Most of Christians can say it out loud that they believe in Him, but that’s not enough. If we want to get His blessing, if we want to experience God in our life, we need to rely on Him. Most of us got into the step one, which is, believe in God, but when trouble came we rely on other things first and didn’t put God as someone that we rely the most.
2 Chronicles 20:1-4
1 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites[a] came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. 2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom,[b] from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Moab and Ammon were ambushing Jehoshapat from all sides. He got nowhere to go. What did he do? He relied on God. He believes that He is the only way out. No one else. No where else to go. But it’s not a sense of desperation but a sense of reliance that this problem can only be solved if he face it together with God, and together they did.
2 Chronicles 20:4-12
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said:
“LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
10 “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
He ask for His help and not only him, but he ask all of the men of Judah to fast and together ask for God’s blessing, and to rely on Him. So what did happen after that?
2 Chronicles 20:22-26
22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 24 When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. 25 So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing[d] and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the LORD. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah[e] to this day.
They sang praises, they put out their prayers, they rely on God to help them win the war and you know what? They did win. All of their enemies are dead, not even one alive. They earn more than what they can bring to their houses. That is what we will get if we trust and rely on Him. We will WIN and we will get more things than what we ever wanted.
This is a summary from Handoyo Santoso service from Gereja Kemah Tabernakel – 19th February 2012
