July 27, 2025 | Faith That Stands Still: Trusting God in the Battle

Faith That Stands Still: Trusting God in the Battle | Proverbs Part 22

2 Chronicles 20:1–30

After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Meanwhile all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.”

Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,

“Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them, in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the LORD. And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Proverbs 3:5–6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 10:25 When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.

In this sermon, George Waller unpacks the story of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 as a real-life example of Proverbs lived out during crisis. When Judah faced an overwhelming threat from a coalition of enemy nations, Jehoshaphat responded not with military strategy but by seeking God in prayer, calling for a fast, and admitting his fear and powerlessness. Waller emphasizes that true faith begins not with self-reliance but with honest humility—saying, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

Waller draws out several key principles: turn to God first, trust His leadership over your own understanding, and make space to hear His voice. He highlights that spiritual maturity is not about having answers but knowing where to look. When God answered through the prophet Jahaziel, the people were called not to fight but to stand firm and watch God bring the victory. Yet obedience still required action—they had to show up and take their positions.

A central theme is the power of worship. Before the battle was won, Judah worshiped. The choir led the army, praising God for His steadfast love. Waller explains that worship is not just a response to victory but a weapon that precedes it. Faith praises before it sees.

The sermon concludes with the reminder that God’s presence, promises, and power remain our refuge in crisis. Just as God fought for Judah, He still fights for His people today. When we begin with prayer, embrace weakness, listen to His Word, and stand still in trust, God brings peace and transformation in the midst of battle.

Transcript of Faith That Stands Still: Trusting God in the Battle | Proverbs Part 22

George Waller: Good morning. Let's start over with all the technology outta the way.

Living Out Proverbs in the Day-to-Day

George Waller: I am encouraged by the time listening from Brad and Jamie and what God's doing in Greece. Wow. Listen, that's an amazing thing that's happening and we've been in the, uh, series on Proverbs for actually since March. I dunno if you realize it's been that long, it's been since March and, uh.

All kinds of things, themes that we've gone over. I have found it challenging, a blessing. It's been a really good study. And I don't know, maybe two months ago, pastor Jed came and said, I'd like for you to speak some of the time in the summer. When could you do it? Would you do it? And I said, sure. And so, um, we picked today and as we were going through Proverbs, I got to thinking, you know, so often, we have this theme, we read these proverbs and um, we walk out and they say, well, that was a good study on power of words. That was a good study on wisdom. And I thought so often though, I think, what about Monday? How does Proverbs work for me on Monday?

Well, back in March, God had impressed upon me second Chronicles 20, which of all the odd places to be, I know in scripture I was there studying the life of Jehosaphat, who's the king of Judah.

And as I studied that, I had the thought, wow. As I go through this story, which is fascinating, I saw Proverbs all the way through it. So on the back of your bulletin or six proverbs that you're going to see through this story. Rather than just independent proverbs, you'll get to see they, the dots are connected and how he knew this wisdom and thus lived it out in a really critical time in his life. And, uh, as a result of that, I, uh, thought, okay, let's, let's look at that and let's see what God teaches us in this.

Have You Ever Been Engulfed by Stress?

George Waller: So let me ask you a question. Don't answer with your hands or anything. Just a question to you. Have you ever felt completely surrounded, engulfed by stress, fear, conflict, uncertainty in your life in a situation? I mean, just totally overwhelmed by it. That's precisely what was going on in this story in second Chronicles 20.

So we're gonna walk through about 28 verses of this story this morning quickly, um, really fast, 'cause we'd be here at one if I took my time. And, um, kind of extrapolate the wisdom from that and also, uh, a lesson about if I'm faced with a crisis in my life, what do I learn from this story about what God tells us about how do we navigate that? How do we work through that?

Who Were the Enemies of Judah?

George Waller: So beginning in verse one, I'm reading from the ESV after this, the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them, some of the Meunites came against Jehosaphat for battle and some men came and told Jehosaphat a great multitude is coming against you from Edem, from beyond the sea, and behold, they are a Hazazon-tamar that is Engedi.

Now, a little history allow these names and peoples, the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Meunites. I mean, who are they? Well, just real quickly, back in Abraham's day. He had a family member named Lot, you probably heard of him.

They get up to the mountain and they both have tons of livestock, so much that they can't all use the same area. And so they agree that they're gonna have to divide and go different ways. So Abraham being the older, wiser one says to Lot, you decide which one you want. Do you want the lower plane or the mountains area you take, and I'll go with the other. And Lot looking at the lush, lower plane, said I'm gonna take that. That's where Sodom and Gomorrah is, by the way. So Lot goes there. The story is Sodom and Gomorrah is destroyed by God. Lot's wife's turned a pillar of salt.

And although we don't have time today to go into it, suffice it to say that lot's two daughters end up having two sons. One Ben-Ammi, who is the Ammonites and the other daughter had, of all people, Moab. Who's the Moabites, and that's the nations that are here. In verse one mentioned are the grandsons of Lot, their people.

Now coming forward, the nation of Israel had judges. Samuel had sons. He was one that was leading in that. Samuel's sons were wretched. The people went to Israel, the leaders of 'em, and said, we do not like your sons. We want a king. And God gave them a king. And Saul, Saul ruled for 40 years, didn't end well for him. David took over, ruled for 40 years. David died. Solomon took over for him as his son. He ruled for 40 years.

When Solomon died, there was a little bit of a family disruption who was gonna take his place. The kingdoms divided. 10 tribes went north, called Israel, two tribes went south, called Judah. Jehosaphat is the fourth king of Judah, and he takes the throne a hundred years after David has died. So that's where we are when we come to this time and we step into this fascinating story.

Jehosaphat Turned to God in His Time of Fear

George Waller: And in verse three, I'll continue then. Jehosaphat was afraid. Afraid of the the Moabites, the Ammonites and the mites are coming. He's afraid and he sets his face to seek the Lord and proclaim a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. From all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehosaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court and said, oh Lord, God of our fathers are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations in your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, oh God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend?

And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying if disaster comes upon us, the sword judgment or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house and before you for your name is in this house, and cry out to you in our affliction. And you will hear and save.

And now behold, the men of Amon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy. Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. Oh God, will you not execute judgment on them for we are powerless against this great horde that's coming against us. We do not know what to do. But our eyes are on you. Meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, infants. Some translations will say their wives and their children.

Turn to God First

George Waller: Well, what do I take out of this first section? Well, as I read it, they turn to God first.

In Jehosaphat, in his prayer he says, it says, Jehosaphat set his face to seek the Lord at first proverb on the back 8:17 Those who seek me diligently will find me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.

When faced with overwhelming odds, and Jehosaphat was definitely faced with that, he didn't call his generals first. He didn't sit down and frantically make plans. He called the people to seek the Lord. He reminds God and his people of God's power in verse six, and his promises and his faithfulness in verse seven.

So let me ask you, some of you in here this morning are in crisis. Yeah. Some of you are in struggles facing stuff that you feel powerless to deal with. Sometimes it's as little, I'll say that figuratively as of sin at beset that you just can't overcome. I feel powerless in this, Lord. It's just disrupting my life. Sometimes it has to do with finances, physical, relational, but you're powerless and you don't know what to do.

Where do you turn first? Social media, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, watching videos, worry, escape, other people, or do you turn to prayer?

Jehosaphat had known the wisdom of his great-great-great-great grandfather, Solomon. And he lived it out in that he turned to prayer. I remember reading a missionary who one time said, you never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.

I remember, um, being in the hospital isolated, struggling. And realized I had two things. I had a nurse in a hazmat suit with a yellow mask that came in, took blood and left. And the next 24 hours I was essentially isolated and all I had was Jesus. And you know what? I found out Jesus is all I needed. In the crisis of not knowing if you're gonna live or die, not knowing what's gonna happen, you find out that you're not alone. Jesus is there every time.

Come to God with Honest Humility

George Waller: Second thing I learned from this is Jehosaphat came with honest humility. Verse 12, oh our God, will you not execute judgment on them for we are powerless. It is a great horde. Understand the context for him here is he has an army coming at him. We don't know the numbers. Massive. So massive that it was like not even conceivable that they didn't even have a fighting chance. And what he's facing is not just a battle and then they lose some men and the army goes away and has taken part of their land. What they're facing is obliteration. They're facing three groups that have come together coming to literally wipe Judah off the map. This is, we're all gonna die, we're all gonna lose everything crisis.

So when he says, we're powerless, this isn't some little overstatement. It is absolute fact. They have no way to defend themselves. They have no way to solve their problem. And he even admits, we don't know what to do. Our eyes look to you.

That's not a failure of faith. That's the beginning of it. To say, Lord, I find myself in a place that if you don't show up, I have no hope. I come to you because you are all I have.

So when fear strikes my question is you, your first move must be toward God. Is it? Your first move must be toward him, not to panic, not to people, not to making plans of what I'm gonna do when I don't have any way to fix it anyway. No, wisdom begins by seeking.

This is really demonstrating spiritual maturity because spiritual maturity doesn't need to have all the answers. Spiritual maturity means knowing where to look. Rarely do I have all the answers, but I should always know where to look.

It's like a child who's in distress running towards their father as hard as they can, running up and grabbing him, bow the leg, and holding on for dear life. That's the picture here, that we are invited by our father to run to him in the crisis.

Trust God's Leadership, Not Your Own Understanding

George Waller: There's a third thing, trusting God's leadership, not your own understanding. Do you see that here in verse 12? We don't know what to do.

Proverbs again comes to my mind. Proverbs 3:5 and 6, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not to what? Your own understanding. But in all your ways, acknowledge who? Him. And he will make straight your paths.

Trusting his leadership. You won't always have all the answers. Trust doesn't need to have all the facts. It just needs to focus on the Father.

It's kinda like, um, the GPS on your phones or in your car. I don't know how to navigate this, Lord. I don't know what to do next. And it's like when you get off route, and all of a sudden you hear recalculating, recalculating. And we're taking a new route. And that's exactly in walking to the Father happens. The Father says, I'll guide you, lean on me. I'll take you through what you can't see your way through. Trusting him.

Why Is Judah Standing with Their Infants?

George Waller: Verse 13. Meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, infants, their wives, and their children. And the spirit of the Lord came up upon Yahaziel, the son of Zachariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph in the midst of the assembly.

Now, when I read verse 13, I had a question, maybe you do. Meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children. And I thought, why doesn't it say, meanwhile, Judah stood before their Lord with their wives and their children? Why the why is it intentionally mention the infants?

Isn't that strange to you? Was to me. And what I believe about the word of God is there is no mistake. There's always purpose in everything. So I got to praying and thinking about that, and it occurred to me back in first Samuel Saul becomes king. God comes to Samuel and he tells Samuel, I want you to go to Saul and I want you to tell him this, and here's what he said to him in uh, first Samuel 15:3. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey.

I will assure you, Jehosaphat remembered that story. The people do. It wasn't unusual in that time when armies came in that the, the strategy was not just defeat the nation and beat the warriors, but kill the babies.

So you kill any opportunity for them to survive long term, obliterate them. And so in this moment, here comes this army, it's crisis. And Jehosaphat says, we come in our vulnerability. With our future, our infants, our children, our wives, ourselves, our warriors. We come completely vulnerable in our brokenness, our weakness, not knowing what to do. And we cry out. God, we look to you. We look to you.

And then this interesting verse 14, why in the world? All this lineage that we have here of Jahaziel going all the way back to Asaph, why is that there? Well, hold onto that verse. We're gonna circle back to that because it is a wonderful picture of what God does in the word of God. We'll come back to verse 14, I promise.

Listen to God's Voice

George Waller: Let's go on with 15. And he said, listen, this is Jahaziel speaking. He said, listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehosaphat thus says the Lord to you. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde. For the battle is not yours, but Gods tomorrow go down against them. Behold, ah, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. That means taught by God. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm. Hold your position and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf. Oh, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them and the Lord will be with you.

I read these verses 14 to 17, and I say, what do I learn? Listen for God's voice.

We have these, I don't know, hundreds of thousands of people, at least in Jerusalem, at the temple, standing in silence, waiting for God to speak in the spirit of God. He picks out this one man, this Levite, and speaks this message.

They are listening for God's voice. And God says in verse 15, do not be afraid or discouraged for the battle is not yours but God. God speaks through Jahaziel. God raises up an unknown Levite. With a prophetic word of comfort and clarity and confidence.

Are You Creating a Space to Hear God's Voice?

George Waller: So let me ask you a question in your life today, Brad kind of alluded to it earlier this morning, are you creating in your life space to hear God's voice?

He speaks through his word, his spirit, other people. I'm meeting with a small group of folks right now in the church here, and we're just trying to learn from one another what it means to sit in silence before God and learn what it means for God to speak to us. How do we become familiar with God's voice to us?

It's not audible necessarily, but we know that God has spoken. And what I find interesting is I'll talk to believers all the time and say, do, do you remember a time where you were absolutely certain God spoke to you? And, and often I'll have somebody say, well, you know, I remember one or two times in my life where I was just sure it was God.

And I would say. What we all hunger for is the notion that not one or two times, but regularly, I'm communing with my Father and am aware of his tender guidance. There in silence waiting.

And in our culture, our culture is incredibly noisy. I know people. Who go to sleep with their television on and when they wake up in the morning, the television is on in their bedroom and they go through the day noisy day all day long, only to come home television on looking at the internet, whatever, go to bed with a television on. There's never a time, literally in their lives, where it's still. One person wrote, very interesting thing, God's not silent in your life. You're deaf from your own screaming. He speaks through scriptures You won't read, sermons you won't hear, and conviction you medicate away, and then you wonder why God feels distant.

He's not hiding. You're just high on your own noise.

Think about that.

When, when Christ is come into our lives, if we have not made space to be with God in a way over his word, that it is familiar of how God moves and speaks in our lives, then it's very hard to hear him in the panic of crisis in our lives and stress. It's like the idea of the emergency exits on a are there on a plane. And they're there, but you need to know where to look before trouble starts. Because when trouble starts, it's very hard to hear the voice of God unless you all have already cultivated a habit of listening and understanding.

God's Battle is Our Obedience

George Waller: Here's the second thing I learned from this section. God's battle is our obedience. Look at verse 17 again. What he says there, um, you won't need to fight, stand firm and see. The interesting thing about this to me is they still had to show up and take their position. Stand firm. It wasn't like it's passive here. In our crisis, the Father will ask us to take a position to obey him in whatever it is. When the storm comes, we're in it with him.

Proverbs 10:25. When the tempest passes, the righteous is established forever. So in the storm, we're there, but we will survive. The battle isn't yours or mine. Faith isn't passive. It takes courage to stand still and trust that God will move.

It's just like Moses at the Red Sea. They come right up the Red Sea, the Pharaoh's Army's coming. It's a crisis, not unlike this one with Jehosaphat, and God says, stand still and watch what I will do.

God doesn't call us to fix everything. He doesn't, but he does call us to trust and obey.

Worship Comes Before Victory

George Waller: Verse 18, then Jehosaphat bowed his head and with his face to the ground and all the Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord and the Levites and the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord and God of Israel with a very loud voice. And they rose up early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa.

And when they went out, Jehosaphat stood and said, hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established. Believe his prophets and you will succeed. And when he had taken counsel with the people. He appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire as they went before the army and say, give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever.

And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Amman, Moab, and Mount Sier who had come against Judah so that they were routed.

What do I learn from this? Worship comes before victory. Worship is a weapon in warfare. Before the first arrow was shot, Judah worshiped. They bowed down in reference and they stood up and praised.

Worship isn't something we do after victory. I grew up most of my life actually thinking that the worship was something you did like praise after a big victory. No, it's often the means to victory.

Corrie Ten Boom, the story's told of her cabin where she was, and the concentration camp was filled with fleas, filled with them. It was painful, horrible, and yet they worshiped and praised God because the fleas kept the soldiers out so they could do Bible study. Wow. Praise shifted her focus from pain to purpose. Didn't remove the pain, by the way.

Faith Praises Before it Sees

George Waller: The other thing I learned from this, interestingly enough, the singers led the army. I don't know of any other battle I've ever read about where the singers go before the warriors. You don't see that in modern day for sure. The singers led the army. The army marched behind the choir. Faith praises before it sees.

Worship reorients our minds. And it reminds us of who God is and who we are. Praise puts us in our place, and God, in His, it reminds us we are not the provider, not the healer, not the savior. He is. He is over every worry, every diagnosis, every need, every name. So put the weight where it belongs on his glory, not on your shoulders.

The same shoulders that carried the cross are still strong enough to carry your cares. Do you believe that?

There's not a person sitting in here this morning who doesn't have cares. I'm confident of that 'cause we live in a hard world. Do you believe this morning he carries your cares?

Not Just Death, but Life is in the Power of the Tongue

George Waller: Verse 22, they began to sing and praise, and the Lord set ambushes. Proverbs 18:21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and we so often think about that as slander or gossip. But can I suggest to you, in this case, it was in praises.

Their life was found in their praises that came from their mouth.

Praise is your weapon. Praise shifts your focus, lifts your spirit and invites God into your situation, whatever it may be in this moment. Paul and Silas in Acts 16 are in jail, bound up, chains. They praise. Invites God into the situation. The ground shakes, the jail doors bust open. Their chains fall off. Praise is what did that, not soldiers. Praise.

God's Victory

George Waller: Verse 23. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir devoting themselves to destruction.

Wow. Do you see what happened there? We three guys get together. We start to go out, we get ready to raid, and two of us turn on the other and say, we're gonna slaughter you. We just sucked you into this to kill you first. This was, this was orchestrated by God.

And then, and when they had made an end to the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

Don't let that go by on you. What has just happened here is God made 'em start just killing each other until they all killed one another.

Amazing. Verse 24. And when Judah came to the watch tower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground. None had escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to to take their spoil, they found among them in great numbers, goods, clothing, precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil. It was so much.

And on the fourth day, they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, which means blessing, by the way, for they blessed the Lord. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day. Then they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehosaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies, and they came to Jerusalem with harps and lawyers and trumpets. To the house of the Lord and the fear of God came all in, all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehosaphat was quiet for his God, gave him rest all around.

What in the world do you take from that?

The Meaning of Jahaziel's Lineage

George Waller: Well, it's a great story. Great story. You remember I told you back in verse 14, the names of these men Jahaziel's lineage. Lemme just read the meaning of these men's names and tell me if you see the story. Jahaziel means beheld of God, okay? God sees Judah. Zachariah, the Lord remembers. God remembered his covenant with Abraham. He remembered that. Benaiah, Jehovah has built. Lord, we've, we have this temple in your presence is in it. Right here, right here.

Jeiel, God sweeps away. Here comes this hoard and God moves in and just whoosh. They're all dead on the ground. Mattaniah, the gift of Jehovah is his name, means. Here's this plunder all over the valley. And Asaph, the gatherer.

The entire story of this fascinating event in the history of Judah is told in the meaning of these men. In one verse.

And we say, well, why did you put it there, God? Because he was telling them, here's what's going to happen. Here's who I am. Here's what I do.

What Can We Learn from Jehoshaphat?

George Waller: What does this mean for us? What do we learn from this for today, for tomorrow, for what you're facing, a crisis challenges in your life? Start with prayer. Ask, am I turning to God first? That's what Judah did.

Embrace weakness. Say, Lord, I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. Whatever you're facing on the weakness you have, it's okay.

Listen and obey, reflect. Am I tuning in through scripture and worship and praise to God? Worship through the battle. Just try this. Begin your day with a worship song before checking your phone. Just try it.

Fifth, stand still, then step forward. Just commit. Lord, I'll show up where you call me even if I'm afraid.

Let your weakness become the starting point for a deeper faith. Let your worship become louder than your worry, and let your trust on God turn fear into peace and struggle into a testimony.

Let's pray. Lord, we confess our weakness. Sometimes we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Teach us to pray, to worship, to stand still in faith. We trust you to fight for us and to bring victory in our lives where we struggle. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.