So far we have heard how Jehoshaphat, knowing that he would be attacked by a vast army, prayed to the Lord. The Lord told the king to wait. Go out to face the army, and wait for the Lord. The story goes on…

2 Chronicles 20:18-19 18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with very loud voice.

Humble yourself and worship in God’s presence. That is what Jehoshaphat decided to do. He was so moved that God had answered his prayer, he was literally awestruck. How great was this God who would come to help!

How often do you do that? How often are you so overwhelmed by God’s goodness that you get down on your knees and thank Him? When you are amazed at what God has done in your family, in your marriage, in your church, in your life, it’s a pretty good indication that you’re depending on Him. When you recognize His goodness, don’t forget to do what Jehoshaphat did: Give thanks and praise to God.

2 Chronicles 20:20-21 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.”

“Have faith in the Lord your God.” Jehoshaphat was telling the people, “We recognize God’s power and He’s on our side! We’ve asked Him to help. He’s given us guidance. We humbled ourselves and worshiped Him. Now it’s time for us to trust in God’s plan. He set the stage. All we’ve got to do is what He told us to do …” … which, in their case, was to go to the battlefield and simply watch.  Watch what God was going to do. Except that it wasn’t that simple. It was pretty risky. It required them to walk into a battle, a deadly conflict, completely vulnerable. If God didn’t come through, they were dead. Literally. That’s what it means to depend on God.

Now, you and I will probably never be told by God to do something that risky or dramatic. But there are areas of your life and mine where God is saying to us in a very specific way “trust my plan and I’ll help you.” That’s the issue. Everyone of us has to make a commitment to our way or a commitment to His way. You can recognize God’s power, ask for his help, listen for his guidance, humble yourself and worship, but in the end you’ve still got to do what he says. Anything less is self-reliance. And we’ve already said that God is not interested helping self-reliant people. Fortunately, for Jehoshaphat and company, they did the risky thing – marched right out on the battlefield, not with swords, but with songs.

The conclusion of this story tomorrow.