Position Yourself - 2

There are four chapters decided here to Jehoshaphat and his reign. He was a man who knew the heart of God. We are told in

2 Chronicles 17:3-4 Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals, (4) but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel.

Jehoshaphat followed the ways of God. Cleaning of the land from idols and places of worship. He sent out teachers throughout the land to learn the word of God. This brought humility and reverence for the Lord.

God protected Jehoshaphat and the nation: 2 Chronicles 17:10 And the fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

He had one weakness. He continually sought a union with those who were not followers of the ways of God. To his credit this was with “his people”. By the time of the reign of Jehoshaphat the kingdom had been split into two kingdoms “Israel and Judah”. The Northern and the Southern kingdom. Judah followed the ways of God and Israel became a wicked nation.

But in Jehoshaphat’s eyes they were all still one people. When Ahab the king of Israel inquired of Jehoshaphat to fight with him, his response was we are one people. Yet this is not God. We cannot be “unequally yoked”. Why? We don’t have the same values and the same world view. This eventually become his downfall as we see at the end of 2 Chronicles 30.

God protected Jehoshaphat as king. 2 Chronicles 30 describes and incident that happened.

2 Chronicles 20:1-30 It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat.

This is a great multitude of armies coming together to fight against Judah. The Bible is very plain about Jehoshaphat’s reaction

(3) And Jehoshaphat feared, (he was shaken by this, have you ever been there where you have received bad news and it rocked you to the core). Someone said, “Courage is not absence of fear but operating in spite of fear”,

What Jehoshaphat does next is the key to getting through this. What we do after being faced with bad news or being “rocked to our core” next determines how we get through it.

and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

He got serious with God. Fasting

(4) So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. (5) Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, (6) and said: "O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?

Jeremiah 32:17 'Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

(7) Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? (8) And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, (9) 'If disaster comes upon us--sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine--we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.'

IOW we are doing exactly what you required us to do. 2 Chronicles 6:28-30, 7:14

(10) And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir--whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them—

Have you ever been attacked by the enemy that God kept you from destroying or removing? IOW have you ever been stabbed in the back?

(11) here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. (12) O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."

We are setting back now and looking toward you.

Psalms 121:1-3 A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help? (2) My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. (3) He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.