ICS Daily Devotions
Claim Your Rights Boldly
2 Chronicles 20:1-3 (NKJV) It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
Jehoshaphat was a king who honored, sought after God and applied the covenant rights with God. He understood that God’s covenant with Abraham was valid for all the people of Israel. God honors covenant to a thousand generations but not every King is aware of their rights in the covenant relationship with God.
2 Chr 20:6-7 (NKJV) And 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? 7 Are 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?
Jehoshaphat reminded God that He is the God of their Fathers namely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God always refers Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is God’s way of expressing His covenant with the people of Israel. He watches over the covenant through the generations. Jehoshaphat knew how to call upon God when the nation was faced with an enemy that is more powerful than them. When he is doing so, he is claiming the promise of the land and also the protection that is due to them as God’s chosen covenant people!
2 Chr 20:9-12 (NKJV) ‘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.’ And 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— here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. O 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.”
Jehoshaphat was bringing God into the remembrance of the covenant that He had with the people of Israel as they were faced with this imminent threat from a greater enemy. Jehoshaphat reminded God that He has promised them the land, and as a covenant partner, God was supposed to protect them and fight for them for they were weak. Therefore, Jehoshaphat was standing on this right and asked God to act on their behalf.
It is important to note that Jehoshaphat did not deny that the problem existed but he did not talk too much about it. He chose to bring the entire people to fast and sought the help of God.
2 Chr 20:14-15 (NKJV) Then 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. 1And 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 is not yours, but God’s.
God spoke through one of the Levites through the anointing of the Holy Spirit assuring them that the battle belongs to the Lord and not to them!
This approach was exactly in line with the blood covenant. The people acted correctly and God answered their request. When one partner in a covenant is unable to handle a crisis, the other partner has to intervene, because the problem is just as much his. Here the Lord says that the battle is not yours but urges you to position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
We will experience God in our lives when we walk in covenant relationship with God. It is especially obvious when we know of situations, when it is truly beyond our control and we have to rely on the covenant relationship for the Lord to see us through.
When we know that we are walking in the will of God for our lives, we can call upon the Lord to help us! Hence, it is important to live a consecrated life so that we are able to seek His face and claim our covenant rights for protection, provision and deliverance!
Sermon series: Cell Group Campaign Session 3 – The Blood Covenant
