Title: In front of the amazing reality
Contents
♡♥♡ In front of the amazing reality / 2 Chronicles 20:1-13
*** Introduction
How do you view the current domestic or international situation? The world situation is in chaos due to suicide terrorism every day, and countries around the world are terrified over the Iraq crisis. In addition, natural disasters are hitting the world. Domestically, the politics are so gloomy that they do not even know where they are going, the economy is also clamoring for the second IMF, and the labor community is exceeding the limits of protests and aggravating the chaos of society as if they were fighting a war. Culture, education, and even the religious world, the last bastion, are all messed up.
The church of God is sick. I was deeply ill. If you look at the history of the world church, whenever the church got sick, social chaos reached its peak. When the church became ill and could not proclaim the truth and could not keep it, it was the heretics that appeared immediately. Korea is like that now. Heretics are raising their voices through newspapers, the Internet, and broadcasting. The 'Salvation Sect' held large-scale rallies every day, and boldly put out full-page advertisements in the newspaper. The ‘Ahn Sahng-Hong Witness Association’ is shouting out their dignity through the Internet. The Unification Bridge is no longer untouched. Still, the church is busy with family banquets, growing in size, and maintaining fellowship, and the members are losing their senses buried in their carnal lives.
It's a terrifying reality. Like the lyrics of hymn 256, a sigh flows out, “Amazing, you who believe.” Will the Lord not look at us and groan like this? What should we do? Should I just watch and blame myself for my lack of strength? The text of the text gives direction. I pray that each of us can understand God's will through the Word.
First, let's take a look at the content and background of the text.
The date of this text is about 853 B.C., when Jehoshaphat, the fourth king of southern Judah, after Israel was divided into north and south. Moab, Ammon, Maon, and the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms invaded southern Judah. South Judas did not have the strength to face them. We were faced with a terrifying reality that was on the verge of destruction. But why did this happen?
Jehoshaphat was a good king who feared God. They did not worship idols, oppress the people, or neglect their duties. Because of this, God made Jehoshaphat's kingdom rich and exalted Jehoshaphat.
However, the kind Jehoshaphat asked for peace with his brother's country, northern Israel. At that time, Northern Israel was ruled by Ahab, the 7th and evil king, and the whole country was full of idols because of all the idols brought in by Queen Jezebel. Jehoshaphat took the daughter of this wicked king as her daughter-in-law. It was an arranged marriage. Not only that, he fell into Ahab's affair and joined forces to wage war against Syria. However, Ahab died, and by the grace of God, he barely escaped death. God spoke to Jehoshaphat on the way back through the seer Jehu. 2 Kings 19:2. “Is it lawful for a king to help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD will come upon you.” In the end, the war was given as a punishment from God because of Jehoshaphat's wrong government.
So, what do you do in the face of the terrifying reality?
The important thing is that this amazing reality came from God. There is no escape from what God has given us. Jehoshaphat knew this. Because you have already informed me through the seer's prognosis. So Jehoshaphat realized that the only way out of this crisis was to hold on to the God who did this work. Let's look at verses 3 and 4 of the text. “When Jehoshaphat was afraid, he turned to the Lord and asked the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast to all the people of Judah, and the men of Judah gathered from all the cities of Judah to ask the Lord for help, and they prayed to the Lord.”
What is the reality they face? If you look at the contents of the prayer in verse 12, you can guess. “Our God, do you not punish them? We have no power against this great crowd that is coming against us, and we do not know what to do, but we look to you.” Southern Judah was not able to handle the large army of the three countries. It was a situation where I had no choice but to sit back and suffer. The only thing they could do was to look to God.
This is part of the testimony of Elder Cho Dae-hyeong of Goheung Church in Goheung, Jeollanam-do.
Elder Cho Dae-hyung served as a naval surgeon before making a reservation and opening a surgical hospital. The young doctor believed in his skills and made a lot of money by operating and treating day and night. One day, three years after opening, when I turned 37, I felt so exhausted that I was diagnosed with it. The result was liver cancer. It was a three-month deadline.
The young doctor was desperate. Thinking of my wife and children, my eyes were dark and I could not die. No matter how much I thought about what to do, I could not find an answer. He reconsidered his forgotten faith. Now, I started praying, saying that I should abandon all human methods and look to God and depend on Him. “God, have pity on me. If God gives life to me, who was only following money, I will give glory to God as a doctor.” I went to the church in the morning and evening and prayed with hot tears every day.
Then one day, while praying, my body became warm and I experienced the fire of the Holy Spirit. It was as if the fire of the Holy Spirit was burning all over his body. That way the cancer went away. He went to Goheung, Jeollanam-do and opened the ‘Jo Surgery Clinic’, giving God’s love to patients in need, providing free medical treatment and treatment, earning him the nickname ‘Schweitzer of Goheung’. Even now, he faithfully keeps his vow to God, who helped him in times of crisis, and serves as an elder of Goheung Church.
He will surely answer your sincere prayers risking your life. If you have any regrets in the world, you are not really looking to God. As the book of James says, if you set your heart on worldly ways and set your heart on God, God will not listen to you. In times of crisis in life, when life is difficult and difficulties arise, in every moment of life in the world, if you look to God and rely on Him, God will hear and respond.
King Jehoshaphat turned his face to God. Turning your face toward God is an expression of relying on only God. And not only for himself, but for all the people to declare a fast and ask God for help. The people gathered in nearby towns to fast and cry out to God. Jehoshaphat prayed to God together in front of the people gathered in the courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem.
The content of the prayer is in verses 6-12 of the text. This is a reminder of the promises God made to Israel through Abraham and Solomon. And it tells about the work of God that has been done so far and the reality we are facing now.
God's answer came immediately. God answered through ‘Jahaziel,’ a Levite. Verse 15. “Do not be afraid or startled by this great crowd. This war does not belong to you, but to God.” And in verse 17, “You have nothing to fight in this war; stand in line and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. Do not be afraid, O Judah and Jerusalem, and go out to meet them tomorrow. The LORD will be with you.”
The way to save this generation, the way our country lives, the way our Daebok Church lives, the way your families and individuals live is the only way to look to God and depend on Him and pray. Jehoshaphat, victorious in battle, proclaims to the people. “Trust in the LORD your God. Then you will stand strong. Trust the prophet. Then you will prosper.” It is a powerful testimony that comes from experience. Everyone, let's be awake and pray, relying on God. So, I pray that you will live a life of power that fully fulfills the will of God's calling to us.