{"id":8258,"date":"2024-10-22T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=8258"},"modified":"2024-10-15T12:23:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T18:23:53","slug":"give-thanks-to-god-his-love-never-quits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=8258","title":{"rendered":"Give Thanks to God, His Love Never Quits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jehoshaphat gets four chapters of coverage in 2 Chronicles. Yesterday<\/a>, we looked at chapters 17 and 19 (chapter 18 is a repeat of 1 Kings 22<\/a>). Except for the alliance with Ahab, Jehoshaphat is doing a good job, but chapter 20 opens with a bang:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some time later the Moabites and Ammonites, accompanied by Meunites, joined forces to make war on Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat received this intelligence report: \u201cA huge force is on its way from beyond the Dead Sea to fight you. (2 Chronicles 20.1 – 2, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do? Pray, of course!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaken, Jehoshaphat prayed. He went to GOD for help and ordered a nationwide fast. The country of Judah united in seeking GOD\u2019s help\u2014they came from all the cities of Judah to pray to GOD. (2 Chronicles 20.3, 4, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jehoshaphat prayed the promise of God’s power and protection (See 2 Chronicles 20.3 – 13<\/a>), and God moved Jahaziel to confirm the promise with specific directions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Jahaziel was moved by the Spirit of GOD to speak from the midst of the congregation…He said, \u201cAttention everyone\u2014all of you from out of town, all you from Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat\u2014GOD\u2019s word: Don\u2019t be afraid; don\u2019t pay any mind to this vandal horde. This is God\u2019s war, not yours. Tomorrow you\u2019ll go after them…You won\u2019t have to lift a hand in this battle; just stand firm, Judah and Jerusalem, and watch GOD\u2019s saving work for you take shape. Don\u2019t be afraid, don\u2019t waver. March out boldly tomorrow\u2014GOD is with you.\u201d (2 Chronicles 20.14 – 17, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You don’t have to lift a hand…” Wow. But you do have to march out boldly. So they did. Early the next morning, and they opened the day with singing praise to God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were up early in the morning, ready to march into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they were leaving, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, \u201cListen Judah and Jerusalem! Listen to what I have to say! Believe firmly in GOD, your God, and your lives will be firm! Believe in your prophets and you\u2019ll come out on top!\u201d …Jehoshaphat appointed a choir for GOD; dressed in holy robes, they were to march ahead of the troops, singing, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give thanks to GOD, His love never quits. (2 Chronicles 20.20, 21, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as they started shouting and praising, GOD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir as they were attacking Judah, and they all ended up dead. The Ammonites and Moabites mistakenly attacked those from Mount Seir and massacred them. Then, further confused, they went at each other, and all ended up killed. As Judah came up over the rise, looking into the wilderness for the horde of barbarians, they looked on a killing field of dead bodies\u2014not a living soul among them. (2 Chronicles 20.22 – 24, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the day, Don Francisco set a number of Bible stories to music, and thanks to YouTube, they’re accessible. What a country! Don does a very nice job with 2 Chronicles 20 in this song<\/a>. Please click the link: it’s worth the four minutes. For the song, Don uses an adapted version of the King James translation: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praise ye the LORD; his mercy endureth for ever and ever. (2 Chronicles 20.21, KJV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a bad lesson, when in trouble, praise the Lord!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jehoshaphat then led all the men of Judah and Jerusalem back to Jerusalem\u2014an exuberant parade. GOD had given them joyful relief from their enemies! They entered Jerusalem and came to The Temple of GOD with all the instruments of the band playing. When the surrounding kingdoms got word that GOD had fought Israel\u2019s enemies, the fear of God descended on them. Jehoshaphat heard no more from them; as long as Jehoshaphat reigned, peace reigned. (2 Chronicles 20.27 – 30, MSG)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jehoshaphat gets four chapters of coverage in 2 Chronicles. Yesterday, we looked at chapters 17 and 19 (chapter 18 is a repeat of 1 Kings 22). Except for the alliance with Ahab, Jehoshaphat is doing a good job, but chapter 20 opens with a bang: Some time later the Moabites and Ammonites, accompanied by Meunites, … Continue reading Give Thanks to God, His Love Never Quits<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8X9bo-29c","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8258"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8260,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258\/revisions\/8260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}