When you’re dealing with something you’d rather not be dealing with … when you’re feeling anxious, fearful, worried, pressured … what do you do?

Photo by prideandvegudice / CC BY

Go shopping? Clean house? Dump a month’s worth of complaints on an unsuspecting loved one?

I tend to want to eat unhealthy foods. Frequently. Especially in the middle of winter. And the last couple of days, I have been. Ugh. It certainly doesn’t solve the original problem, and only creates more of its own.

The thing to do, of course, is to turn to the Lord–to his Word, to his promises, to his strength. And I know this. But sometimes, I just don’t want to. So silly!

Strangely enough, the story of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, recorded in 2 Chronicles 20 of the Old Testament of the Bible, has something to say about this.

Faced with massive invasion by the Edomites, the king’s first reaction was fear. That sounds pretty normal to me! His second reaction is the important one: he “set his face to seek the Lord” and proclaimed a fast throughout the kingdom.

(A fast. Now, there’s an idea!)

The people responded by flocking to Jerusalem to seek help from the Lord together. Led in prayer by the king, they admitted God’s absolute power and rule, recalled his promises, and confessed their powerlessness and complete dependence on him.

God loves to answer that kind of prayer.

The people were to go out to battle, but they would not need to fight. We need to face our own challenges, but where sin is involved, the Lord is willing to do the actual fighting if we will let him.

Jehoshaphat believed God. He worshiped and praised him. And in the morning when he led out his troops, he sent a beautifully clothed choir ahead of the army, singing and praising the Lord for his love and faithfulness.

Appointing the singers declared the faith of the king and the people that God would do what he said he would do. The army would march out to battle, but the battle would be God’s.

We all face trouble of one kind or another much of the time. Remember Jehoshaphat’s prayer, God’s answer, and the praise that showed the king believed what God said he would do.

“Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
Psalm 50:15

DIANE