The instruction given to us in this passage as God’s people is that when we are facing times of overwhelming adversity in our lives, we are to do just the same as the people of Judah and Jerusalem did at this time of dire need in their lives. We are to look to the Lord our God; we are to bring our prayer before Him and wait for His deliverance. Once again, we find instruction and powerful encouragement in God’s answer to Jehoshaphat’s prayer:
“Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.”
(2 Chronicles 20:15-17, emphasis added).
God’s word instructs us that we are not to be afraid or discouraged when we are facing overwhelming troubles in our lives. We need not be afraid, because as believers in Christ, as spiritual Israel, we have this promise: The battles that we have not the resources or strength to fight on our own will be fought for us by God Himself.
Our instruction on what to do when we find ourselves facing these times of overwhelming trouble is to first “station ourselves”, or position ourselves, just as the Lord instructed Judah and Jerusalem. When they marched out early the next morning to meet this vast army, they did as they were told to do in the word of the Lord (verse 16), which is to say that they obeyed the word of the Lord. Therefore, to “station ourselves” means that we are to position ourselves in obedience to the word of God as revealed to us in the Scriptures.
After we take up our position in obedience to God’s word, we are instructed to “stand and see the salvation of the Lord on our behalf”. To “stand” means that we are to stand firm or continue in our position of obedience to the word of God, and not move away from that position. We should never consider an escape from our circumstances that is in disobedience to the word of God. The lesson from this account in 2
Chronicles is that when we are facing overwhelming burdens and troubles in this life, we are to look to God for our deliverance, and we are to stand firm in obedience to His word as we wait for Him to do for us what we are powerless to do for ourselves.
When we find ourselves under great pressure that is far beyond our ability to endure, as happened in the life of the Apostle Paul, let us take
comfort and understand that these things happen in our lives “so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead”. Let us also know that God will sustain us and ultimately deliver us (2 Corinthians 1:8- 11).
David wrote with confidence in the Psalms:
Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. (Psalm 55:22)
When we have no power to face the “great multitude” of troubles that are coming against us, and we do not know what to do, then let us do as we are instructed in God’s word: let us position ourselves in obedience as we look to Him for His deliverance and His provision for our lives. We can take courage knowing that in times like these, the battle is not ours, but God’s.