Sun 9:30a Class; 10:30a Worship; 11:35a Communion
Bible Bites
The Prayer of Jehoshaphat
The Prayer of Jehoshaphat O our God, wilt thou not deal with them?
We are helpless against this mighty host that is attacking us;
we know not what to do, but we look to thee.
2 Chronicles 20.12 MOFFATT
In the seventeenth century, when the Anglican Church was trying to hammer out a confession of faith, there was a key debate in which John Selden, one of the greatest lawyers and scholars in England, argued skillfully that Matthew 18.15–17 involved no sort of church jurisdiction. As he spoke, one of the youngest delegates at the conference, a Scotsman by the name of George Gillespie, was seen writing on a tablet. Everyone in the room knew that he was preparing a response. When Gillespie rose to offer a rebuttal, his reasoning was so conclusive that when he finished, Selden turned to one sitting beside him and said, “That young man has swept away the learning and labour of ten years of my life.” Afterward, when Gillespie’s friends grabbed his notebook to see what he had written, all they found were three words in Latin: Da lucem, Domine — “Give light, O Lord.”
I love this story if for no other reason than the picture it gives of one who, in the hour of trial, realized his insufficiency and relied on the Lord.
The popularity of Bruce Wilkinson’s little book, The Prayer of Jabez, has made many familiar with 1 Chronicles 4.10. But at this point in my life, the prayer from Chronicles that I pray most is that of Jehoshaphat’s, found in 2 Chronicles 20.12.
There are times in life when our health is such, and our finances are such, and our situation is such that we think ourselves independently secure, needing help from no one, including God. Should something upset our Shangri La, we can let our fingers do the walking and find in the Yellow Pages all the social science professionals (psychologists, marriage counselors, etc.), medical doctors (with lasers, and drugs, and ultrasounds), and modern Merlins we need to restore the status quo.
But I’m telling you that there times when the axis of evil is so overwhelming (20.1) that our strength is exposed in all its puniness, and if help is to come, it can only come from above.
I used to have all the answers. I used to know how I (and everyone else) should handle every situation. But believe me when I say that life has reduced me to where my usual prayer goes something like this, “Father, I have no strength, and I have no clue. Help me.”
I’m not saying that God is never glorified by the ability (health, money, wit, intellect, etc.) He gives us. But I’ve come to see that He is more glorified when we face circumstances over which we have no control—if we look to (trust) Him for help (see 2 Corinthians 12.7–10 on this point).
So God bless you when you’re surrounded and you look to Him. And God bless you when your fight against despair, and weariness, and loneliness, and besetting sin is prolonged, and you look to Him. And God ever bless you when the fear is numbing, and men are whining, and support is dwindling and you look to Him. God bless you when, despite the foe, you refuse to surrender the citadel of your soul.
“Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (20.15).
— In "The Prairie Papers", #95
