Allow God To Set The Situation | 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 | 7-12-26 | Sunday AM

**Pastor Andrew Montoro** (0:00)
Let's turn in our Bibles, 2 Chronicles chapter 20 2 Chronicles chapter 20
And if you were in our daily Bible reading, we just read through this passage a few days ago, a couple days back.
And just a passage that the Lord has spoken to me through in the past and has been a blessing to me. And I hope just a very simple thought, but I hope to encourage us in the Word of God this morning, encourage us in how God works in our lives. And so 2 Chronicles chapter number 20, we're jumping right in to the life of Jehoshaphat. Say that one five times. All right, to Jehoshaphat, one of the kings of Judah, he was a godly king. We'll kind of set some of the context very quickly, but this is a story, this is an event, real event, that took place in the life of one of the kings of Judah as he was there serving God, and yet difficulties arose. The Bible says it came to pass. After this also, the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them, other besides the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. And then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria. And behold, they are in Hazegontemur, which is En Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaim a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord.
Even out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heaven heathen? And in thy hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
Art not thou our God, which did drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gave it to the seat of Abraham, thy friend, forever? And they dwell therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If when evil cometh upon us, as a sort of judgment or pestilence or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, that thou wilt hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they reward us to come, and cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them, for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do. But our eyes are upon thee, and all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children. Then upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Beniniah, the son of Jeeliel, the son of Mataniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. And he said, Harken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, thus saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed by the reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go ye down against them, behold, they come up by the cliff Ziz, and ye shall find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, of the children of the Cothites, and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. And they rose up early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, and so shall ye be established. Believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, that they should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. And the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another. And when Judah came towards the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. And they were three days in gathering of the spoil. It was so much. And on the fourth day, they assembled in the Valley of Baraka, for there they blessed the Lord. Therefore, the name of the place was called the Valley of Baraka unto this day. Then they returned everyone to Judah and Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat and the forefront of them to go again to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. That is quite a story. As God said, you don't need to fight in this battle. And so, I really want to highlight two words that kind of jumped out at me even a number of years ago. I've always loved this passage. How the Lord, Jehoshaphat, set himself to seek the Lord. Then it says, the Lord set ambushments against and set the battle in array. And so, here's our title this morning. Allow God to set the situation. Allow God to set the situation. We must set ourselves to seek God and allow God to set the situation. That's what the author is talking about, the Biblical author here. They set themselves to seek God and then God set the situation just as he promised he would. And so, just want to keep it simple but helpful this morning from the Word of God. And so, let's pray. Ask the Lord's help to speak to us this morning. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for your Word. I thank you, Lord, for who you are, that you have not changed, Lord, that you still hear our prayers. You still work in the lives of your children. I pray, Lord, that you would bless. I pray that you would help us this morning to understand your Word, to understand how to deal with the things of life that come upon us. I pray that you would bless this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.