Jehoshaphat’s Story – Seeking God and Coming Together

“The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.” – 2 Chronicles 20:4

We are continuing in Jehoshaphat’s story found in 2 Chronicles 20. There are two things that stand out to me in the verse above.

Seek God

A couple of weeks ago we talked about turning to God. Seeking God is a similar concept, so I won’t dig into this too much. However, I love the word “seek” because it was my one word for 2019. So I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to say a little something about it! 😁

When we seek God, we are intentional about turning our eyes, our ears, our minds, and our hearts toward Him. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the definitions of seek is “to go in search of.” To go in search of God takes effort on our part. It takes time and energy. It means we make the Lord a priority.

I believe seeking God is a lifelong process. This side of heaven, we will never learn all there is to learn. We will never stop needing Him in our lives.

Yet at times we put our relationship with God on the back burner. We know we need Him, but sometimes we allow other priorities to take precedence.

We have to make a commitment to keep pursuing God. I believe it would benefit us to do a heart check every so often. Do we do everything in our power to spend time with Him and soak up His presence? Do we try to seek His face every day? Do we seek Him with our whole heart?

When we do, our efforts will not be in vain. God’s words to His people in Jeremiah 29:13 are a comforting promise, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Come Together

The second point I want to make about this verse is how the nation came together. They came together to seek help from God and they came together when trouble was looming.

Having a community that we can rely on, and in turn they can rely on us, has lasting rewards. We have a sense of belonging when we have family and friends surrounding us. When a trial comes our way, we have people in our corner to support us. In our Christian walk, our friends help us grow in our faith. Having family and friends around us brings us strength.

The apostle Paul was a strong leader and full of faith. When he was in prison, he wrote encouraging letters to the churches. He persevered in his faith when we was beaten and stoned. His relationship with Jesus was rock solid. That was the strength he stood on. However, even Paul felt lonely when most of his friends deserted him. He knew that having encouraging friends around him brought strength as well. (See 2 Timothy 4:9-22.)

In Hebrews 10:24-25, we are reminded: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

I appreciate the words of Dr. Charles Stanley: “We are the body of Christ, and when we are with other believers, we are doing what comes naturally and what we will do for eternity—being together in his presence. We make up the church, and together we provide strength for one another through prayer, fellowship and encouragement. Enemy forces are always at work around us, seeking to blow us off course. Sheer individual commitment is really not enough to keep us in line. We need the presence and accountability of other believers who love us and are willing to laugh, cry and check on us. At times, when we feel as if our faith makes no difference—or we see no fruit in our lives, and we don’t think our testimony makes a difference—it does. When we surrender our lives to Christ, he uses us in countless ways, ways we may never know.”

For the nation of Judah, I believe that coming together was key in this crisis. May we remember that in our own lives as well. Whether we are facing a difficulty or not, I pray we all have family and friends surrounding us who can help encourage us. And we too can help encourage the people in our lives. We each have the power to spread the love of Jesus. Like a flame on a candle, our flame can help light countless other flames.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a blessed weekend.

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