"Did you read 2 Chronicles 20 today?"

The Word for today:
2 Chronicles 19, 20

mark this: 2 Chronicles 20:12 --
We are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

The best thing about the Bible is that it works.

I mean, it delivers the goods. It gets you home, or over the hurdle, or through the night.

Not too long ago, I was in relentless, long-lasting turmoil. The details of my trouble differ from yours, I am sure. But only the details differ. Essentially, our troubles are the same.

Shelley, heart of my heart, helped me through. And I made it to the other side, because every day she would ask me, "Did you read 2 Chronicles 20?"

On most of those days, I'd read 2 Chronicles chapter 20 already, before she'd asked. It was the only thing that calmed my fretfulness.

On many days, I read it before my feet hit the floor. There was nothing else that was going to get my sorry self out of bed. This went on for nearly a year. No one knew, except Shelley.

In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat is opposed by a force far superior to any force that he could muster. There, between the devil and the deep blue sea, Jehoshaphat reached his moment of crystal clarity. He came to the rational conclusion that he was absolutely helpless:
We are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. (2 Chronicles 20:12)

That's the sublime moment of the passage for me. Because I was right there between that same rock and that same hard place during the year of my travail. You've been there too.

Maybe you're there right now. If so, may I echo Shelley to ask, "Did you read 2 Chronicles 20 today?"

Even though my particular trouble went away one day, the ongoing reality of our situation remains the same. I still don't know what to do, where to turn, how to proceed. We are -- all of us, all the time -- the blind man whom Jesus spoke of.

If we place our confidence in something other than God, then we are the blind led by the blind. But if we place our faith in Jesus and, so to speak, place our hand in his--then we're still blind. But what does it matter, because we're being guided by supernatural sight, and we bring to bear a power beyond any force that may assail us.

May you and I reach the holy clarity that Jehoshaphat reached. Convinced of his absolute helplessness, he turned to the LORD. When he did, the tables turned against his enemies. From that time forth, no weapon forged against him would prosper...

***

Return to this same place tomorrow to see the stirring conclusion of Jehoshaphat's story!

But remember, you won't begin to understand this story until you've reached the end of your rope. And you won't fully understand this story until you've even managed to lose the rope that you reached the end of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~