Let’s spend a little time these next couple of weeks in the Old Testament story of King Jehoshaphat. If you have never read this particular event in his reign as king of Judah, I do hope you will. It is found in 2Chronicles chapter 20. The “verse to memorize” this week is verse 3:
“Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” 2Chron 20:3 ESV
So to give you a little background, the nation of Judah is being attacked by three different kingdoms that have come together to try to destroy God’s people. Understandably, King Jehoshaphat becomes afraid. Let’s stop there for a moment. Fear is never our problem, my Friends. Fear is good for us. I know this because fear is the beginning of wisdom. (Here’s another bonus verse Pr 9:10) It is usually this fear of the Lord that humbles us so we can surrender our lives to Jesus and receive Eternal Life. Fear is a good gift from our Good, Good Father. I mean imagine if we did not have any sense of fear and a roaring lion comes charging at us! No, fear is good because our Good Father has given us the ability to sense fear for our own safety, but it is never His desire for us to remain in fear.
You see, it is what we choose to DO with fear that makes it either helpful or hurtful. See what this king did with his terror? He set his face to seek the Lord. That means he ran head first straight to God to get help for this seemingly helpless situation. He knew where his strength came from. He knew that only God could change what was happening. He knew Who to turn to when life got out of control…do we?
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
9- 1Pe 5:7
10- Jn 8:32
11- Dt 30:19
12- Jn 3:30
13- 2Chron 20:3
<>< Peace, Diane
