Wednesday, October 19, 2022
“And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15 KJV).
Indeed, “for the battle is not yours, but God’s!”
The context of today’s Scripture: “[5] And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, [6] And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? [7] Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?” King Jehoshaphat quotes the Hebrew Bible in verse 7, especially the Book of Joshua, the record of Israel’s conquest of Canaan (Promised Land) centuries prior.
Jehoshaphat prays further: “[8] And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, [9] If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword [war], judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.” They are actually standing in the Jerusalem Temple, God’s house, which King Solomon had dedicated with a similar prayer nearly 200 years earlier (1 Kings 8:33-40; 2 Chronicles 6:24,25,28-31).
The King of Judah asks the LORD: “[10] And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; [11] Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. [12] O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”
Jehoshaphat humbly awaits God’s reply….
333 Words of Grace 