9/2/2020 Wednesday Devotional
Jehoshaphat’s Prayer in a Crisis
(2 Chron 20:1-23)
One day, as a small opening appeared on a cocoon, a man sat and watched a butterfly as it struggled to force its body through the tiny hole. The butterfly appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could; consequently, the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body. It didn’t happen. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon, and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes, struggles and hardships are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, we would never be perfected in the way God wants.
BACKGROUND: The chapter is occupied with a statement of the invasion of Judah by Moabites and Ammonites and certain problematical others (v 1, 2); with an account of the way in which the king and people prepared to meet the crisis (v3–13); with the prophecy of Jahaziel the Levite as to how, under certain conditions, things would go (v 14–19); and with the narration of the victory and the manner of it (v 20–30); while the remaining verses partly summarize and then conclude the account of the life, character, and reign of Jehoshaphat.
Lessons to learn:
- The first thing Jehoshaphat did was to seek God’s face and to seek God’s help! The phrase “set his face” is also translated “determined” or “resolved.” Nothing was going to stand in his way of seeking the Lord. He was determined to look to God about this matter and find out what God wanted him to do! (v3)
- Jehoshaphat begins his prayer with the simple phrase, “O Lord.” The Hebrew word used for Lord here, is “Yahweh” and it refers to God’s “self-existence.” It recognizes God’s eternality.
- Another thing we see in Jehoshaphat’s prayer (v7-9) is that we need to take time to…Reflect upon What God has done. King Jehoshaphat takes the time to reflect upon God’s past blessings and God’s past promises to give him hope and encouragement for their present situation!(Rom 15:4)
- Notice the next part of Jehoshaphat’s prayer in verses 10-12…One of the other things we need to do is to . . . Admit our insufficiency, He says in verse 12, “We are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us.” He admits their insufficiency. He doesn’t try to figure anything out, he doesn’t gather the strategists and try to come up with a battle plan…He simply says, “God, unless you intervene, we are DOOMED!”
- The final thing we find Jehoshaphat and the people doing is found in v18-23, demonstrated trust. God had revealed to them what they were to do and now they had an opportunity to exercise their faith. At this point they were still surrounded, they still had nowhere to run, and they were still outnumbered and out-manned. However, they had something the enemy did not have—THEY HAD GOD ON THEIR SIDE AND THEY HAD GOD’S SOLUTION!
Questions for Reflection:
- What do you do when you don’t know what to do?
- Prayer needs to be voiced in faith, expecting God to do His will. (Your thoughts?)
- Do you pray specifically? Name the details clearly and without vague generality, as Jehoshaphat specified the enemy (10).