DAY 8,
Read 2 Chronicles 20:1 -21
Key Verses: “O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand You? Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever” (Verses 6,7).
On occasions of danger the Old Testament saints believed in appealing to the prevailing power of God’s mighty hand for deliverance. In our text for today, we see King Jehoshaphat lead Israel at a time of great national threat to engage the mighty hand of God. His prayer conveys some vital lessons on how to activate the mighty hand of God in times of crisis.
He mobilized the entire Judah to seek God in prayer and fasting. “So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.” The next thing he did was to stand before the congregation to appeal to God, reminding Him about His awesome power and His ability to deliver by His mighty hand.
He reminded God about His friendship with Abraham, that is, he appealed to the Abrahamic covenant. He referred to the prayer of Solomon during the dedication of the temple. “If disaster comes upon us – sword, judgement, pestilence or famine – we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save” (Verse 9).
He admitted Judah’s inability to contain the invading multitude and resigned his fate to God. “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You” (Verse 12).
God response was swift and immediate. Through a prophetic utterance given by Jahaziel, the Lord gave to Judah a battle strategy on how to defeat the enemy. God declared that the battle was His own, and that all that Judah needed to do was to take their positions, stand still, and wait for Him to direct them on what to do. “You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you” (Verse 17).
Israel’s victory came once they began to sing and praise God. Through a supernatural intervention, the three enemy nations that came against Israel began to fight one another.
All Israel did was to come and strip the enemy of their jewelry and to gather the spoils of war. ‘Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were defeated. For the people and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.”
Thus Judah got victory over their enemies when they were effectively mobilized and through a combination of prayer, fasting and praise. These are steps we could also take when we feel threatened.
PRAYER: Father, we declare that we have no helper than You. Give us victory over the overwhelming forces that stand against us.
