I was reading about King Jehoshaphat from 2 Chronicles 20 today in preparation for Sunday. What amazing faith and tenacity this man had! He is surrounded by three armies and facing certain defeat. Yet, he reminds the Lord that they are inhabiting the land that He had given to them through Abraham. He admits that his army is powerless to stop the enemy, however he declares to the Lord, “We can cry out to you to save us, and you WILL hear us and rescue us.” And then he leads Judah in a worship service. God then commands King Jehoshaphat to go out and meet the enemy. As they go, they continue their praise and worship to God. And as the people praise, God throws their enemies into confusion and they begin attacking one another. In the end, the enemies are defeated and not a single blow was struck by Judah against them. Isn’t that GREAT? I believe too many times we get wrapped up in devising strategies and plans to defeat our problems and the problem-people in our lives, that we stray totally away from praising and worshiping the Lord. Maybe, instead of kicking into survival mode the next time we’re threatened, we should do like the people of Judah and begin to praise and worship and “give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love endures forever!” Instead of focusing on the problem, change our focus to the problem-solver! Instead of sitting around with a case of “poor pitiful me”, count out blessings and give God glory! Then maybe we can experience the same thing as King Jehoshaphat. Verse 20 says, “So Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.” Instead of being surrounded by threatening enemies, he was surrounded by peace and rest. Sounds like a good trade to me!
