WHEN GOD LEAVES YOU FEELING POWERLESS…

Have you ever noticed that sometimes God will allow you to be overwhelmed? Sometimes He will allow you to be in a situation that is 100% totally beyond your control. He will allow you to be confronted with an enemy, an adversary, a rival…with resistance so powerful that you feel totally POWERLESS.

It may be your job. It may be your health. It may be a challenge to your finances. It may even be abuse or persecution that you did not even provoke.

In 2 Chronicles Chapter 20 King Jehoshaphat and Judah were confronted by a powerful alliance of enemies – and he was afraid…

2 Chronicles 20: 1-4 (NKJV)

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites,^[a] came to battle against Jehoshaphat. ²Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria;^[b] and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). ³And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

He knew that the enemy was too powerful for him, so he immediately reached out to God, and petitioned that the people reach out to God as one…

Vs. 5-13

⁵Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶and said: “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? ⁷Are 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? ⁸And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ⁹‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ ¹⁰And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— ¹¹here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

¹³Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.

God heard the people and told them that they didn’t even have to fight in this battle. He told them the battle wasn’t theirs but His and,

He told them He would fight for them!!!!

Vs. 14-17

¹⁴Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle isnot yours, but God’s. ¹⁶Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

God fought for them that day. The only weapon they used was praise!

Vs. 21-23

²¹And 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.”^[c]

²²Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

This is a beautiful example of how God will allow His people to be feel powerless, so we can lean on Him, and Him only and allow Him to fight for us!

Is there a situation in your life that has left you feeling powerless?

God hasn’t ‘left’ you at all. He wants to prove He’s right there. Give it to Him! Lift up your hands and praise Him with what I like to call, “The Battle Cry of Praise”…

“Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever!!!!”

You aren’t powerless. Praise God, and let Him fight for you.

Remember this…

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NKJV)

⁸Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

BE BLESSTIFIED!