May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's turn to the second book
of the Chronicles, and chapter 20, and we'll read verse 12.
The second book of the Chronicles, chapter 20, and reading verse
12. O our God, wilt thou not judge
them, For we have no mind against this great company that cometh
against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon
thee. These are the concluding words
of the prayer that Jehoshaphat made to his God in a time of
great need. And it was a time of great need
because the enemy was there to attack them, and he knew not
what to do and we're told that the children of Moab and Ammon
and with them other beside the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat
to battle. Yes they were there and then
he was told that there cometh a great multitude against thee
from beyond these sea on this side Syria And behold, they be
in Hazion Tamar, which is in Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared. He was a man like you and I.
He feared. But what did he do? He didn't
sit and do nothing. And it's important for us to
recognize God's given us His Word as a glorious pattern for
us to follow. and Jehoshaphat feared. And we're
told, and he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast
throughout all Judah. It wasn't something of little
importance. Yes, he set himself and proclaimed
a fast. And then we're told in Judah,
gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord. Even
out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. It's a glorious position and
it should be that which you and I desire in our little lives. When we see situations like this
arising, and here they were, They gather themselves together
for this great reason. Not to just have a chat and to
think what they should do and discuss it among themselves.
No, they gather together to ask help of the Lord. And what a
wonderful example that is for us today. Often we perhaps try
and work things out ourselves. Well, they came to the Lord and
they sought help of the Lord. And then Jehoshaphat, who was
the king, the leader, we see what he did. Jehoshaphat stood
in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of
the Lord, before the new court. And he said, and it's good to
see what he said in his prayer, It's noted down and the commencement
is good and it's a commencement that, as I've sometimes spoken
of, it's a commencement that we should always come recognising
we appear and come to the great God. And so he came and said,
O Lord, God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest
not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen, and in thine
hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand
thee. Well it's always good to address
God in a similar way, realising that we're not coming to a little
God, we're coming to a great God, we're coming to the ruler
of the whole universe, the creator of all things, and to think that
you and I, as unworthy sinners, can approach unto the majesty
on high through the merits of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's good to have this and
to recognise that we can come to such a great God. And he then
refers to what had occurred, and it's good sometimes, again,
in our prayers, to thank God for what He has done. Art thou
not our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land
before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham
thy friend for ever? And they dwelt therein. and have
built their sanctuary they've built the temple as we know therein
for thy name's sake and then he gives again that which would
occur at the dedication of the temple and it's good again confidence
in God confidence in God and may we
today can come in the same way Because
he says here, he cried unto thee in our affliction, and that can
be physical, it can be spiritual, God knows exactly where we are,
and yet he says, and there would hear and help. It's good sometimes
to just recognise our true situation and our true condition. I was
thinking about this, I thought of Jonah. Jonah is a well-known
character in the Word of God, and of course Jonah disobeyed
God. He walked contrary to God. He
wasn't going to go to Nineveh as God instructed him, but in
the result, of course, he was thrown out. the ship which he
tried to escape in and the Lord had prepared a whale and we're
told that that after those three days Jonah then began to pray
we think wouldn't we then that was the obvious thing to do well
it's not always quite so obvious you see when we're a low state
we just don't see any grass prayer And then we're told, he tells
us, and I said, I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord,
and he heard me. And to the belly of hell cried
I, and I heard as my voice, for thou hast cast me into the
deep. in the midst of the seas. And
again, let's just think of this as a physical situation, but
again it can be considered as a spiritual experience, and to
be cast out. But thou heardest my voice, for
thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and
the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves
passed over me. And then he says this, then I
said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple. It's good, isn't it, when the
Lord doesn't allow us, as it were, to give up. Jonah
recognized his condition. But it was good that he was able
to confess his position and yet still come and cry unto God. And that's exactly the same as
we have here these people in Jehoshaphat's day. In Jehoshaphat
he was crying, he cried to his God. And so he tells us, when
evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment, pestilence or famine,
we stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name
is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then
thou wilt hear and help. It's wonderful, isn't it, to
have a humble confidence. As the Hebrew writer says, he
who has helped me hitherto, will help me all my journey through
and give me daily cause to raise new Ebenezers to thy praise. And now behold, the children
of Ammon and Moab and the Mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not
let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but
they turned from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how
they reward us to come to cast us out thy possession which thou
has given us to inherit. Well again it's good to just
remind Almighty God of the pathway that we've been directed in and
as the children of Israel have been directed in and what had
occurred and then he comes down to this twelfth verse. He comes to the conclusion of
his prayer Oh our God. Oh our God. There was his confidence
in his God, our God. And it's good for you and me
today. If we still have confidence in our God, wilt thou not judge
them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us. Again, as I've said,
that can be physical, but it can be spiritual, and sometimes
it seems as though the devil's let loose and he crowds in. And doesn't give us any room. Doesn't, in fact, allow us even
to really pray to God. You may think, well, that's a
bit extreme. Well, it is, sometimes. but he
says for we have no might against this great company that cometh
against us you and I by ourselves cannot withstand the assaults
of Satan the attacks that he brings upon
us in a spiritual way to affect our hearts and minds and yet
you see here we have the confidence of Jehoshaphat and what he did
in that situation he confessed he hadn't got any might against
this great company that cometh against us he didn't know what
to do neither know we what to do and sometimes it may seem
like it seems the battle is just too hard We don't seem to make any progress. And now it seems as though we
just rub along. In fact, perhaps we almost seem
to get worse. Neither know what to do. Well, thankfully, he didn't give
up. And that's a mercy. for you and me today. To not therefore give up. What does
he conclude with? This great statement of hope,
isn't it? But our eyes are upon thee. That's a mercy. God gives you and me grace and
strength to look to our God and we may not receive answers
immediately and it may be some time, it may be
a continual battle but yet it's good to come in
a right way that our eyes may be upon the Lord. And I like the verse that follows
because there is that, in this case, it wasn't an individual,
it was a common need. And what was the common need
and what happened? We're told all Judah, and we have to believe
what that says, all Judah stood before the Lord with their little
ones, And that game was seen, the little ones who were in arms,
and their wives, and their children. They all gathered together, and
they all stood, because this was a great time of need. And
they would have heard the prayer that Jehoshaphat put up. It wasn't a silent prayer, it
was there. He stood before the temple, and he spoke this prayer,
and the people would have heard that prayer. And what was going
to happen? Their eyes were up to the Lord.
They couldn't deliver themselves. They were quite feeble by comparison
with this great army which had come to invade them. And they
were in a great strain. But the good thing was that Jehoshaphat
had been able to commit his and the nation's way unto the Lord. Yes, so here they were. And what
happened then? Well, from an unknown quarter
came deliverance. We're told there was this man
Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of
Jehiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and the sons of Abbas
came, the Spirit of the Lord. The Lord was able to bring his
Spirit to bear upon one and another. And here was a person that the
Lord had determined to use to bring the message to Jehoshaphat
and the children of Judah with the encouraging message. and the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him in the midst of the congregation. He was clearly
there in the middle of the congregation and he was then commanded by
God to speak. And he said, O Judah, and ye
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, thus saith
the Lord unto you. Isn't it a wonderful thing when
the Lord raises up someone to be a spokesman, to give the Word
of the Lord, to give the message from God, God called here, He
could have spoken to Jehoshaphat, but no, he spoke to Jehaziel. And it was Jehaziel who said
then, Harken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and now King Jehoshaphat, thus saith the Lord unto you. Again,
it was a word direct, wasn't it? It wasn't he just thought
something up. God had spoken to him. He was
transmitting this message which God had given to him. And then he says, Be not afraid,
nor dismayed, by reason of this great multitude. Well, we may
be afraid in our little lives of those things which are upon
us. Again, naturally or spiritually. And he says, be not afraid, nor
dismayed by reason of this great multitude. And then he gives
this encouraging statement. Four, the battle is not yours,
but God's. here we have the illustration
of the power of God speaking to Jai Azil in this way he was
able to pass this message on that it's not you God's gonna
fight for you what a mercy that is and that's a mercy naturally
and it's a mercy spiritually that the devil will not be able to gain the victory over
his church, over his people. And the great reason is, it's
because God is on our side. What a mercy. The battle is not
yours, but God's. No one can defeat God. God's the creator of all things.
God's in charge of everything. If God before us, who can be
against us? The only little problem is, God's
time is not always our time. And sometimes, in these situations, our faith is tested. And it's tested as to whether
we do believe in God. Like the people of Judah were
told here, believe in the Lord. And that's a blessed and wonderful
command, isn't it? And what a mercy when God gives
us grace to carry it out. So even when things appear dark
and appear difficult, he gives us that faith to believe in the
Lord and realize, yes, battle's not mine, it's God's. And then God directs them what
to do, what to do. And naturally we would think,
wouldn't we, he's gonna tell them how to line up the troops
and, you know, how they're to, get themselves all ready for
this great battle but God tells them this tomorrow go ye down
against them behold they come up by the cliff of Ziz and you
shall find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness
of Geel and then he tells us ye shall not need to fight in
this battle really? could they believe that? Here
was this battle that they'd been expecting, a battle they were
expecting to lose because of the numbers. And yet God comes
and tells them, not to be afraid, not to be afraid. No, now tomorrow
go you down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
of Ziz and you shall find them at the end of the brook before
the wilderness. You shall not need to fight in
this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord. That's not always easy, is it?
We like to be up and doing things, don't we? We like to try and
push things along, and we want to do things in our time, but
the Lord tells us that His time is not always now. God's time is different to our
timing. So we have this statement here. Here they were, they were to
go, and they were told they wouldn't need to fight, but they would
see the salvation of the Lord. with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. That's a great blessing, wasn't
it? How comforting that was. And it was comforting because
we read here, Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the
ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. The result had been that they
believed that which this prophet Jehuziel told them. They didn't
doubt it. They didn't say, well that won't,
that will never happen. quite clearly there was power
in the word that he was able to speak to them and they were
convinced therefore that this would indeed come to pass and
therefore they were in this position Jehoshaphat led it bowing his
head with his face to the ground and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping
the Lord. It's a wonderful scene, mustn't
it have been? Complete submission to Almighty
God. There was no victory yet. There
was no sign of victory yet. The enemy was still there. But
they were blessed with confidence that they would be delivered.
And the Levites and the children of the Kohathites and of the
children of the Kohathites stood up to praise the Lord God of
Israel with a loud voice on high. Well, there was no victory yet. And yet, faith to believe. And again, it's very lovely to
see such a position. They stood up to praise the Lord
God of Israel with a loud voice on high. They didn't doubt what
was going to occur. They believed what the prophet
had told them. And therefore, they praised the
Lord. before there was any sign of
any victory, naturally. And they rose early in the morning
and went forth into the wilderness of Tikalah. And as they went
forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, O Judah, and ye
inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, so shall
he be established. Believe his prophets, so shall
he prosper. It's wonderful to have statements
like that. Now, God gives grace, God gives
faith to walk in this path. Don't rely on your own strength,
don't rely on your own ability. These people were looking to
the Lord. Their eyes were upon the Lord. So that's how the victory
was gained. They were looking to the Lord.
They weren't looking all around. But they weren't looking to the
Lord. And therefore were told, and when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and they should
praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army,
and to say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth for ever.
Now we come to a very wonderful statement. It's a very wonderful
chapter this is, but this is a wonderful statement, isn't
it? And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord, now there
was no sign of any victory. There was no sign of anything
really to their benefit. And yet God gave them faith to
believe that victory would be theirs. And therefore they began. They began. It's good, isn't
it, when God gives us faith to begin. To begin to obey God's
Word and follow what He has commanded. And when they began to sing and
to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon,
Moab and Mount Seir, which were come against them, and they were
smitten. And then of course they went
and the others, they fought themselves. They fought against themselves
and they destroyed themselves. Well, the prophecy that Jayazil
had said had now come to pass. Their faith had been blessed
indeed and there had been a great victory. What a turnaround, wasn't
it? From that which had occurred
the day before. There was Jehoshaphat in great
need with all the people, commending himself to God, praying to God,
and there was a wonderful deliverance. A wonderful
deliverance. And they were able to come and
to take away all the spoil that was there and it took three days
to take away the spoil and the fourth day they assembled themselves
in the valley of Barakar for there they blessed the Lord therefore
the name of the same place was called the valley of Barakar
unto this day well how important it is that when God hears and
answers prayer, that we come and thank the Lord. Here was a specific time. It
wasn't just a mumbled thankness. They gathered together to thank
the Lord for a wonderful deliverance. and it's good for us in our little
lives to follow the pattern we have in the Word of God it's
given us for clear direction and it's
quite clear in this account we have they had a great need and
you and I may have great needs in our little lives But my friends,
God can appear in the same way. And, well, there was that deliverance
granted and we perhaps are bound down just like it was in the
case of Jonah that we've just referred to in that account of
Jonah. which tells us so very clearly,
doesn't it, of the position that Jonah was in and yet how wonderful
it was that he looked to the Lord and God appeared to him
in that wonderful way. But it's good to recognise that
sometimes We come down to this position just like Jonah. We might be able to throw stones
because sometimes God tells us what to do and we don't fancy
it. We think, oh, I don't think I
want to do that. That's a bit difficult, that is. And yet,
you see, the result was that he was brought to realize his
position before God. And he said, I'm cast out of
thy sight. Well, he deserved to be, didn't
he? Because he disobeyed the clear
command of God. But he didn't give up. That's
a blessing. And nor did Jehoshaphat give
up. There was that great army. Great
army. He didn't give up. He committed
his way to God. And so, Jonah says, yet I will
look again toward thy holy temple. Well, today, my friends, we are
blessed to be able to look to our God for the merits of our
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to realise that he has made
that way whereby we, as unworthy sinners, bad as we may be, can
come to our Father in heaven, through the merits of our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the grace of God we are
accepted in the Beloved. Not because of what we are, who
we are, how we do. It's through the glorious work
of the Saviour. The Father looks to his Son and
we're accepted in him. So as we come In our time of
need, in the day in which we live, remember the Bible typifies
the case of the children of God. It sets before us the turmoil,
the afflictions, the difficulties, and directs us in knowing certain
ways how to come to God. and then the Lord appears in
his way Jehoshaphat could never have anticipated God would have
appeared in that way but there was a complete victory an amazing
victory God did great things God did great things for poor
old Jonah yes there he was and as we're told the waters compassed
me about even to the soul depths closed me around about the weeds
were wrapped about my head I went down to the bottom of the mountains
the earth with her bars was about me forever yet I still brought
up my life from corruption Oh Lord my God and he says when
my soul fainted within me well no doubt Jehoshaphat's soul fainted
within him when he saw that great army against him when my soul
fainted within me I remembered the Lord that may seem pretty
obvious but you know the devil endeavours to make us forget
the Lord when my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord
and my prayer came in unto Thee and to thine holy temple, saying
today, my friends, you and I can come and pray to almighty God,
our Father in heaven, through the merits of our Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and know what it is to be blessed with that
access. Now, access doesn't come easily.
You and I can't demand it, but God does give it. And it's a
blessed privilege when God does come and grants
us that access at the throne of grace so that our prayers
don't bounce back, they enter in. And when they enter in, they're
presented to our Father through the glorious Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and His finished work accepted by Almighty God. So this morning may we be encouraged
in our life to realize just as Jehoshaphat came here in a time
of distress as he says neither know we what to do what to do
But our eyes are upon thee. Well, may you and I keep our
eyes upon Jesus, looking unto him, the author and the finisher
of our faith.