When Facing Challenges

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, August 18th. How do you react when you meet an impossible looking obstacle? Today, you'll learn how believers can respond when facing challenges. One of those passages in the Old Testament that is so rich and full of truth that is so applicable to us every time you and I face some challenge in life is 2 Chronicles chapter 20.

So I want you to turn there for a moment. I'll give you a little bit of background, then I simply want to bring out a few things that I think are so very important. What I want us to think in terms of here is those things that you and I should remember when we face challenges in life. And all of us are going to face different kinds.

It may be a challenge of financial, it may be in your vocation, it may be in your family, whatever it might be, but we all face those challenges. And so oftentimes, the first thing we do is pray, and that's always a good way to start. But there is something about having a foundation upon which to build that prayer.

What I want to do is very simple. I want to take this passage and say, when you and I face challenges in life, here's some very specific, definite, simple, but profound, life-changing, saving responses that will make a difference in what happens. And so I want us to look at this passage, and we won't read the 20th chapter, but all I'm going to give you here is out of this 20th chapter. Now, all of a sudden, three of his enemies join together to attack him, and I simply want to say, first of all here, that when you and I face any problem or any challenge in life, this is the first thing we're to remember. God is interested in what I'm facing.

And oftentimes, we think, well, you know, we act like, well, he's not interested. God is interested in every single challenge you and I face in life. So look at this, if you will, beginning in the second verse. Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram, and behold, they are in Hazazan-tamar, that is, in Gedi. And Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord and proclaimed affairs throughout all Judah. Now, God is interested in everything you and I face, and Jehoshaphat knew that because that was his response. First of all, we said, and I want you to remember this, that God is interested in every challenge we face. The second thing I want you to notice here, and if you will look in this sixth verse, and he said in his prayer, O Lord, the God of our fathers, art thou not God in the heavens, and art thou not ruler over the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in thy hands, so that no one can stand against thee. Second thing I want you to remember, God is greater than our challenge.

Does it make any difference what it is? God is greater than our challenge. And so Jehoshaphat, knowing God as he did, the Scripture says the first thing he did, he says he was afraid and he turned his attention to seek the Lord and proclaimed affairs throughout all Judah. He knew that the wisest thing he could do was to turn to God.

Why? Because he knew, first of all, that God was interested in everything that interested him or challenged him. Secondly, that his God was greater than any problem he faced.

It didn't make any difference if there were three enemies or thirty enemies, the same was true. That God was interested and God knew and that God could indeed help him in that situation no matter what it was. The third thing I want you to notice here is to seek the Lord in prayer. Listen to what he says in verse three. He was afraid, turned his attention to seek the Lord and proclaimed affairs throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord. They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. Now I want you to notice his prayer. O Lord, the God of our fathers, art thou not God in the heavens? And art thou not ruler over the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in thy hand so that no one can stand against thee.

So what does he do? He is affirming and proclaiming before his people that no matter what the problem may be, what the challenge is, no matter how great their enemies are, in his prayer he was reminding them of what? That God is the God of heaven, God is the Lord over all the nations and that all power is his and no one can stand before him. Listen, the reason for this man's great wisdom was he knew exactly what to do when he faced something that he felt absolutely overwhelmed by. And he knew that the smartest, wisest thing to do is to lie before God in prayer and to call the people to God in prayer and to bring before Almighty God his petition. It is very important, that is, if you want your prayers to have some thrust to them, if you want to sense a greater faith in your prayer, if you want to see God do more than you have been seeing him do, you begin to mix the attributes of God, oh God of heaven, great God of heaven, omniscient, omnipresent, all the attributes of God. As you begin to mix those with your need, what's going to happen is your prayers are going to have punch to them. You're going to get up off your knees with a sense of assurance and confidence.

Why? Because the God of the heavens, the God is greater than your problem and the God who is interested in whatever you're interested in, whether it is your exam or whether it is your finances, whether it is your family, whether it is some relationship, whatever it is, God is interested, more powerful, greater than that, and he is willing to get involved. And the way to get him involved is to get on your face before God and cry out to him as he said, Lord, he said, we are weak, we are powerless, we don't know what to do, but he says, here's the key, our eyes are fixed on you. Now, one of the very important, wise things that Jehoshaphat did, which oftentimes we forget, and that is he involved other people in his prayer. Look at this, if you will. He says in verse three, Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord and proclaim the fast throughout all Judah.

You know what he said? He said, listen, my prayer isn't enough. I want all of you engaged in this prayer. So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord.

They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat humbled himself and said to the people, I can't do it. He didn't feel adequate and sufficient within himself. It is no sign of weakness to cry out to someone else to pray for you. It is a sign of wisdom to do it, because that's how God's made the body, that you and I would relate to each other, depend upon each other. And so whatever challenge there is you're facing in life, there's something about involving other people in your prayer. Listen, to get other people to praying for you, there is strength in that, there is power in that, there is encouragement in that, there's boldness in that. Something begins to happen to you when you hear other people calling your name and crying out to God in your behalf.

And Jehoshaphat was a very wise ruler, because that is exactly what he did. Now, one thing I want you to remember, when you and I realize that God is interested in what we're interested in, when He's more powerful than whatever we're facing, we seek His face, we get other people involved, is one thing you can rest for sure. God will give you a solution to whatever you're dealing with.

That's the way He operates. He will give you a solution to whatever you're dealing with. Now listen to this, look in verse fourteen. Here they are standing out there praying, men, women, children, babies, children, infants. The Scripture says in verse fourteen, In the midst of the assembly, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehoshaphat, the son of Zechariah, and so forth. And verse fifteen, and he said, Listen, all Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, Thus says the Lord to you, Do not fear or be dismayed, because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. Now listen, Jehoshaphat, God didn't say it to him.

God said it to a person, and he wanted Jehoshaphat to hear it from one of his prophets. Tomorrow, go down against them, behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you'll find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Israel. But he says to the Lord, You need not fight in this battle. Station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.

Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out to face them, for the Lord is with you. God will always give you and me a solution to what we face no matter what. Now we have to be attuned to listen to God. Secondly, don't shut out someone through whom God may give you that solution. Something he may say through someone else, or it may be in the Word of God, or it may be on your knees, talking to the Father, and God speak to you very clearly. God gives solutions to challenges and problems if we're willing to listen to Him.

And I want to say again, there's something about the blend and the mix of who He is. You say, Well, I don't know that I remember that. That's why you've got to get in the Word and find out who God is and what He's like. And if you don't know anything else to do, I'll give you a suggestion. You take your Bible and go to the index, if you have one of those in your Bible or concordance, an index. And wherever it says God, more than likely it'll say attributes. And it'll talk about the faithfulness of God, the mercy of God, the justice of God, the goodness of God, the love of God, the wisdom of God, the knowledge of God, the presence of God, the power of God, of God, of God, of God, of God.

If you don't know anything else to do, just make you a list of those. Then when you're praying about something, just pull out that list. And as you pray, just remind Him of His mercy and talk to Him about His grace and recall to Him of His mighty power. And what will happen is your praying will take on a whole new perspective. Because it's going to cease to be self-centered and it's going to be God-centered. And the more you understand who He is, the more you understand you have omnipotence working in your behalf.

And you can't beat that. When you have omnipotence working in your behalf, you have the power of God coming into your little itsy bitsy situation, but which is so very, very important to you. And so this is exactly what happened now. Usually, you should remember this, usually God's solution will require something of us. Just calling out to Him and God's not going to say, okay, I'll take care of it.

Ninety-nine percent of the time the solution requires something of us. And so what happened? The prophet said to them, now listen, tomorrow, he said, here's where they're going to be.

You don't need to fight. But he said, station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord. Oftentimes, what God requires of us in this situation is not what we expect.

And you would have expected them to say, array yourself for the battle. He said, no, you just go out there and stand and watch God do something on your behalf. Now, they had a part and God had a part. Their part was what? Their part ultimately was to trust God.

No fighting. Whatever God requires of us oftentimes will be simple. But one thing for certain, it always requires what? Faith. Faith.

Because that is exactly what God was endeavoring to teach them here. Now, listen, when He teaches us to trust Him, He is revealing something about Himself. What was He about to reveal about Himself? His power.

What else? His loving kindness toward them. His protection of them. That is, as they stood and watched God work, God was going to send them some valuable lessons. You know what they were going to do?

Those kids were going to grow up. Remember those infants and those little boys standing there and those little girls growing up and saying, let me tell you what happened when Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. There was a time when we were being surrounded by these enemies.

They were coming from every direction. And you know what God told him? God told him to tell us to go out there and just stand. And we just stood. You know what God did? He wiped out everything on them.

Don't you know that those kids love to tell their little brothers and sisters about that? Let me tell you what God did. So God works on our behalf as a result of our faith to do what? To increase our faith.

Because the more faith we have, the more valuable we are to the workings of God. But remember this. He's not going to require us to do anything he doesn't enable us to do.

Listen. He had to give them the courage to walk out there and stand and not prepare to fight. But suppose they just said, we're not going out there and just act like that. We're not going out there unarmed.

We're not going to do that. Besides, listen to what Jehoshaphat told them. He said to them, if you'll notice in verse 20, They arose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. When they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established.

Put your trust in his prophets and succeed. God had spoken clearly to him. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang the choir to the Lord and those who praised him in holy attire.

And as they went out before the army and they say, he said, give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness is everlasting. When they began singing and praising the Lord, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against them. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them completely. And when they finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude and all they could find was dead corpses everywhere. You know how we began? God's interested in whatever concerns you and me. He's bigger than our problem, no matter what it is. Get on your face before God and cry out to him.

Get somebody else to pray with you. God has a solution for whatever we have to deal with. He will require of us something. We have to do exactly what he says. And if we do what he says, he is going to deal with the issue no matter what it is.

It's just that simple. He said, does God always do that? He certainly does. Does he always do it exactly the next day?

No. And that's what trips us up. So what are we to do? He said to them, tomorrow, you go out tomorrow and stand and watch the salvation of God. To Moses, he said, you tell the people to stand and watch the salvation of God. Now, in both of these incidences, they stood and they watched and it happened quickly. Sometimes God may tell you and me to stand and stand and stand and stand.

But one thing for certain. God has never forgotten one of his servants or his children to whom he's ever said stand. God knows where you're standing, how long you're standing, how long you can stand and what he's going to do when he's finished with your standing. And so sometimes we want to stand a while and say, you know, I've stood long enough. I'm either going to run or I'm going to fight, but I've stood long enough. And what we have to remember is this.

God in his wisdom knows what he wants to accomplish. If he can accomplish it standing one day, one day is enough. If it takes a week, a week is enough.

If it's a month, that's enough. If it's two years, five years, God knows how long he wants us to stand because what God is up to is accomplishing something that will bring glory and honor to him. The next day they walked out and looked on the land ahead of them. And what happened? All they could see was corpses. He turned the enemy against each other. They didn't have to fight. They were to stand.

And look what happened. Scripture says in verse twenty five, they went out and they found all of the goods and the garments and the valuable things and more than they could carry away. And they were three days taken to spoil because there was so much. Then on the fourth day, they assembled the Valley of Barakah. For there they blessed the Lord.

Therefore, they have named the place the Valley of Barakah until today. And every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets to the house of the Lord. And the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides. What do you think God's ultimate purpose was besides building up faith? God, listen to this, God was sending a message all across the land that Jehovah, the one true God of Israel, is God. And he has demonstrated his power in the most awesome fashion by destroying three full armies. And the people of Judah did not lose one single man because not one single man fired one arrow, threw one jab and pulled one sword. It was all the work of God.

You know what could have messed up the whole thing? They just said, well, we believe what the prophet said and we are going to stand, but we're going to stand armed and at the right time, we're going to attack. They didn't even have to attack. You know what that says? We don't have to fight our enemies. We can stand and watch God deal with any, every single situation because he's interested.

He's bigger than it. All he wants us to do is to get our focus on him in prayer, getting other people to pray with us. He will give us a solution. And that solution is going to be exactly the kind of solution that will bring us what we need and great glory to him. And when the battle's over, we sing, we shall wear the crown.

When the battle was over, they had the loot more than they could take home, which is God's way of saying, you trust me and I am going to bless you no matter what. Thank you for listening to When Facing Challenges. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.