Christian Living Today

What can we learn from this? If nothing else, Jehoshophat’s godly example had impacted his people. Not only do we see Jehoshophat seeking help from God, not his own strength, power, and might, but the people of Judah do the same.

It is easy to forget how very real their danger was. They were facing a large army, a well-seasoned army, a venerable foe who wished to possess their land. If they were defeated, at best they could expect slavery, at worst, death. Yet, ‘from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.’

The next thing we need to note is Jehoshophat’s position. In a day and age where royalty is non-existent in most countries and a figurehead at best in many others, we have a hard time grasping the significance of Jehoshophat’s actions. Look at it this way, when our President (and Congress) first instituted a ‘Day of Prayer’, he (they) did not issue a call for everyone to come to Washington DC, and then, there in the midst of those gathered, he (they) did not humble himself (themselves) and admit openly, honestly, and very clearly his (their) dependence upon God. Yet, this is exactly what we find King Jehoshophat doing.

Verse 5 says, “Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem. . .” Not only did Jehoshophat ‘make a stand’ (as this word can be interpreted), but he did so in front of all the assembled people.

This, however, was more than just a symbolic expression on the King’s part. He not only stood amongst the people, clearly stating he was no different, no more powerful, no less vulnerable, he went further, much further. King Jehoshophat did not delegate the prayer to a priest or a prophet. While it was not improper for Israel’s or Judah’s kings to pray publicly, it was not usual.

This act gives us a glimpse into Jehoshophat’s heart. Here is a man who is coming with a right heart attitude. I believe, based on the quote above, Mr. Miller would say Jehoshophat is coming to God with a focus upon God - not upon himself and not upon the ‘act’ of praying.

I believe our prayers say much about our understanding of God and our relationship with God. I am NOT saying we should seek to have ‘formal-sounding’ prayers full of pious expressions and biblical quotations. That could easily be pharicitical. On the other hand, our prayers should not be filled with rote (and often mindless) statements, repeated every time we pray or vague expressions which mean little to us and do nothing to edify any who are listening.

Jehoshophat’s prayer falls into neither extreme. In fact, while we can learn much from examining this prayer’s content, just a brief overview reveals Jehoshophat had a relationship with the God of heaven. He knew the Person to whom he was talking. Briefly, then, let’s look at what he said.

Jehoshophat addresses his prayer saying, “O Lord”. He uses the term ‘Yahwah’ addressing God by His proper and fitting title as the one and only God. Yet his understanding of God goes deeper. He goes on to call his Lord, “God of our Fathers.” In other words, we see Jehoshophat reminding God of their long-standing ‘covenant relationship’.

Most of Jehoshophat’s prayer deals with who God is and His relationship with Israel. Thus Jehoshophat continues by noting God’s ultimate power, authority and eminence. He calls God the “God in the heavens.” Jehoshophat acknowledged God’s control (even over his own kingdom and the kingdoms of those who were coming up against him) when he says God is the ruler over all the kingdoms. Then he speaks of God’s omnipotence when he says none can withstand God’s power and might.

Therefore we see the first focus of Jehoshophat’s prayer is much like our Lord’s focus in the example prayer He gave to the disciples. Jehoshophat focuses on who God is.

Next he turns to God’s relationship and provision and care of Israel. He says God gave them their land. Much like the portion of the Lord’s prayer where Jesus instructed His hearers to ask God to provide their daily bread, Jehoshophat recognizes God’s ultimate sovereignty and care over Judah.

Jehoshophat also reminds God of His close relationship with them. They were Abraham’s descendants - the Abraham who was God’s friend forever. Even more important, God had condescended to dwell among them - to favor this particular people with His presence.

However, the king does not stop here. He says, “If. . .we stand before this temple. . .and cry out to You. . .You will hear and save.” This is a direct reference to Solomon’s prayer and God’s response as recorded in 2 Chronicles chapters 6 and 7. He also reminds God of Israel’s obedient response to God’s command not to attack these people when they conquered all the pagan inhabitants in and around the promised land.

Then, and only then, does he get to the heart of his problem. Now Jehoshophat focuses in on his ‘concern’ and asks for God’s help. He says this people are coming to throw us out of our possession. In so doing he points to the ‘error’ in his enemies’ plans / actions. Then he recognizes God’s right and prerogative to judge their wickedness. Note what the king says, “O God, will You not judge them?”

He ends his prayer with a statement of their needs and their helplessness before God. He says, “We have no power against this great multitude.” Then he says, We do not “know what to do.” And, he closes with an expression of the total reliance upon God for salvation - “Our eyes are upon You.”

There are several things we can learn from this prayer. Aside from the depth of Jehoshophat’s relationship with God, aside from his total reliance upon God, aside from his confidence God would hear and answer, we see a significant parallel between his prayer and the Lord’s Prayer.

We see Jehoshophat focuses first (and foremost) upon who God is. Thus we see the importance of an increasing knowledge of God as we seek to develop a deeper and more significant prayer life. As Mr. Miller has said, our focus should be our pursuit of God.

Second we see Jehoshophat’s humility. There were many ways he could have tackled this problem. However, we see his primary response was to fast and pray - to humbly seek God’s face. Furthermore, he could have delegated the prayer itself to someone else. However, he does not. He chooses to publicly admit his complete dependence upon God’s care and protection.

Finally, we see Jehoshophat’s confidence. This is the prayer of a man who knows his God will hear when he prays. Granted he has no guarantee how God will answer - his fear verifies this. However, he has no doubt God will hear and, if He will, He is more than able to protect His people, Judah.

What about you? What about me? What is our first and primary response when faced with trouble? Jehoshophat had such confidence in God’s character, he came to Him for rescue. Do we? If not, what does this say about our understanding of who God is and what He has done? What does it say about whom and what we trust? What does it say about our relationship with God?