Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Guidance
- Guidance: God grants us His guidance. Sometimes this guidance is God leading us away from temptation. Sometimes this guidance is helping us to follow in a direction for which He has chosen. Our default position should be to wait for God’s guidance and then follow when it comes.
Jehoshaphat
is such a human character in this story.
We already know from the last few chapters of study that he followed in
the righteous footsteps of his father, Asa.
But what I love about Jehoshaphat is that his humanity still comes through. The King of Israel comes to Jehoshaphat with
a request for help in battle.
Jehoshaphat listens to the plan, thinks it sounds like a good idea, and
marches out to battle. He forgets to
check in with God. How many times have I
made that very mistake in my own life?
But here
is the really neat part of this story.
God – a Father who cares for Jehoshaphat and a King who is ultimately in
control of the universe – causes there to be no water as they head out to
Moab. The armies stop, knowing that if
they go further they will not have the supplies they need to be prepared for
battle and they won’t be able to get them easily, either. So they stop the figure out what to do. It is then that Jehoshaphat remembers to ask
for counsel from God!
What’s
neat is that God provides guidance. In
spite of being left out of the original decision, God doesn’t hold a grudge and
provides guidance. He tells Jehoshaphat to
continue with the plan. In fact, God
adds a divine element of the water that really makes the difference in the
whole way that the battle plays out!
How great
is God – our Father and King! Even when
we ignore Him – whether intentional or not – He is willing to guide our lives
once we remember to consult Him and ask.
His guidance is always true and always leads us closer to Him and His
will for our life.
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