Learning to Pray
Pt. 5 Jehoshaphat’s Cry for Help
Intro:
His name was Colin, and I punched him in the face… why because he was a loud mouth punk, but that is not important, what happened after is. His father made it his personal task to verbally assault me and make my life miserable. Basically a 30+ 300 lb. 6ft. 3 man was bullying a 13 year old kid. One day, while making my life miserable, he tried to make me responsible for the loss of his son Colin’s football… he harassed me, pushed me around, made fun of me in front of all my friends, until my mom heard him… that is when I saw my mother turn into momma bear. He tried to intimidate her with his size and his big voice, but she lifted all of her 5 feet and put her finger in his chest and scared that giant bully away. He would never again bother me and eventually took his son and moved away.
Moms remind us that we can’t always handle everything on our own, that there are time we all need help… a couple of weeks ago we talked about how Hannah had some trouble of her own and how she turned to God to help fix what was wrong… today we continue our series on how to pray by looking at a passage that some of you may not have heard before, about a king and a nation who were in a helpless situation… Turn in your bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 20:
1After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 2Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar" (that is, Engedi).
If you know anything about the kings of Israel and Judah, you know that the majority of them were evil. They make up a long line of losers who failed to follow God and lead the people to worship false gods and idols. However there were a few of the Judean kings who did what was right in the sight if the Lord, Asa being one, and his son Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat learned from his father that the Lord is God and he is the one who is in control. So when he is presented with this problem, what does he do? He turns to God in prayer! Look at vs. 3:
3Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
Have you ever faced an impossible situation? What do you do? Gary and I with the car out of gas…
Too often we try to solve our problems by our own power, we push and struggle, and there are times when we can do it… but there are times in our lives we have to recognize that we are incapable and need help. This is what Jehoshaphat does, he realizes that he and his nation are in more trouble than they can handle, so he turns to God in prayer.
5And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6and said, "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. 7Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?8And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, 9"If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save."
There are times when being a preacher isn’t always that fun, usually it’s a party, but other times it is not… especially when your wife and children hear the things you say in a sermon, and then turn around and throw it in your face… like love your neighbor, as I am yelling at someone who is going slow… help the poor, as I chastise Amy for giving all of our money to a panhandler in Lansing… be patient, as I get frustrated over some small thing… there is nothing worse than to be reminded about what you said, however it does open your eyes.
Jehoshaphat begins his prayer by reminding God of who he is through the question, “are you not God in heaven?” You rule over all the nations, in your hand is power and might, none can withstand you… He reminds God of who he is, he is the King! Jehoshaphat does this as a way of saying, I believe that you are God in heaven, and you are the only hope in which I place my trust. By reminding God of who he is, Jehoshaphat shows that he is trusting only in God’s help.
He also reminds God of his promise. God always promised that if his people would humble themselves before him, he would save them. The reality is, God’s word is true. If we believe that, then why should we not remind him of it, why should we not trust it, and why would we not rest on those promises? Jehoshaphat is looking for that promise to save him and his people! So he reminds God of his promise.
I think we sometimes use prayer to complain. We complain about the economy, gas prices being too high, groceries too expensive, etc. etc.
We complain about work and those we work with, we complain about family and there craziness, we complain that they don’t treat us right.
We complain about our government and our president, how they are ruining our country, with the gays, and the illegal aliens, and taken our guns away…
Instead of complaining to God about your miserable life, try praying his promises: instead of praying about the economy being bad, pray one of his promises, like this: Father, you know the economy is bad, but is trust you, you said that you will supply all my needs according to your riches. That you know what I need and will provide it. I will seek first your kingdom and your righteousness and wait for you to provide.
Instead of complaining about how the people in your life mistreat you, pray this: you have said to love you neighbor as yourself, and that any harm that they bring upon me you will turn into good. Give me strength to endure all these things and to love as your son loved us, even though we were enemies, he died for me.
Instead of complaining about our government and president pray this: Father you have said that all things and all nations are under your control, you have also said that you appointed these governments and these leaders over the lands, may I remember that you are in control, no matter how bad it looks or gets, you are the king and that our kingdom is not of this world!
When you pray, remind God of who is and what he has promised, and when we do that, we put our trust in his strength and power.
10And now behold, the men of Ammon 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— 11behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 12O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."
I have told you many stories about my grandfather, how he wrestled with snakes; defied tornadoes and lived to tell about it; hit a man so hard in a boxing match once that he removed the flesh from his nose, after that he hung up his gloves; been kicked so hard by a cow when milking her, he flew out of the barn and landed in the road some 15 yards away, got up and smacked that cow and finished milking her! He was quite possibly the hardest and toughest man I know, but as all great men do, they eventually grow old and weak.
It is hard to admit that you are weak. It took my grandfather years to admit this. It was after he was changing some light bulbs in the church, when he fell off the ladder and couldn’t get up… he lay there for four or five hours before my grandmother found him…
It is a hard thing to admit you need help, that you are weak, that you can’t do it, but that is exactly what Jehoshaphat does. He says, we are powerless against such a great horde. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
One of my biggest concerns is the welfare of my family. Especially there protection. Yet every Tuesday they leave for Lansing, and they are gone all day. If anything happened to them I would not be there to help them. The girls like to take the bike trail and ride to Edmore, if anything happened I wouldn’t be there to protect them. If someone broke into my house, I would throw my whole self at them to stop them, mag-light in hand! But what if that isn’t enough? The reality is I am not strong enough to take care of them. I am weak. I can only do so much…
What about my life? Nothing is guaranteed, life is fragile, your life is fragile, we are weak. We need to learn to turn to God and admit that we are weak. That the only one we can depend on is him. He is the only one who can watch over my family. He is the only one that can care for my life. He is the only one who can be counted on and trusted to do as he said he would. He is the only hope we have. We have to admit that we are weak and that we need his help.
The rest of the story is great! God tells them to go out against the army, but they will not fight, God will do the fighting for them. And when Jehoshaphat and his army come to the valley where the great horde was, he finds them all dead. God turned them against each other and they all killed themselves!! It took Jehoshaphat and his men three days to clean out all the loot and spoils of a war they didn't even lift a finger to win! Because God heard their prayer. He answers prayer.
Now here is the deal, Jehoshaphat was a good king, but that’s like comparing him to someone like Hitler. It is easy to look good when every other king is evil. The reality is Jehoshaphat was not perfect, he still aloud some evil practices to go on in his kingdom when he was told to remove them. He also raised a son who turned out to be very evil, along with a long line of other evil kings. However, when he came to God in prayer, he humbled himself before God, he reminded God of his character and his promise, and he admitted that he was helpless and need God, and God heard and had mercy upon Jehoshaphat and all of Judah. He saved them, because God is a God of mercy and grace.
I know we sometimes avoid God because we feel that we are not perfect. I know we think that in order for God to hear us we must be sinless. But the truth is, God is a God of grace. If you turn to him with humility and faith, he will hear you, as I have said, he wants to hear from you, so pray.
Jehoshaphat was not a perfect man, but God had mercy on him, and saved all of Judah. He can do the same for you.
