Introduction
Living here in Mississippi, I am guessing the nearest mountain range to us is the Great Smoky Mountains in TN. Did you know there is a natural pull-on people toward the mountains? People love the mountains! In 2019, 12,547,743 people visited the Smoky Mountains. If you are thinking that number has to be off; the only reason that many people went there is that they must had been having some kind of special yearlong celebration; let me tell us in 2018, the number of people that went to the Smokie’s is 11,421,203. Obviously, there is something about being in the mountain, standing on the mountain top that draws people to the Great Smoky Mountains.
And as great as being on the top of the Smoky Mountains is, let me tell you of a greater mountain top experience- being on the mountaintop with God. Have you ever had any mountain top experiences with God? I have had several in my life and they are incredible. You never want them to end, but in reality, they do. Who cannot be envious of Moses because He had so many mountain top experiences with God? Remember the one where he had to put a veil over his face because his face glowed having been with God on the mountain.
Oh, how I wish each one of us could stay on the mountain top with God! But the reality is we don’t, life gets in the way. And instead of finding ourselves on the mountain top, we find ourselves in the valley. And this new sermon series explores some of those valleys we walk through as we await the next opportunity to climb the mountain and be with God.
Today, we are going to look at the Valley of Crisis. Some of us have walked through this valley before. Our Biblical account of this valley takes place in the Valley of Berachah which is located between Hebron and Jerusalem. So, if you have your bulletin or Bibles open to 2 Chronicles 20: 1-4 then verse 17. Let’s stand and read God’s Word.
Scripture
2 Chronicles 20:1-4 (NKJV)
1 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.
2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar" (which is En Gedi).
3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
2 Chronicles 20:17 (NKJV)
17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you."
Background Information
This Valley of Crisis occurred around 430 BC. King Jehoshaphat does not seem to have originated this crisis; it just seems to have fallen in his lap. Let’s be honest, in our Valleys of Crisis sometimes they are of our own making and sometimes they just come upon us without any help from us. Let’s say this one just came upon this king.
The crisis is that the Moabites, the Ammonites, and others have come together to form a great multiple coming against the king. Not only that but we find out that they are in En Gedi, which is about 50 miles from Jerusalem, or about three days away marching by foot. So, this crisis has begun. Now what do we do?
Points
#1
When I am in the Valley of Crisis, my body tells me to panic; my spirit tells me to pray. I need to teach my spirit to pray rather than my body to panic.
3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD.
Let me tell you the Bible is the real deal. It doesn't paint Jehoshaphat as this super warrior king. He hears the news and the very first thing is fear comes over him. But that is what our response would be too! Think about it, if you hear one of your relatives was in a bad wreck and that is all that the authorities can tell you at this point, your first response is fear.
I have always heard when your fear factor kicks in there is either a fight or flight response. But look at Jehoshaphat’s response: he set himself to seek God. I wonder if in the world, those who do not know Christ, only has two responses when faced with fear: to fight or to flight. But the Christian man or woman who has given their heart to God has the potential of a third response: to set yourself seeking God.
How do you get to the place that your response is the same as Jehoshaphat to set yourself to seek God? I think that only happens by walking through several Valleys of Crisis and learning the lessons the Valley’s taught to you. In 2 Chronicles 18, Jehoshaphat fought a battle with King Ahab of Israel and Ahab had tricked Jehoshaphat to wear the robes of the King of Israel. When the battle ended, they were unsuccessful, and King Ahab had died. In 2 Chronicles 19, Jehoshaphat is called down on the carpet by the prophet of God, Jehu, and the prophet told Jehoshaphat that the wrath of God is on him for his actions. Now, we come to Chapter 20, and his response is to set himself to seek God. Where did the King learn to seek God? He learned in those Valleys of Crisis that he did not do so well in.
Listen, if we can learn to seek God in our Valleys of Crisis, it would be a game changer. What would it look like if we took fight and we took flight out of the picture and replaced it with seeking God? I think your life would look different; I think our church would look different; and I think our US of A would look different.
The Apostle Paul got it. Listen to Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Jehoshaphat got to that place; Paul got to that place; you and I need to get to that place- when I enter the Valley of Crisis to seek God.
#2
When I am in the Valley of Crisis, I learn that mere lip service is not going to cut it, I got to back up my words with some serious action.
3...and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
If you want to describe Christians today, we are lip service Christians. Let me give you an example, Bro Greg asked for prayer request, some prayer request were received from the congregation, and a prayer for them was lifted up. But that is probably the last prayer that most of us will offer for those people this week. Our approach is one and done. The prayers that make a difference are those persistent prayers, knocking on heaven’s door every day. The Bible tells us to keep seeking, keeping asking and keep knocking.
I remember when I was young boy, my family would frequently take outings to the Lake Pontchartrain sea wall to go crabbing. And I loved to do that. I would start nagging my daddy on a Monday, and as the week when on my pleads to go crabbing would intensify. There was no doubt, I wanted something to happen, and my daddy knew it, and it was crabbing. I put some weight behind my Monday request to let’s go crabbing.
Jehoshaphat put some weight behind his seeking God. He and the rest of Judah fasted; and they came together, and they all sought to seek the Lord. So now instead of a small tap on heaven’s doors, we got a loud bang. Which one do you think is going to be more effective?
And let me tell you: this is where small churches are missing it; more so than the big churches where people don’t know each other. We have so much potential to loudly knock-on heaven’s door for each other but instead we just tap. Because we are small, we know each other, and we probably know the person the prayer request is offered for. We are not praying for people we don’t know. If we could put some serious action behind our prayers like most of us praying for that person during the week, some of us who feel burdened to fast, fasting, I believe that we could see some incredible things. Or we can just continue doing lip service Christianity- one and done.
I think the Valley of Crisis teaches us that there are times we need to step up our game and put some serious actions to our words. And when I am in the Valley of Crisis is one of those times.
#3
When I am in the Valley of Crisis, I learn that the way out is not my way, but God’s way and I need to make His way out my first choice.
2 Chronicles 20:17 (NKJV)
17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you."
I know this about myself, when I enter a Valley of Crisis my first thought is that I can handle this. I will get myself out of this mess. But you know what? It never happens. Often, I have created a bigger problem for myself, then if I would have called out to God. And I believe that these Valleys of Crisis are there to teach me to call on God as my first line of defense.
I loved that Jehoshaphat called upon God before he did anything else. He didn’t check how many eligible men he had for war. He did not check to see if all the military was available and ready to go. Instead, He went to God and God told him that this is not your battle but mine. I just want you and the people of Judah to go out there and watch. And he took God at his word. He went out to Valley with singers leading the way. Who does that? If you are fighting the battle, you don’t want your enemy to know where you are. You try to be as quiet and secretive as possible so that you can surprise your enemy. But if God is fighting my battle who cares if the enemy knows where I am. God has got this, and He has got me. So, this army of Jehoshaphat marches to valley with singers leading the way. And when they get to the battlefield, the people of Judah discovered that the enemy turned on itself and the Valley was full of dead soldiers.
I need to learn when I enter a Valley of Crisis, it has to be God’s way out of the Valley of Crisis. Jehoshaphat learned that lesson and this Valley of Crisis became a Valley of Blessings. 2 Chronicles 20:26 (NKJV). The Valley of Blessings
26 And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the LORD; therefore, the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day.
Jehoshaphat turned his crisis into a blessing by seeking God first, putting some substance behind our seeking God and following God’s way out right from the start. We need to do the same thing in our Valleys of Crisis.
Let us pray!
