Most times, we end up fighting our own battles. But sometimes, the opposition is just – well, it’s overwhelming. Then what?  Well that’s when we can discover that the battle, belongs to the Lord.

 

I Can Do Anything I Want

In this day and age one of the things that they teach us is to be self reliant. To have confidence in our own abilities.

You can do anything you set your mind to they tell us. You can make it, it’s all up to you.

That’s ok to a point I guess. It’s a good thing to have some confidence in who we are that God made us to be. But you can take this idea too far and it will bring you undone. The positive turns into a terrible negative. See what happens, when the situation we’re in or the circumstances that we’re facing are so far beyond our ability to deal with them, that any idea of self reliance is completely ridiculous.

What happens when the problem confronting us requires skills and abilities that we don’t have. What happens when the career we’ve chosen just doesn’t fit who we are?

What happens when the one we love, our wife or our husband or one of our children is going through some tough times. Something that as much as we love them, we can’t seem to be able to help them through. An illness, a depression, a crisis. And nothing we can say or nothing we can do seems to make any difference.

Well, then what? What happens when a tsunami hits our lives? What do we do when the enemy that gathers around us completely outnumbers and outguns us? Come on. Then what do we do?

And this isn’t some theoretical exercise. This is life. It’s my life and it’s your life. Because this happens. It’s real. There are times in our lives when the enemy whoever or whatever that is, when the enemy is so much bigger than our ability to survive.

It happens in families. It happens in work places. And it happens in our hearts. When sickness hits for no good reason. When a loved one is taken in their prime and the grief overwhelms us.

When a marriage falls apart. It happens when retrenchment hits. When the economy takes a nose-dive. When their isn’t enough food to feed the family. When people betray us. This is life. It’s real life.

Let me ask you something. When the enemy is so much bigger and so much stronger than anything that you or I could ever handle, what do we do?

Some people panic and they run around in ever decreasing circles wasting their precious energy on panicking. You’ve seen it I’ve seen it. You know we’ve both probably been their too. Some people pull over and stop because they’re immobilised by fear.

That’s what happens you know. But neither of those things cut the mustard. Neither of them help. Running around like a headless chook. It’s exhausting. Wallowing in self pity is destructive.

What do we do?

See I’m a pretty self-reliant kind of guy. I like to think that I can handle most things. BUT – there are times when things happen that are completely and utterly beyond anything I can handle.

And in those times to hang on to this notion of self-reliance, this delusion of “I can do anything”, that will only make it worse. It’s OK to believe in ourselves but the reality is that sometimes, maybe this time, we can’t swim against this tsunami. It’s too big. It’s too scary.

I was talking the other day with a young woman. She’s extremely competent and confident in her field. Professionally she’s a class act in every way that you can imagine. We got onto the fact that she had a couple of young kids. And her demeanour changed. See, as someone who’s got kids and now they’re all grown up, I’m well and truly past the stresses and the strains of bringing up young children.

I love telling parents, “Don’t worry it’s the first 25 years that are the hardest. After that it’s a piece of baklava!” It’s my, I guess it’s my gift of encouragement. Right?”

But like any young mother, this motherhood thing was a struggle for this competent, professional woman. It’s so tiring. There is so much that is new and is challenging. There’s so much in bringing up kids. It’s beyond our control.

That’s the key isn’t it. When we’re dealing with things that are under our control and we happen to have the skills and the ability and the inclination to control them, well, it’s all good isn’t it. But the further things are out of our control the more they look like that tsunami and that wave that we can’t ride.

Then, then it gets scary.

I want to introduce you today to one of the kings in Israel’s history. Actually he’s the king of a couple of the tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. His name was Jehoshaphat. Ok it’s a long name. We don’t use that kind of name these days. But he was definitely one of the good guys. And there was a time when he was confronted with an enemy that was way, way, way beyond his ability to fight and defeat.

Let’s pick up the story in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 1.

After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; already they are at Engedi. Jehoshaphat was afraid;

See this was an army much bigger than his own. The odds were completely overwhelming and Jehoshaphat were facing absolutely certain defeat. To the king that meant death for his people it meant death or slavery or loss of all their possessions and land. Probably rape for the woman.

The higher the stakes are the scarier it gets, doesn’t it? And for Jehoshaphat the stakes couldn’t have been higher. He was in that place well and truly that you and I find ourselves in for time to time.

I just want to establish here that old king Jehoshaphat, well he was human like you and me. He’s not some super-human king. There were armies coming in against him. He was completely outnumbered and outgunned. This was a life and death situation and it says Jehoshaphat was afraid. Jehoshaphat is just one of us.

I remember as a young boy going to the dentist. I’d walk in the front door and there was this staircase leading up to the dentist. And the smell of the dental surgery the moment you walked in the door. And their was a knot in my stomach sitting in the waiting room.

Fear is something that disables us. It’s not good for anyone when we’re disabled by fear. It’s not good for ourselves, it’s not good for God. It’s not good for those who need our help.

Jehoshaphat was afraid. But it’s what he did in his fear that made all the difference and we’re going to take a look at that in just a moment

 

What Happens When I Can’t?

Well let's get back into God’s word and take a look at what happened king Jehoshaphat. What he was facing in this completely overwhelming odds. Have a listen. We’re starting, if you have a bible grab it, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 beginning at verse 3:

Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the towns of Judah they came to seek the LORD. Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said,

“O LORD, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you. Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham?

They have lived in it, and in it have built you a sanctuary for your name, saying,
‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.’

See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Meanwhile all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
See Jehoshaphat didn’t let his fear immobilise him. He didn’t get into a flap or into a panic in the face of overwhelming odds he turned to God.

Sometimes that’s the only way that God gets our attention. I’d like to be able to tell you that I first turned to God because I was wise and loving and understood that Jesus is the Son of God. But if I told you that I would be lying. I needed to be hit across the back of the head with a lump of four by two for God to get my attention.

Overwhelming odds. That’s what did it for me. I turned to God in the middle of fear. And for me it was the last resort but for Jehoshaphat God was his first port of call. Now a king is supposed to have all the answers. A King like Jehoshaphat should have a powerful army and contingency plans based on a comprehensive threat assessment. He should be self-reliant. A man for the people to respect and to follow and to trust for their safety and their future, but listen again to what Jehoshaphat says when he’s praying to God in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 12:

O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

I relate to this. When I stepped out of the secure, well-paid job as a consultant into full time ministry, that was a step of faith. Leaving security behind to serve God and I can’t begin to tell you how many times since then I have been in that place that Jehoshaphat and his people were in.

See I started out with this naive notion that if I was going to be about God’s work, well lit should be easy. And yet so many times people and circumstances have conspired to be against God’s work. Every couple of years our board gets together to do some strategic planning. That’s important and the strategic plan always looks good on paper. Gives us a sense of what direction we think that God wants us to head in.

And then invariably all hell breaks loose because the enemy wants to overwhelm us. He doesn’t want to see God’s will done here on earth as it is in heaven. And that’s what’s going on with Jehoshaphat and Judah. Remember these are God’s chosen people.

The king honoured God and by all accounts and by all accounts he was wise and competent. But in the face of overwhelming odds he admitted to God, “We do know what to do.” So was the solution How did he cope with this? And the same sentence, the same breath, he says “but our eyes are on You.”

I wonder sometimes when I see people who profess to believe in Jesus running around in panic wasting so much of their energy complaining and worrying and being afraid. See, it takes a lot of energy to be afraid, you realise. I wonder if they spent even half that amount of their energy having their eyes on God, how much better off they’d be.

You and I, we can’t help but be afraid. Jehoshaphat was afraid. It’s a natural human, reaction. I’m not here to tell you somehow to pretend that you're not afraid when fear is rocking you to the very core. That’s ridiculous. But it’s what we do when fear strikes that makes all the difference.

When we panic we burn energy, when we frozen and immobilised that’s probably the end of us. That’s what fear does. Stop’s us dead in our tracks. We go nowhere. Had Jehoshaphat done that, he and all his people would have been dead literally.

Or we can just turn and look at God. “You know something Lord, this is so huge, I just know what to do but my eyes, my eyes are on you. I’m just going to wait on you. I don’t know what you are going to do, I don’t even know if you are going to show up, but no matter what, my eyes are on you.”

And here’s the bit that blows me away about this story. It’s this. That God wasn’t Jehoshaphat’s last resort. God was his first port of call. He trusted in the sovereign grace of God. Jehoshaphat was afraid, but he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

I wonder how different if things would be amidst our fear, if instead of running around and spending all that energy on panic or instead of running to the phone to talk to a friend, if we first ran to God.

If the very first thing we did was to take stock and in our hearts, deep inside somewhere – decided to set ourselves to seek the Lord? God, the first point of call, rather than the last resort!

 

A Powerful Outcome

So how did it end? Was Jehoshaphat’s trust misplaced or well placed? Let's take a look. 2 Chronicle 20 beginning at verse 14:

Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly. He said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them; they will come up by the ascent of Ziz; you will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.”

Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God and you will be established; believe his prophets.”

When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy splendor, as they went before the army, saying,
“Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.

For the Ammonites and Moab attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them utterly; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; they were corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped.

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the booty from them, they found livestock in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They spent three days taking the booty, because of its abundance.

Unbelievable I hear you say. How could this possibly happen??

I’ll tell you how. Because Jehoshaphat decided that he would stand and wait on God - no matter what the outcome! That’s the key. That’s the faith that God was looking for. No matter what the outcome. Let’s take another look. 2 Chronicles 20:9-12:

If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.
See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy – they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit.

O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

This is the do or die faith that God is looking for. When we place our faith in God in this way – for things that are completely out of our control – right when that tsunami hits His Spirit and His Word come along and witness His truth to us:

This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.” (2 Chronicles 20:17)

Listen to me. Have you put your trust in Jesus Christ? Have you? Then those times of fear are times when we discover what a beautiful thing it is to trust in the Lord, no matter what is coming against us. No matter what the world throws at us. No matter how overwhelming the odds might be.

Those times are the times that we get to stand still and discover in our very own experience that the battle isn’t our it’s not ours at all. But the battle belongs to the Lord.

Can I encourage you that if you feel right now that you’re on death row, as though there is no tomorrow, to listen to the words of apostle Paul from his dungeon as he writes in Philippians Chapter 4 beginning at verse 6:

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

See that’s the word of the Lord for us today. Jehoshaphat knew it and learned it again in his experience. The people of Judah learned it again under the leadership of Jehoshaphat. This overwhelming army came against them. They couldn’t win. It was a no win situation. And they discovered afresh and anew the battle was not theirs but the battle belonged to the Lord. And they listened to God through His prophets when he said, “Stand still to see and to watch what the Lord would do for you.”

Can I encourage you today to remember the battle is not yours. The battle belongs to the Lord. Stand still and watch to see what the Lord will do for you.