on 16 January 2024
“We have no strength, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are to you.”
King Jehoshaphat was not a bad man. He was a kind and generous king, but he was a weak man. He found it difficult to say no and as for all people who find it difficult to say no, one can end up trapped. And that is where we find him in 2 Chronicles 20. The stakes are just a little bit higher when you are the king, and so your weakness leaves your people in trouble.
He has carried out one of the most radical reform programmes Judah had ever known. He has overhauled the justice system, reformed the nations worship. He established a teaching programme so people would know the law of God and has started great building works. What is the result of this? We might surely think the Lord’s blessing and prosperity. But no. 2 Chronicles chapter 20 begins with a vast coalition of attackers from the north and east coming against him. He finds himself in great trouble and he knows it.
“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.” (v12)
You might say ‘we are not Jehoshaphat’ and you would be right, we are not. But the Apostle Paul tells us, “these things are written as examples for us” (1 Cor 10:6). They give us outlines of how we are to believe and live. The best of the Kings provide us with anticipations of what the ultimate King is like, foretastes of Jesus and all the rest he brings.
The truth that King Jehoshaphat expresses is always true. We are always powerless, we always have no strength. In times of trouble and difficulty we are acutely aware of that but it’s equally true when things are going well and thriving. You may be not be willing to admit it but you have no strength, you can pretend for a little while that you do, but the human condition is such that the truth will come out sooner or later. Your ministry may be thriving, your church growing, your family happy but the reality is still you have no strength, no power.
As we recognise that, Jehoshaphat provides us with a beautiful example of how to pray. There are 3 nots in the passage which lift our eyes from ourselves and our problems to God.
Are you not?
“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.” (v6)
One of my great struggles is that my problems can often overwhelm me, they can seem intractable. In marriage and family there is often pain and difficulties. It may be in church life there is a situation that doesn’t seem like it can be resolved. We look out into a culture that is hostile against the gospel, thousands, millions without God without hope. The temptation to despair is real. Jehoshaphat helps us enormously by telling us to look to God, to realise who he is.
“O Lord God of my fathers, Are you not God in heaven? You rule over the nations, in God’s hands are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.“
He focuses firstly on the Covenant of God – the God of our fathers – the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of his people Israel. He who has been faithful to all his promises, he is the God of history, the God of providence and this is our God. He then moves on to the sovereignty of God, this God is not just the God of a small beleaguered nation in the middle east. He is the Lord God of heaven who reigns over nations. He does what he pleases, his strength unparalleled, his power unmatched, his wisdom unsurpassable. There is no one who can stand against him. There is nowhere where he does not reign. There is nothing that can stand in his way. His sovereignty knows no limits.
“His love has no limits
His grace has no measure
His power has no boundary known unto men”
Take your problem and set it beside the Lord God, take your difficulty and measure it against the God of creation and the God of history. There is nothing too hard for him.
Jehoshaphat then moves on to the second not.
Did you not?
“Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it for ever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? (v7)
He moves from the character of God to the actions of God, looking at what God has done in history for his people. He recounts to God his provision for his people. He reminds God: this is what you have done, you are the defender and provider for your people.
He tells God of how his people will stand before him and his temple, claiming the promises of the Covenant (v9). They ask the Lord to act for the honour of his name, they cry out in their distress and he will hear and he will save. Jehoshaphat speaks to God with honesty, he ties the actions and state of God’s people to the glory of God’s name. It’s as if he is asking “how can this be?” He takes the character and the actions of God seriously and brings them to him in prayer. He reminds the Lord of his faithfulness in the past and he holds God to his character and covenant.
Then we come to the final not of prayer.
Will you not?
“O our God, will you not execute judgement 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.” (v12)
God is patient, he is longsuffering, he hesitates but he will act. His certain judgement is coming. In Jehoshapat’s day they face being wiped out, enemies on every side, the future is bleak and so again the King brings the covenant to bear. He asks God is it not time to act? To deal with your enemies?
I suspect in the West we’re a little bit squeamish regarding praying for judgement. We’re too comfortable and too at home. We often don’t feel the oppression of the enemies of God like we should. Those brothers and sisters in the midst of severe pressure and persecution around the world see reality more clearly.
As we look at some in our culture and how evil is being called good and good called evil, part of our response surely must be, ‘Will you not execute judgement Lord?’
We also know in scripture that whenever God comes in judgement on his enemies, at the same time, he comes to save his people. We see that clearly at the Exodus which the rest of 2 Kings 20 picks up. He judged the Egyptians but delivered his people. It’s been part of the testimony of God’s people throughout the ages.
Later on in the chapter the people of God are told, “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s……you will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.” (V15-17)
It’s a beautiful picture of the gospel: when judgement fell on Jesus, salvation came to us. And so… “do not be afraid, do not be dismayed, you will not need to fight, stand firm, hold your position and see the salvation of the Lord… the Lord will be with you”
The confession that the King makes, “We do not know what to do but our eyes are to you” is the confession of God’s people throughout the ages.
Few things are more unbearable in life than someone who thinks they’ve got all the answers, who is never at a loss what to say or what to do. Sadly those people can often be found in churches. There are biographies in which the subject never puts a step wrong, always makes the right decision, seems to sail triumphantly through life. Thankfully the bible is far more realistic. As I look at my own life, our church life and certainly our culture, we find ourselves saying, “we are powerless ….we do not know what to do, but our eyes are to you.”
It is often wrongly said that prayer changes things, it doesn’t, prayer puts us in touch with the God who changes things. King Jehoshaphat is so helpful to us because he points us away from himself, he doesn’t give us techniques in prayer, or even a pattern of words to say. He doesn’t tell us how long to pray but he points us to the God who does not change, the God of our Fathers. He tells us not to look to ourselves and our plans, but to admit our cluelessness and lift our eyes to him who is the Lord God of heaven and earth.
O Lord God of our Fathers:
Are you not?
Have you not?
Will you not?