A Prayer God Does Not Ignore

“«A Song of degrees» Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.” (Ps 130:1-2 AV)

A very appropriate opening to a song of degrees.  A song of degrees was a psalm sung as the penitent climbed or ascended the temple mount.  It is more than likely the child of God would sing this while ascending the mountain.  What follows these two verses is a confession of sin and desire for mercy.  This would be the normal course of action.  Upon reaching the tabernacle or temple, the Hebrew worshipper would offer a sacrifice for his sin.  He cries out for God’s mercy in reflection of his failure to live perfectly in the law.  We do not need to limit this cry to forgiveness only.  Any time we approach the throne of God, these words are appropriate.  It is the desperation in the voice that moves the heart of God.  Desperation founded in truth and sincerity is a prayer that God cannot, nor will not, ignore.

I have spent much time in the hospital.  As a chaplain, I have visited many.  To a different degree, they are all suffering.  But one can tell the moans or cries of someone who is hurting to the core compared with someone who is dealing with less pain or discomfort than they realize.  Don’t get me wrong.  Pain is not comfortable.  It is annoying at best.  It is debilitating at the highest level.  I have prayed with those who were in for a minor infection.  I have also ministered to those who were in such discomfort that they could not speak.  They looked at me with deep pain in their bodies without the strength to cry out for relief.  Those were always the hardest patients to see.  Maxed out on pain medication, there was nothing more that could be done.  Unless the body expired or healed itself, there simply was no relief.  This is the depth of which our psalmist speaks.  It is anguish so deep that divine relief is the only treatment.  Divine relief and only divine relief.

Those who have experienced this depth of anguish know exactly of what I speak.  It is an anguish so deep that all but God becomes non-existent.  Perhaps we are laying in bed and mourning the unfortunate events of life.  Maybe we are lonely.  Maybe we are suffering from untold depth of pain.  Perhaps there is no sunshine.  Every day seems like a dark day.  There is no incentive to get out of bed.  We are in the anguish of our souls to the degree that we cannot function.  Take a lesson for the writer above.  One task.  That is all that needs to be done.  Ascend the mountain of God and pour out your soul to Him.  Just one task.  Don’t worry about everything else until you have done that one thing.  The writer got relief because he was humble, desperate, and sincere.  He wanted to be right with God, and nothing else matters.  Maybe it is not sin that has you so low.  But whatever it is, rest assured, God does not ignore the cries of the desperate.  When the writer reached the top and offered his sacrifice, God answered.  He cried in the depth o his soul, obeyed the LORD, and trusted Him for the mercy he sought.

Yielding To God's Care

“With him [is] an arm of flesh; but with us [is] the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.” (2Ch 32:8 AV)

The ‘him’ is the general of the Assyrian army who came against Judah and Jerusalem.  The one speaking is Hezekiah, king of Judah.  Assyria had successfully invaded and conquered Israel to the north of Judah.  The assertion is that since Israel, who was known to the Gentile world as followers of Jehovah, failed to defend their nation, that Jehovah would not rescue Judah.  I can appreciate the fear gripping Judah.  Israel, which was far larger than Judah, could not defend against the Assyrians.  Now little Judah and Benjamin face the same foe.  If their much bigger brother could not resist, what are they to do?  Hezekiah shows great faith here.  He is able to do so because he does not limit himself to what is seen.  Rather, he places far more weight on what cannot be seen.  Hezekiah wisely makes a distinction between limited temporal might that does not exist very long with the eternal power of God.  In particular, the LORD is there to fight our battles.  That is what we wish to grasp this morning.

The faith that Hezekiah shows here is incredible.  He sees a human force that dwarfs him.  He is the one responsible for encouraging the people.  He is the one responsible for ordering a battle plan.  If the nation is lost, there will be much suffering.  When you look at what he said, you have to be impressed.  However, what else can he say?  He knows that Judah does not posses the ability to deliver itself.  He knows his nation exists at the mercy of stronger forces.  He knows that if he resists, they will burn his nation to the ground.  But they were going to do that, anyway.  The only choice he had was to trust the LORD.  What he said was a wonderful statement of faith in the person of God.  On the other hand, it was the only thing that could be said.  If the battle was to be won, it would be the LORD who would do it.  There was no other option.  In this lies the foundation of faith.  Faith may be the natural conclusion to our frailty.  We cannot do what we need to do.  We cannot deliver ourselves.  Therefore, faith is the only answer.  It is yielding to the no-brainer of faith in God that is the hardest part of this process.

The battles we face are, at times, insurmountable.  They are way beyond our natural ability to manage or overcome.  It is the yielding that we have the most trouble with.  It reminds me of times when I had to let go and stop trying to solve or overcome situations in my strength or wisdom.  One winter evening, my father and I were traveling during a storm.  He had a job interview, and my mother wanted one of us boys to go with him in case something happened.  And something did.  As we were traveling on snow-covered roads, my father lost control of the truck.  We were going a bit slower than normal, but not slow enough.  We left the road and started sliding sideways.  We were headed right for an enormous oak tree and I was closest to it.  If we hit that tree, there were severe injuries or death in my future.  What could I do?  What could my dad do?  The situation was almost completely out of our control.  All we could do was hang on and trust the LORD.  At the last second, by the hand of God, the truck lurched forward, and we missed the tree by inches.  These things have happened more than once.  Three times I have had a loaded gun pointed at me.  I’ve been in a car accident that could have been fatal, but no one was hurt.

Yielding is the beginning of trusting.  Yielding to the only choice available makes complete sense.  Yet we fight it.  Hezekiah really didn’t have any other option.  He trusted the LORD because the LORD was his only choice.  But he trusted nonetheless.

Joy From Common Definition

“So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel [there was] not the like in Jerusalem.” (2Ch 30:26 AV)

A little background first.  Since the time of David and Solomon, Judah has had ups and downs concerning the kings who led them.  Some did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD.  Some did not.  Those who did never completely undid the sins of their predecessors.  There may have been compliance for most things, but not all things.  As a result, the ministry of the Temple went neglected.  The Passover, Israel’s most sacred of all feast days, went unobserved.  When Hezekiah took the throne, he managed the most thorough revival to ever hit Judah.  He cleaned everything out, repaired the temple, sanctified the priests, and reestablished the Passover.  The above verse was the reaction of the people of Israel upon their first Passover celebration in many decades.  All the people rejoiced.  It was a unified and nation celebration marked by great joy and appreciation.  The question might arise as to the possibility for our nation.  Is it possible?  The key factor that Israel possessed was a unified cultural definition.  They may not have agreed on every point, but they agreed that Israel was a nation called out by God to live according to His laws and that any culture that would harm their national definition would not be accepted.  Cultural unity made this national celebration possible.

What we are seeing is a struggle for definition.  We are approaching our 250th anniversary.  Our nation, much to the chagrin of the secularists, did begin as a concept honoring Judeo-Christian ideals.  We did not begin as a theocrasy, as Israel did.  Rather, the common principles of the right to life, liberty, and property (it was changed to ‘happiness’) found in Jewish and Christian doctrines were the foundation of our national definition.  Our founding fathers understood that to ensure all three, moral laws had to be the structure upon which our nation was to be built.  In no fashion did they ever have in mind the modern-day idea of freedom.  Today’s definition of freedom is hedonism.  This will not work.  One person's pursuit of unfettered or unprincipled freedom is an infringement on another’s right to liberty.  Our nation is tearing itself apart because we cannot agree upon a common culture.  There is the Judeo-Christian culture that is still prevalent.  But equally strong is the anti-Judeo-Christian culture that opposes everything.  What they do not realize is that once they perceive the Judeo-Christian culture is no longer relevant, or that it is destroyed, they will turn on each other.  The unity they now share in trying to defeat God will become dis-unified in the end.

I appreciate all that our nation is doing to try to get back to our nation’s founding, but it cannot be legislated from the halls of an assembly or from the edicts of people in robes.  Laws and court decisions are a good place to start.  But they are not the answer.  Israel rejoiced because they had a law which was the definition of who they were and needed to be.  Their definition was unified because of a strong faith in their divinely appointed purpose.  The United States has much in common with God’s people.  We had a common calling that reached around the globe.  That common calling was based on Biblical principles and was generally beneficial to all of mankind.  Those who wished to exist in opposition to it did not feel particularly advantaged.  But all who chose to live in accord with God’s perfect law had a generally improved nation.  Israel rejoiced because they had a common culture.  As we celebrate 250 years as a nation, let us seek to solve this disunity.  Let us agree we are a divinely established nation for the benefit of individual liberty and the right of conscience.  Until we agree on a common culture, rejoice as one nation will be a challenge at best.

Strength Through Obedience

“So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God.” (2Ch 27:6 AV)

There is a direct correlation between obedience and strength.  There is a direct relationship between faith and strength.  Perhaps not physical, but there is strength.  Jotham, king of Judah, was not perfect.  He did the right thing, but not with a right heart.  He prepared his ways before the LORD but never prepared his heart to seek the LORD.  He knew his Bible and followed it to the letter.  Yet, Jotham never had a vibrant relationship with the LORD.  This is important to understand.  We must see the relationship of obedience and faith to strength.  Not that we can be as strong as we need to be if we obey and trust the LORD.  One can only imagine if Jotham added to his character the desire to walk with God in intimacy and with a humble heart.  Regardless, what we do see is that strength comes by obedience and faith.  Partially, yes.  It can be suggested that without faith and obedience, the saint is not mighty.  He is weak.  He lives in fear and in the consequences of disobedience.

Disobedience and fear take a great toll.  We can all testify to the truth of that statement.  There are things in our past that still come back to bite us now and again.  There are fears of consequences yet to mature.  They probably never will.  But the fear is still there.  There are consequences for choices made in the past that still cost today.  Some excess baggage we carry with us.  Others are more durable in nature.  Perhaps a financial impact still haunts us.  Or maybe we have physical scars from poor choices in the past.  Whatever the consequences are, we deal with them for the rest of our lives.  There is the fear of the unknown.  We are not afraid of eternity.  We know all pain will cease there.  It is the journey along the way that concerns us.  We live in an uncertain world.  At any moment, the bottom could drop out.  Survival becomes the only motive each day.  We live in fear, anxiety, regret, etc. because we did not prepare ourselves to follow the LORD.  We are weak because the LORD is not our Rock.  We are frail because God is not our strength.  This is our human experience.

The only way to regain strength is to recommit to obedience and trust.  In these two comes the might of the LORD!  Jotham was mighty because he decided the law of God was worthy to be followed and the call of God on him and Judah was worthy to be pursued.  He may not have been intimately involved with the person of God, but the ways of God got him through much.  Again, this is not to give a shortcut to the might of God.  Being intimate with God can only increase the might one can have through obedience and faith.  But we have to start somewhere.  Obedience and intimacy are to be pursued equally.  We cannot have one without the other.  Our modern idea of worship is intimacy without obedience.  Legalism is the opposite.  Obedience without intimacy.  This is why our churches are not effective.  There must be both.  The same is true with the individual.  We will face troubles and trials too hard for any human to endure.  Just like it would have been foolish for Jotham to wage war against the Ammonites while living in disobedience with the LORD, it is equally foolish for us to do the same.  Do we want strength and might to face our troubles?  Then it starts with obedience and faith.

Motivation

“And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened [it] not…And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.” (2Ch 24:5, 8 AV)

This young man was remarkable.  His mother killed all his siblings, and he alone was left.  At seven years old, he ascended to the throne.  He executed his own mother.  He cleansed Judah of all idol worship.  Now, he has set in motion the repairing of the temple after his mother had destroyed it.  He read the law and discovered an offering once called for by Moses for the construction of the tabernacle.  This young man calls for the same to repair the temple.  He instructs the Levites to oversee and collect this mandatory offering, and they dragged their feet.  They hastened not.  Why, we don’t know.  But the job was not done.  So, the king rebukes them and comes up with the solution to collect the offerings.  He bores a hole in a box laid outside the temple and the money comes it.  Sometimes, a leader has to light a fire under the feet of those who are supposed to be doing the work.  This is annoying, but necessary.

We need motivation.  That is our nature.  All one has to do is pay a bit of attention to all the ads for weight-loss products.  There are drugs.  There are gym memberships.  There are weight-loss groups.  And there are services available.  Then there are the motivators for better fitness.  Smartwatches measure your heart rate, oxygen levels, and steps.  They act as a fitness tracker to motivate the user to better habits.  Of course, who can forget the original fitness tracker, the Fitbit?  We have alarms and reminders for all sorts of things.  When I was on more medication than I am now, I had a pill reminder.  When I had my shoulder surgery, the PT gave me homework.  She gave me a schedule of exercises with reps and a checklist.  Just this morning, I thought the machines were taking over.  The coffee pot was chiming, and the microwave beeped at the same time.  If the door of the refrigerator were open, it would have sounded off, too.  My car has all sorts of assistants just waiting to tell me what to do.  I have collision warnings, turn signal warnings, proximity sensors, and a backup camera.  It is now yelling at me to have the oil changed in exactly three days, or it will get very angry!  We need motivation!

The fault of failing to quickly take an offering by the command of the king was something to confess and get right.  I wonder if they felt bad that the king had to do something they were tasked to do.  I wonder if a seven-year-old boy doing the work of grown men was lost on them.  It should have been an embarrassment.  There is no shame in admitting that we need motivation.  Our human nature is lazy and forgetful.  There is no shame is asking the LORD to give us something that will keep us focused and going.  In fact, it is very prudent.  We may think that relying on outward motivators is admitting we are weak.  But we are.  Our minds, bodies, and souls can only accomplish so much on their own.  They must be motivated to go beyond what is naturally possible.  The Levites needed a lad to light a fire under their feet.  Maybe we need a reminder.  Maybe we need a good friend to read us the riot act.  Maybe we need the Holy Spirit to convict and give guidance.  We need something or someone because we are frail, weak, and forgetful.

Being Clueless Could Be A Good Thing

“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.” (2Ch 20:12 AV)

Jehoshaphat is an eternal optimist.  He thinks only positive thoughts.  He tried to assist Ahab on several occasions even though the LORD was against it.  This above passage regards the second time Jehoshaphat attempted to assist Ahab and Jezebel.  Through His prophet, God rebuked Jehoshaphat.  The king was not to assist the God-haters anymore.  To ensure that didn’t happen, God sent Gentile enemies against Judah to keep this good-hearted king occupied with his own problems.  The extent of the challenge was so overwhelming that the Bible tells us the king didn’t know what to do.  He speaks this prayer in the presence of his nation.  He lays at the feet of the LORD the situation and asks for guidance from Him.  This is where Jehoshaphat should have been regarding helping Ahab.  It took an overwhelming situation to drive the king to his knees. Being helpless and clueless can be a good thing.  God becomes very real in times like these.

Having been raised in Scouting, there are certain skills one learns.  Some of those skills concern wilderness survival.  In fact, there is a merit badge one could earn with that name: Wilderness Survival.  Earning this badge required that we learn of different edible and naturally occurring vegetation.  We learned how to make a dandelion salad and sumac tea.  The badge required that we learn how to make shelters and build fires in both good and inclement weather.  We had to learn how to triage and treat emergency medical situations.  Reading a compass was an absolute must.  But one area that was most important was being lost without the immediate means to find one’s way.  The first thing the instructors teach the students is to stop.  Rather than rush off in a panic where injury or further confusion can ensue, the stranded soul is to stop.  He or she is to sit and relax.  Assessment is to be made.  Can I realistically get out before nightfall?  If not, at what time am I going to stop trying and prepare for a night in the woods?  What naturally occurring resources are there to help me find my way out?  Where is the sun?  How is it moving?  Do I need to erect a stationary sundial to discern time of day and direction of movement?  Not knowing what to do causes us to stop and evaluate.  It causes us to inventory only that which can help.  It does not prioritize cause, but rather, focuses on solutions.

Jehoshaphat didn’t know what to do.  This was new for him.  When he sided with Ahab, he had a plan.  When he assisted those whom he was supposed to avoid, there were not too many questions.  Now, the LORD sent him circumstances where he would not survive if he ignored the LORD.  Not knowing what to do is scary.  No doubt!  Not knowing which direction to go home is not comfortable.  I’ve been there once or twice.  Having to ponder the possibilities is frightful.  Will I make it through ok?  Will I make it out alive?  What pain or danger lies ahead?  Will I make it worse or better?  The questions posed while ignorant of solutions can border on the paranoid.  But not knowing what to do is exactly where we need to be sometimes.  When we do not know what to do, we are forced into doing something.  That ‘something’ which we should do first is confess our sin of self-reliance to a God who can do all things.  It was rude not to consult Him in the first place.  Next, we are to relax and involve God in our situation.  It is astounding the change of demeanor that follows this prayer.  Before the victory is even given, Judah is going onto the battlefield with an air of celebration.  They are singing and praising God before God delivers.  The funny thing about being lost.  Once the hiker realizes the plan is working and will eventually deliver him, his spirit revives as he works it out.  Jehoshaphat didn’t have the complete answer.  But he did have the God who had the complete answer.

Character Beats Might

“And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that [were] round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.” (2Ch 17:10 AV)

One would think that Jehoshaphat was a man of war.  If all they had to go on was the above verse, they would assume Jehoshaphat was a mighty man who commanded a great and fierce army.  Even if he did, that was not the cause of fear.  There is no record of Jehoshaphat waging any war.  To this point, there is no indication he had gained a great victory of any temporal nature.  Rather, what Jehoshaphat did was to revive Judah and Benjamin back to their one true God.  His father had begun the process.  Jehoshaphat finished it.  A man of character will be feared more than an man of mere might.  A man of mere might with no character can be defeated.  His wickedness will do half the work.  But a man of consistent and resolute character is not easily broken.  This is what the nations around Judah understood.  They knew that Jehovah fought for the people of God.  Especially when they walked with Him.  There was no messing with a king who walked with his God.

There are no guarantees that a world at odds with God would respect and fear a saint who is completely right with God.  In fact, Peter tells us that if we live godly, then persecution is to be expected.  Persecution is the payment for holy living.  Few are willing to pay that price.  The observation above must be understood in the context of national governments and not individual applications.  In other words, we cannot expect the world to leave us alone if we live holy and separated.  Jehoshaphat was a king of a godly nation.  They feared him because he has an army to back him up.  He has God who would defend them to all extents.  So, we cannot expect the same results.  However, there is one area in which this perfectly applies.  “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (Jas 4:7 AV) The devil has only as much power over us as we allow him to have.  No more.  No less.  Peter does not say that God will cause him to flee.  The power resides with us.  Resist is an instruction to us.  Not to the LORD.

As of late, I have been reminded how true this can be.  The devil is out to discourage and to destroy.  He, or his minions, are extremely active in the lives of the saints.  They want us defeated.  They want us to give up.  They want us to tarnish the good name of our great God in the presence of those who do not know Jehovah as yet.  They want God’s influence neutralized so that none can testify to His greatness.  Whether they are successful or not depends on the saints.  If the saints will walk with God in character and faith, the forces of hell have no option but the flee.  There is no foothold the forces of evil have in the heart that loves God.  None.  It is time we resist!  It is time we show the evil forces of Lucifer that we may not be perfect as yet, but we are forgiven.  We may have made our mistakes and fallen from time to time, but none of that can separate us from the love of God.  We are victors through the blood of Christ, and because we are, we can live for His glory.  We won’t make every righteous decision we should make.  Until we die, sin will always be a battle.  But because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and are sealed unto the day of redemption, Satan has no claim!  None!  No power!  He is to fear the testimony of God that resides within us.  Resist!