The setting is the Kingdom of Judah, the southern half of the Promised Land that God gave to the descendants of Abraham. Hundreds of years have passed since then. This was after David, after Solomon. A king named Jehoshaphat sits on the throne of Judah. All of his life, this guy has depended on God. He wasn’t perfect, but He was one of the few kings that was good in God’s eyes. He tried to rule according to God’s will. One day Jehoshaphat gets the message that a vast army was marching against them, and it was coming quickly. This news shook him up. But he didn’t panic and start thinking, “What do I do?” The first thing he did was announce that all the people of Judah should fast and pray to God. People from all across the nation came to Jerusalem to pray with him.

2 Chronicles 20:1–5 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to make war on Jehoshaphat. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea. It is already in Hazazon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard

When a large crowd had gathered outside the Temple, Jehoshaphat stood up and offered this prayer:

2 Chronicles 20:6-9 “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?  They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’

Jehoshaphat had a pretty good grasp of the situation. He understood an enemy army was about to invade his territory, but he also knew that God had given him that territory and that God was strong enough to protect it. “Who can stand against you?” he prayed. He recognized God’s power. Recognizing God’s power means that you take Him more seriously than you do yourselves. When you get up in the morning and think of all the things you’ve got to do and you start to worry “how am I going to get it all done” … do you completely overlook the fact that you got up this morning? It was God’s power working in your lives that let you do so. If you are going to receive God’s help you’ve got to take your eyes off of what you can and can’t do and focus on what God can do and is doing. You need to remember the awesome power of God is at your disposal. The one who offered Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, died to save you, and rose in victory over death is with you. You’ve got the help you need today.

I’ll be sharing more about Jehoshaphat in the next few devotions.