Bushwhacking The Bushwhacker

Bushwhacking the Bushwhacker

Bushwhacker:

1. The secret name of the press corps during the Bush administration.

2. What a wife calls a husband after he trims the bushes in the front yard.

3. A sneak attack from the woods.

A bushwhacker comes from the civil war, when small groups of individuals would sneak into the other sides territory and attack civilians unprovoked. They came from the woods thus they were called bushwhackers. It is a sneak type attack. In our message today we are going to look at a group that came to sneak attack the people of Israel and God turned around and sneak attacked the attackers! So our message is about turning the tables on the enemy, bushwhacking the bushwhacker.

We will discuss the Onset of the Onslaught, Power Filled Proclamations, The Divine Directive, A Radical Response, Worshipping Warriors and closing with a Tremendous Turnaround.

Our text is 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 (Read text)

The Onset of the Onslaught:

2 Chron 20:1 It came about after this...

It came about when? After this. What does "after this," refer to?

Leading a revival and putting Israel’s house in order.

2Ch 19:4 And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers.

In the natural it would be normal for Jehoshaphat to expect good things to come his way after leading his nation in a revival. Many Christians have been surprised by a spiritual attack following close on the heels of revival, a financial attack after a sacrificial gift, (despite all the promises of TV preachers!), in general things going very wrong immediately after your did something very good. The truth is, that sometimes right living invites bad enemies. Here is the exact same truth a little later in the book of 2nd Chronicles:

2Ch 32:1 After these acts of faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, and thought to break into them for himself.

"After these acts of faithfulness..." Our mind tries to finish the sentence saying, "God opened up the windows of heaven and blessed their socks off." That isn’t what it says, it says the king of Assyria came and invaded... Success is often followed by severe testing. The good news is that if you stand up for God, He will stand up for you. As we follow this story we will see how the plans the enemy had were completely derailed. But first, let’s spend a moment talking about the power of words to influence us.

Power filled Proclamations

2Ch 20:2 Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi)."

Then came some and reported... Words are containers, they can contain fear, anger, lust, jealousy, greed.

They can be like a package that upon opening releases good or bad. In this case we read that, "Jehoshaphat feared..." Illus: the ten spies in the book of Exodus. Joshua in recounting the story says:

Joshua 14:8 "Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the LORD my God fully. How did they make the heart of the people melt with fear? Simply by the words they spoke, those words released fear throughout the whole camp of Israel.

The words the spies shared caused the peoples faith to melt away. They were just words, but they released a storm of fear. Words can melt our faith away, or motivate our prayers upward. They can be a vehicle that brings faith to our heart, or stirs up great fear in our flesh.

Words are containers, be careful what you listen to or you could wind up intoxicated with unbelief from the devils brew.

It is very interesting the biblical wording of Jehoshaphat’s response to the report of danger:

2Ch 20:3 And Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the LORD; and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

He was afraid, but he was very smart in the way he dealt with those fears, he turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast. You will have a much easier time in life if you learn, as this king did, to cast your cares on the Lord instead of carrying them around with you. This is especially true if you are trying to deal with something that is beyond you. Listen again to what Jehoshaphat says:

2Ch 20:12 "O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on Thee." In other words he is saying we don’t have the power to deal with this, and we are clueless on how to respond, so we are looking to You for help. When faced with something like that it is utter folly to attempt to carry a weight your shoulders weren’t made to bear. Remember the words of the hymn? "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."