Friday, September 17, 2010

LORD, MY EYES ARE UPON YOU!

In the midst of going through whatever you are already coping with in this life of afflictions, frustrations, hopes deferred, and so on....sometimes there are curve balls that are just thrown at you out of no where it seems. These curve balls come suddenly and without warning. Yet, you know how you should handle them, with prayer and trust in the Almighty but the human nature brings about fear and dread! This is what happened with King Jehoshaphat in II Chronicles chapter 20. This was a King who exercised Godly integrity but also had some failures up to this point. (read about his involvement with wicked King Ahab in I Kings chapter 22 and also II Chronicles chapters 17-19) Even after being corrected by a Prophet of God, King Jehoshaphat received the correction and proceeded to do what was right in the eyesight of God. In other words, he dealt wih his own failures and the problems and issues of the kingdom in the right way. Then all of a sudden, in chapter 20 of II Chronicles, Jehoshaphat gets word that not only one, not two, but three armies were coming against him in battle. Isn't that just like life? What kind of spiritual battles are coming against you? There are times when we can just see a storm or terrible battle coming forth and we are put in a position of fear and anxiety. Verse 3 goes on to confirm that Jehoshaphat "feared" but he also set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.



Now we know the end of the story, how he prayed an inspiring prayer and God sent another prophetic word to give him instructions and comfort. During our times of "not knowing what to do" and when fear takes over our hearts and minds, we must seek God, we must pray and fast in order to just make it through. During our times of prayer and fasting, we must acknowledge God in all our ways and allow Him to direct every path. We must even remind God of past promises and look back over past victories and hide ourselves in His awesome presence as to take shelter from the fierce storms of life.



Surrender your fears and all your cares today by setting yourself to seek God. Fast and pray and do not look at the battle that is against you. Look at the hand of God. Praise Him in your silent moments and corporately. His hand will move on your behalf. You will then be able to say the same thing that Jehoshaphat said to God in verse 12, he stated that he knew that he and his people were no match for the great battle ahead and that he really did not know what to do, but he said something profound next. The last statement of his prayer was this: "my eyes are upon thee".

No comments:

Post a Comment