Connie’s station wagon coughed and choked all the way to the Christian bookstore in the mall. While she stood at the bookstore counter, she moaned to her mother, "I'm not sure we can make it home in the station wagon. If only Dave had driven the station wagon and left the Dodge Spirit for us!"
At that moment she glanced outside the store and happened to see her husband, Dave, rush by on his way to the restaurant next door.
"Dave! Dave!" she called. "Help! We need the Spirit."
The clerk came to the counter at that moment. Thinking she had just overheard a devout and desperate prayer, her eyes opened wide--until Connie and Dave exchanged car keys.
Someone has said that the most profound prayer we can pray is, “help!”
The story we will look at today describes such a prayer. It is found in II Chronicles 13 and tells the story of king Abijah. His name means “my father is Jahweh. He was a descendant of David and the 5th king over Judah. He reigned over Judah for 3 years. If we read his story in I Kings 15:1-8 we find that he was not a man after God’s heart. I Kings 15:3 says, “His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord.” In spite of that, this story is about an occasion when he and the people of Judah did put their hope in the Lord. The key verse is 13:18, “…the men of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.”
But let us back up and tell the whole story.
II Chronicles 13:2 says, “There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.” Who were these two and why was there war between them? The first king of the nation of Israel was Saul. He was not faithful to God and so David was made king because he was a man after God’s own heart. God promised David that his descendants would always rule over God’s people. David’s son Solomon became the next king and reigned with wisdom, but at the end of his life, began to follow other gods because of the influence of some of his foreign wives. Because of this sin, God allowed a division in the land. Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king after him, but because he was foolish and did not rule wisely, Jeroboam, an official in the court, rebelled against him and caused a division in the nation. From then and for many years afterwards there was a divided kingdom. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon ruled over Judah or the southern tribes and Jeroboam ruled over Israel or the northern 10 tribes. From the beginning of this division, the two sides fought against each other and this war continued into the days of Abijah, son of Rehoboam. That is why there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
I can remember attending basketball, volleyball or hockey games and sizing up the other team and trying to figure out who has the better chance of winning. Can you imagine being on a high school basketball or volleyball team and when you show up for a game one day, you notice that not one of the opposing players is under 6’5” tall? How would you feel?
That is likely how Abijah felt when he showed up at the battle ground. He looked over the enemy soldiers and notice that there were a lot more of them. We need to remember that war in those days was fought differently than it is today. In those days they drew up battle lines and met face to face, so he could see the force that he faced very easily, especially since the text says in 13:4 that he was standing on a mountain. II Chronicles 13:3 says that he had 400,000 soldiers and they were facing Jeroboam who had 800,000 soldiers. Immediately he knew that they were in trouble.
Abijah began a war of rhetoric, recorded in 13:4-12, which we will look at in a minute. While he was speaking, Jeroboam sent a bunch of his troops around behind the army of Abijah. In 13:13,14 we are informed that Judah became aware of this ambush. They became aware of the fact that they were totally surrounded by a superior force. They were in deep trouble!
Have you ever been in a situation in which you knew that you were in trouble? Have you ever experienced reason for fear in your life? There are times in life when there is reason for fear, when we know that we are in trouble.
In spite of the obvious evidence of a fearful situation, Judah also had reason for confidence. The reason for their confidence was expressed by Abijah in his speech in 13:4-12. The essential message of his speech was to relate, for the benefit of his own soldiers and as a warning to Jeroboam and his army, what God had done for them and how they related to Him.
The first message of God’s work which he spoke about is found in 13:5-7. The basic message is “the Lord has given the kingship to David.” He speaks in verse 5 about a “covenant of salt.” The phrase “covenant of salt” simply means a covenant that has been confirmed. In the Old Testament, covenants, or promises in relationships, were often confirmed with a meal, at which salt was always present. It is kind of like the marriage covenant which is confirmed by a celebration meal with those who attend the wedding. Later the meaning was simplified to the phrase “covenant of salt.” The covenant God had made with His people was that a member of David’s family would be on the throne in perpetuity. We find this promise in II Samuel 7:16 where God said to David, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Although Rehoboam had been foolish when he began his reign and although God was punishing his people for the sins of Solomon, the nation of Israel led by Jeroboam was still a nation which existed in rebellion against God. As Jeroboam and his massive army came against Judah, they came in disobedience against God and for this reason, they had hope in this promise of God.
As Abijah carries on with his speech, he comes to his next major point in verses 8-10. The most significant point here is that “The Lord is our God.”
He speaks in verse 8 about the hope of Jeroboam and his army. He acknowledges that they have a vast army and have physical reason to trust in that vast army. However, then he mention their “golden calves” which they were depending on. He points out that Jeroboam and Israel have in actual fact forsaken God. They do not worship God in the way that he has prescribed. They have made up a religion in which anyone who makes a few sacrifices can be priest, when God had declared that only descendants of Levi could be priests. He reminds them that they are priests not of the living God, but of those which are “not gods.” His conclusion in verse 10 is, “The Lord is our God.” With this warning, he was letting Jeroboam know that he had no backing from a higher power whereas, although they were vastly outnumbered by the number of soldiers, God Himself was actually their side and so it was really Jeroboam who was outnumbered and this was a strong reason for hope for Judah.
But a lot of kings have claimed that God is on their side. Why would they believe that in this case it was really true? Abijah answers this objection in verses 10-12 by declaring, in summary, “We have not forsaken Him.”
He goes on to describe how in Judah they continued to worship God in the way that God had prescribed. They continued to present burnt offerings and incense offerings. They were faithful to the worship of God in the way that God had told them to worship Him.
Not only were they faithful to God in their worship and religious observances, they were also faithful to God in their obedience. In 13:11, he says, “we are observing the requirements of the Lord our God.” When we read the story of Abijah, we find that this was not totally true for him. There we find that he was not a man who was faithful to God at all times. Yet at this point, in spite of a weak faith and a faltering obedience, he knew where he stood and declared his faith in God and his hope in God.
For this reason, they had hope and confidence, as he says in 13:12, “God is with us.”
So we see that in spite of a desperate situation, it was not all desperate. There was much reason for hope. This hope was found in the things that God had done for them and in how they related to God.
What Reason Do We Have For Confidence?
As we face those things which are a reason for fear, do we also have reason for confidence? Are there things which God has done and do we relate to God in such a way that we can expect Him to act?
The reason we have for confidence is based on what God has done for us. Romans 8:32 is one of many verses which describe what God has done. It says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Our hope is based in the work God did on the cross through Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus died for us and rose again to demonstrate the power of God over sin and death. That gift assures us that God is for us and that he will also help us face whatever we may have reason to fear. What was true for Judah, is true for us. “The Lord is our God.”
Judah’s hope was based not only on what God had done, but also on their relationship to God and their obedience to Him. In the same way, we also can have confidence because we have a relationship with God. One verse which speaks about this hope is I John 2:24, “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” As long as we remain in a faith relationship with the Son and with the Father, we remain in a position of hope in Him and we can say in any situation which causes us fear, “God is with us.”
So Judah had reason to fear. They were surrounded and they were outnumbered. But they also had reason to hope because of their relationship with the living God who was their God. What happened in the moment of crisis?
There is an interesting sequence of events which is described in this passage. In 13:12 Abijah declared with confidence to Jeroboam and his army, “you will not succeed.” In the next verse, we realize that they are surrounded and we wonder if Abijah really believed in his bold statement of success?
But in the moment of crisis, they demonstrated that they did indeed have their hope in God. In the moment of desperation when the danger was greatest and the trouble was most intense, the conviction born of their relationship with God triumphed and 13:14 says that “they cried out to the Lord.”
The reality of their hope in God is seen not only in the proclamation or even in the obedience and ceremony, it is seen in their immediate reaction when they know that they are in trouble. At that moment, they turned to God, they cried out to Him for help.
Do we cry to the Lord? The reality of our hope in God is grounded in God’s grace and in our relationship with God, but the reality of our hope is seen when we are in crisis.
Earlier I said that “help” is the most profound prayer we can pray. Why is this so? It is profound because in the moment when we, like Judah in this story, cry out to God and yell a sincere “help,” we are demonstrating a complete dependence on God. The Bible does not call us to self sufficiency. It does not advise us to “buck up little camper.” One of the teachers who taught our children in high school had an interesting way of dealing with the whining which kids sometimes manifested. If they were having difficulty with an assignment or were overwhelmed because of extra-curricular activities and went to him for sympathy, he would challenge them with the word, “cope.” I like that. It sounds like taking responsibility. It sounds like “being a man.” It sounds like self sufficiency. But it is not what God calls us to. He does not tell us to suck it up, He says, “come to me.” He says, “Seek the Lord!” He invites us to “Call out to Him!” What Judah did here is exactly what God wants us to do. He wants us to ask Him, to cry out to Him.
The Men Of Judah Were Victorious
It is very interesting that after they cried out to God, they “blew the trumpets” and “raised the battle cry” and then… it doesn’t say that they went into battle. It says, “God routed Jeroboam.” In fact, the victory was won in a decisive way not by Judah at all but by God. The conclusion of this, and the statement which is our key verse, is 13:18, “the men of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.”
The victory was so decisive that it resulted in an enlargement of their territory as we see in 13:19. Even after Abijah had died and Asa had become king, we read in 14:1 that “the country was at peace for ten years.”
The story shows us that when His people cried out to Him, God acted. The victory was immediate and the victory was evident. But what if it isn’t?
We have hope and reason for confidence as we already saw, but…what if God isn’t answering? In fact the Bible speaks of times when it appears as if God doesn’t answer. Psalm 18:41 says, “They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the Lord, but he did not answer.”
Whenever I get into a situation like that I ask myself two questions. The first question is, “Has God promised What I am expecting?”
If we would call a doctor and ask, “if I come in will you be able to diagnose my problem and have a pill ready for me right away?” is there any doctor who would promise to do that. Knowing the nature of illness, the nature of our body and understanding that doctors do the best with the knowledge they have, we know that that is an unrealistic expectation.
Sometimes when we pray we expect things from God that he has not promised. What can we expect from God? What has God promised that we can count on? If we expect that God will heal every disease we have when we want it healed, we know that He has not promised to do that. In II Corinthians 12 we learn that Paul had to live with a disease so that he would learn about the grace of God. If we expect that God will make us rich and that we will never have material need, we know that God has not promised that. Paul writes in Philippians 4:12 about learning to live in plenty and in want. If we expect that God will give us a road map of our life, once again we are expecting something that God has not promised. He promises us to lead us, but not to give us a map for the whole path. If we expect that God will save every person we pray for, we forget that God has set things up so that he does not force anyone into the kingdom and every person needs to make their own decision of faith, so God cannot promise that everyone will be saved.
So what can we expect? We can expect that in every situation we are living within the love of God. John 3:16 itself promises, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We can expect that God will bring those who have faith into His heavenly kingdom. That He will keep us and guide us towards the promised end. II Timothy 4:18 says, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.” We can expect that God is in the process of making us like Jesus and perfecting us. Hebrews 10:14 assures us of this direction when it says, “because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Jesus’ death on the cross happened for the purpose of perfecting those whom God is making holy and the promise of Philippians 1:6 is, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” We can also expect that God’s kingdom will prevail. Matthew 16:18 assures, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
There is more and if you want to know what you can expect as you cry out for help in desperation, I would encourage you to search the Scriptures to find out what promise God has made to us that we can expect Him to honour.
The other question I ask is, “Have I waited long enough?” When we are in fear and desperation, it is a terrible place to be and we don’t like being in that place, but we can derive some comfort and hope by knowing, “this isn’t the end of the story.”
The Bible encourages us to wait. Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 38:15, “I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God.” Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.”
So when it seems that God isn’t answering, we should not give up, but explore to see if our expectations are according to God’s promises and be patient to wait for God’s timing.
The key verse we have been looking at says, “The men of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.” It is written as an acknowledgement of what God did that day. We have this story recorded because they recognized that God had done this.
That raises one other thing that we need to take note of and that is, when we see God do something, when God acts to deliver, we need to both acknowledge and declare what He has done.
I was waiting for my grandson to get dressed in his winter clothes so that we could go outside and play in the snow. He is 3 and has to do this by himself. As I waited, things were getting worse. The strap from the ski pants were underneath his leg, the boots were on the wrong feet. He couldn’t do up his jacket with his mitts on. Finally he looked up at me and said, “can you help me?”
I remember a story which Dobson tells about when his son was small. He was up on the back of a half ton truck and was wanting to get down. His legs were too short to reach the ground and he was caught suspended in mid air and afraid to let go and unable to climb back up. Dobson quotes what he said at that point. He said, “somebody help the boy.”
To ask for help is not weakness. It is what God wants us to do. It is good to cry out! We have reason to expect God to hear and answer and so, I invite you, “cry out!”
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