Don’t Outsmart Yourself; Listen To The Lord!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<The Lord said to King Jehoshaphat,> “You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you. ”’ (2 Chronicles 20:17)

Outsmarting myself is one of my more successful traits. After years of battling the backyard becoming a dustbowl and several futile attempts to grow grass, shrubs, bushes, and flowers to no avail, I finally laid down rolls of thick black plastic and some large carpet remnants over the dirt, then dumped several yards of river rock (brownish pebbles) over the plastic in an attempt to ‘xeriscape’ the backyard. To ‘xeriscape’ is to have a low-maintenance landscape, meaning no weeding or watering – great! This worked great for several years as almost nothing grew and the yard/rocks looked pristine. As time went by, however, the sun and the weather defeated the plastic, the ends of the carpet began curling up, and weeds began to grow. Weeds that wouldn’t grow when it was just dirt, mind you.

I began to herbicide-spray the weeds as they were sparse, then they began to grow more heavily, so I sprayed more. When I couldn’t keep up, I first bought a propane torch to burn the weeds but soon realized I may not only burn down the weeds but the house and the neighborhood (this would not be very neighborly of me). Discretion is the better part of valor, so I called in professional help (to defeat the weeds, not to psychoanalyze me). Now each month, a weed bubba comes and takes care of the weeds. In the end, the plastic and the rocks only delayed the inevitable invasion of the weeds, but didn’t stop them. I outsmarted myself and now have a rocky, weedy backyard that needs maintaining.

‘Jumping’ Jehoshaphat was the King of Judah, who was in a sense someone who almost outsmarted himself.  Jehoshaphat was a righteous king who was faithful to God, but also allied with Ahab, the king of Israel.  Ahab wanted to go to war against the former Israelite territory of Ramon Gilead (where the eastern 1/2 Tribe of Manassas settled in Joshua’s time) and called on Jehoshaphat to join him.  Ahab then asked 400 prophets if they would be successful, and these false prophets (really an echo chamber of ‘yes’ men) said, ‘Sure, Ahab, go get ‘em!’. 

Jehoshaphat, however, was doubtful the echo chamber was actually in tune with God, and asked for a real prophet who spoke God’s Word.  Summoning Micaiah the prophet, God told Ahab that if he attacked Ramon Gilead he would die.  Ahab tossed Micaiah in prison with only bread and water rations, and Jehoshaphat decided to join Ahab in going to war with the Arameans in Ramon Gilead. As it turned out, Ahab died in the battle.  Jehoshaphat escaped, went back to Jerusalem, and was chastised for going along with Ahab’s folly (and against God’s will) by the prophet Jehu. 

Later, when Judah’s neighbors attacked and surrounded the Southern Kingdom. Jehoshaphat pleaded with God to save them. With his Faith, he called upon the prophet Jahaziel, who was full of the Holy Spirit and spoke the Lord’s message to Jehoshaphat.  God defeated the neighbors of Judah, answering Jehoshaphat’s prayers.   Jehoshaphat was far from being the best model of Righteousness, but was Righteous enough in the eyes of the Lord, as stated in 1 Kings 22:43 and 2 Chronicles 20:32.

Jehoshaphat was gullible to the societal norms of the day; he listened to Ahab and his false prophets over that of Micaiah. Although he himself believed in God and had faith, as king he did not remove all the pagan altars in his kingdom (though he did remove the Asherah poles).  A great number of Judahites did not move toward worshipping God under Jehoshaphat.  But Jehoshaphat, though someone taken in by some aspects of society, stood up for God when it counted.  He wilted and faltered from time to time, but when it counted, Jehoshaphat stood up for the Lord and had the Faith to ask for the Lord’s help when needed. 

What can we learn from Jehoshaphat?  He could have saved himself from some self-induced issues in his day had he been more attuned to God and less into what others thought.  His unsuccessful assistance to Ahab likely showed weakness that Judah’s neighbors likely thought they could take advantage of.  His failure to remove all the ‘high places’ or altars of false gods in Judah, as well as the lack of success in having the population be more into God and not secular pleasures led to a succession of kings that did not follow God and did evil. 

He was a flawed king that did not wilt away but instead held tenuously to God and His ways until he passed.  What we can do, learning from Jehoshaphat, is to not fall into the traps that the secular world brings. But if we do get ensnarled into one of those secular tripwires we should return back to the Lord and have Faith in Him that He will get us out and onto safe ground!  Flawed people can also be Righteous – and we are all flawed, like the ability to outsmart ourselves. If we hold to our true identity we will overcome our flaws, and our true identity is being a follower of Christ.