock us and leave us feeling helpless or in a total state of panic? Yes, I have experienced this and I know that anyone alive today has also been through this feeling and some may have felt this feeling quite often. My friend, let's learn from the reaction of this King to his fearful situation, his helpless situation. He had no hope of winning. He knew he was doomed to loose this battle and also to loose all that he had received from the Lord himself! What did he do though?
He set himself to the LORD! This means that he turned his face to the LORD and turned his attention to the LORD for help. Then he proclaimed to all of his kingdom to fast and pray. You see, the prayer and fasting come before the impossible over and over in the Bible. When I read this my first thought was how the fasting would have made the warriors of Judah even weaker physically as the armies of their enemies gained ground towards the great attack. Knowing that they would grow weaker without food and continuing to proceed with the fast was a complete and total move of faith in the LORD! As a matter of fact, it was the only option that Jehoshaphat had that presented any chance of victory ion this hopeless situation!
Think about this for a minute! Every life was in jeopardy and their very existence was at stake at this moment of their lives! Is this where you are in your life today? There are millions of people in the US right now that don't know where there sustenance will come from for the next day, week or month. There are millions of Americans who are without jobs and the Senate just voted and announced that the unemployment would be cut off for anyone who had been unemployed for six months or longer; leaving many families without. Think about how the layoff of thousands of fathers has impacted the lives of the single moms raising their children alone who depend on that child support to care for their children. Think about the businesses that will no longer receive business from all those families who are now without any income whatsoever! It's a fearful time for most Americans today! Yes, my friend, things are looking hopeless and many are fearful for their families and their own survival! Couldn't we relate in some ways to the feeling that Judah was going through before they began to fast and pray? I think so! Maybe you or someone you know is fighting a losing battle with an addiction, disease or emotional abuse of some kind. Those are the kind of battles that we must trust God to win! Those are the battles man cannot fight on his own!
Let me tell you something encouraging now, my brothers, sisters and friends! Let me tell you how Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah won the war that was IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN! Let's look at another passage a little further down when the Spirit of the LORD spoke to Jahaziel a Levite, in the middle of the congregation of Judah. Let's see what Jahaziel said;
2Chronicles 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.
He said not to be afraid or dismayed because of what you see when you look at your circumstances! Isn't that how we feel too sometimes? Why did he say this? He told them that the battle ahead wasn't going to be their battle to fight, but God's! Your fight to survive, your financial struggles, your clothing an home are not yours to battle for in the time of hopelessness! You may think it is and you may fight and struggle until you are sick and exhausted and in tears, but the LORD will fight this battle for you if you will do what we see these many families doing in Judah thousands of years ago!
They didn't even raise their hands to fight this battle and they not only won; they went home with treasures that they didn't have before? Isn't that just like our LORD to fight our impossible battles and send us home with something more than we had before? I have personally seen God's hand at work so many times when it seemed like there was no way to win! I know that the LORD will do the same for ANYBODY that turns to HIM! I know he will hear our prayers and attend to our fasting when we are experiencing pain, hunger and see no possibility of winning. Put your trust in the LORD!
Don't be afraid; for the battle is not yours, but God's!
TO BE CONTINUED....
In the next chapter we will look at what the families of Judah were expected to do when the enemy was upon them and how the LORD rewarded their prayer, fasting and obedience.
No comments:
Post a Comment