June 14
2 Kings 1:1-18, 3:1-27; 1 Kings 22:41-49; 2 Chronicles 20:31-37; 1 Kings 22:50; 2 Chronicles 21:1-4; 2 Kings 8:16-22; 2 Chronicles 21:5-7
When it comes to matters of faith and our desire to praise God, does it emanate from what God does for us, or is it a result of whom God is? Just consider this for a moment. If our faith and praise result only from what we get, then how are we different from the rest of the world. Everyone is happy when their diseases are cured, when their jobs are going well, when their children are excelling. But faith comes when we place our trust in God before the response occurs, when sometimes the results are not what we expected or wanted. Praise should come forth to God whether or not things turn out the way we want. He is God, not a genie. Everyone wants to shout out praise on the mountaintops, but will we also shout it out in the valleys. As you go through Scripture, and read of those pillars of faith, you will notice that they were shouting forth God's praise even before the battle was fought or the problem was resolved. These were given to us as examples.
King Jehoshaphat was faced with an insurmountable army. He laid it all out before God. He placed his full trust in God before the battle even begun, as we read in 2 Chronicles 20:6-7, "O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?" God then responds by giving words through a prophet, but still a single arrow has yet to be fired, when we read in 20:20-21, "So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.” Praise was flowing before they even knew the results of the battle.
Consider the words of King David in Psalm 21:7, "For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved." Did King David and King Jehoshaphat always do the right thing? No! Did they always get the results they wanted? No! But both men will go down as men of faith as we see them praising God for who He is, not based on the results that they witnessed. May we become people who seek God and praise Him before our prayers are answered and indeterminate of how God chooses to answer them. God does indeed know better than we do what it is that we need.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: