Godward Thoughts

Jehoshaphat’s life is described in Psalm 1:1–3 . He walked in the right counsel (2 Chronicles 17:3), he delighted in God’s ways (2 Chronicles 17:6), and he was fruitful in his service, sharing the Word with the people (2 Chronicles 17:7–9). He practiced the fear of the Lord, so he was protected by the fear of the Lord. When you fear God, you need fear nothing else (Psalm 112).

But Jehoshaphat married the wrong wife, joined the wrong allies, fought the wrong war, and almost came to the wrong end. By walking “in the counsel of the ungodly” and sitting with the scornful (2 Chronicles 18:9 ; Psalm 1:1), the king found himself in serious trouble. He had to listen to false prophets and go to battle with a king depending on false confidence.

The pressure to conform is greater today than in that day. Are you resisting it? Can you detect the false prophet and his message, or are you impressed with his “visual aids” and pleasing message (2 Chronicles 18:10)? Read the last three verses of Psalm 1 and beware!

Jehoshaphat returned home safely only because God was gracious to him and protected him in the battle. When we are out of the will of God and get into places of danger, we tempt God, and it is a sin to tempt God and force Him to work miracles on our behalf. That is the way Satan tempted the Lord Jesus (Matthew 4:5–7).

He submitted to God’s Word and went back to ministering to his people. While he was away fighting somebody else’s battle, his own people were being neglected (Song of Solomon 1:6). Like a good shepherd, he sought the lost and brought them back to the Lord (Ezekiel 34:1–10), and he saw to it that the people were protected by honest judges and served by godly priests.

Note the emphasis on the fear of the Lord (2 Chronicles 19:7 , 9). Jehoshaphat had sinned, but God forgave him. The result of forgiveness should be the fear of the Lord (Psalm 130:4).

Seek the Lord. When you see big problems on the horizon, seek the Lord before you do anything else. What does that mean? It means to do what Jehoshaphat and Judah did. They remembered who God is (2 Chronicles 20:6), what He did in the past (2 Chronicles 20:7) and what He said He would do in the future (2 Chronicles 20:8–9). It means to trust Him and keep your eyes on Him by faith (2 Chronicles 20:12).

Hear the Lord. God always has a special word for those who turn to Him for help. When you face a battle, spend much time in His Word and in prayer, for then He will give you that needed word of encouragement.

Praise the Lord. The battle was won by the singers, standing in the most dangerous place of all—between two armies. But they sang the Lord’s praises and routed the enemy. The choir praised God after God gave the word (2 Chronicles 20:19), before the battle (2 Chronicles 20: 21), and after the victory (2 Chronicles 20:26–28), a good pattern for us to follow in our praise.

In Hebrew, Berachah means “blessing” (2 Chronicles 20: 26). Even a valley can become a place of blessing if we learn how to praise the Lord. “Prayer changes things” is a familiar saying that is certainly true. But it is also true that “praise changes things.” Why? Because true praise changes people, and God can work in and through people who praise Him. True praise involves faith, hope, and love, the strongest weapons in the Christian armory.

The chronicler does not mention Solomon’s apostasy or God’s warning (1 Kings 11–13), but he does record Rehoboam’s folly. You would think younger men would recommend easier lives for the people, for youth is generally a carefree time. But the king’s friends did not have to bear any of the burdens, and their decision made them appear strong. They used the people to advance their authority instead of using their authority to help the people. (See Matthew 23:4; Galatians 6:2).

Some divisions are of God (2 Chronicles 11:4), even though they create problems and cause hurts. For one thing, divisions force people to make decisions, and the decisions they make reveal the kind of people they are. The priests and Levites left Israel and came to Judah because they wanted to serve in the true temple and be ruled by a king from David’s line.

Rehoboam refused to serve the Lord or the people, so he ended up serving Egypt. God wanted him to learn the difference between His easy yoke and the heavy yoke of sin (2 Chronicles 12:8 ; Deuteronomy 28:47–48). Some people must learn the hard way. Are you one of them?

No matter how strong you think you are, your strength becomes weakness if you forsake the Lord. Rehoboam relied on his fortified cities for protection, and the Egyptians took every one of them. His son Abijah would rely on the Lord and win a great victory (2 Chronicles 13:18). Where is your faith today?

Solomon’s treasures became Egypt’s spoils because the king turned away from God. The king and the elders humbled themselves before God, but they could not escape the consequences of their sin. God spared them from wrath, but He permitted them to suffer. Alexander Maclaren stated, “Every sin is a mistake, as well as a wrong; and the epitaph for the sinner is, ‘Thou fool!’”

The rock pictures Jesus Christ who was smitten for us (1 Corinthians 10:4) that we might have the living water of the Holy Spirit within (John 7:37–39). The Egyptian army had been drowned, but the Amalekites were very much alive and did not want Israel in their territory. It was Esau fighting Jacob again (Genesis 36:12). It takes intercession on the mountain as well as intervention in the valley for God’s people to win the victory. Israel watched God defeat Egypt, but now they had to enter the battle themselves and trust God for victory.

Moses experienced some exciting things after leaving Egypt, but now he returns to the everyday duties of life. God balances our lives and gives us enough burdens to keep us humble and enough blessings to keep us happy. Moses returned to his family, told them all that God had done, and then worshiped the Lord with them. Sometimes an outsider can see things more clearly than those who are doing the work, and we must always be open to counsel (Proverbs 12:15; Proverbs 13:10). Moses was trying to do all the work himself, and he was not making a distinction between major matters and minor problems. He needed assistants, and he needed priorities. Note that Jethro expected Moses to seek God’s will in the matter (Exodus 18:23). What seems like good counsel from men might be bad counsel in God’s sight, so we must always ask for God’s directions (Acts 27:9–14). Exodus 18:21 describes the kind of leaders God needs, people characterized by ability, the fear of God, honesty, and a hatred for covetousness. (See Acts 6:3 for additional leadership qualities.)

Because we belong to God, we must be separated from sin (Exodus 19:10, 14, 22). God’s people are set apart from the world and unto the Lord. To impress the people with the fear of the Lord, God demonstrated His power at Sinai and warned them not to come near. It was the childhood of the nation, and the people, like children, learned from rewards and punishments. Hebrews 12:18–29 contrasts this experience with that of the New Testament believer today. We must still fear the Lord and respect the boundaries He establishes, but we are invited to “draw near” (Hebrews 10:19–25). The Israelites were not saved from Egypt by obeying the Law, but their obedience enabled them to enjoy all the blessings God had for them.