Forward to a Friend.
Rehearsing God in a Crisis
There are skirmishes and there are wars; but then there is the mother of all battles and that’s what was about to hit. The news reports were bleak and this battle would be overwhelming and devastating. It would be naively optimistic to speculate that even one person would survive. The Moabites and Ammonites had joined forces and a massive army was heading their way.
King Jehoshaphat knew he did not stand a chance. To beef-up his artillery or to conduct war rehearsals would be useless and meaningless. What do you do when you know the circumstances facing you are threateningly greater than you? Jehoshaphat didn’t always do the right thing during his reign but this time he did.
The King called all his people together. He basically told them to get serious about God; to set aside their normal routines; suspend even the activities of daily living and focus solely and wholeheartedly on God. With thousands of husbands and wives huddled together in one place, with their little children standing at their sides, they listened to the King pray. And did he ever pray! This was no routine or rote prayer.
Jehoshaphat rehearsed, recounted and reverently reasoned with God in thoughts something like this: “You are the God of our fathers and are You not above all of this down here on our little planet? You reign from Heaven and You own and manage the entire universe. What seems overwhelmingly big to us must really be so small to You. We have a relationship with You and historically You made promises to us and we know You have done mighty things in the past. This massive army, steadily marching towards us, intends to rip the inheritance You gave to us away from us. You are the only One who can deliver us.”