We Christians seem to have an insatiable urge to work harder and prove how thankful we are to God by righting the wrongs in our lives. Then, when we fail, we generally beat ourselves half to death for our failures, a practice which simply increases the shame and self-loathing we feel, that in turn inspires us to try harder until we fail again, restarting the cycle.
A couple weeks ago I read 2 Chronicles 20 during my daily time in the Scriptures. In the chapter Judah is under attack by a massive army of Moabites and Ammonites, so many that it seems impossible for Judah to survive. King Jehoshaphat gathers people to pray and fast, asking God to save them. He concludes his prayer by saying:
“‘For 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….’
And God responds,
“Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s….You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”
2 Chronicles 20:12, 13-17
The echo of God’s words through Moses at the Red Sea in Exodus is impossible to miss. Moses tells Israel,
“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Exodus 14:13-14
That message that we need to stop trying to solve our own problems and instead trust God and be saved isn’t limited to Old Testament. It’s at the very heart of the Gospel. In Christ God has stepped into our failures, sin, and shortcomings, intersecting us with his grace. As Paul put it in Ephesians 2, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Israel’s job was to merely show up and trust that God would work.
Trust God
Most Christians authentically love God and are deeply grateful for what Jesus has done. However, few truly trust God with who they really are. Instead we cover our failures and shortcomings with the fig leaves of religious performance. The essence of biblical trust in God is entrusting him with who you really are, putting your faith in the grace that is available in Christ.
If you’re spending more time focused on solving your sin than you do on just enjoying God’s love for and delight in you, you’re probably not trusting him. Trust is a risk, but the reality is that we can’t grow without trust, and we can’t trust if we’re so focused on ourselves that we never step out into seeing God as he really is. And that requires that we get our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus.
That’s what Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah were doing in their fasting and prayer – getting their eyes off themselves and focusing them on God. Once you do that you’re freed up to take the risk of trusting God, and often, like it did for King Jeho, trusting God often looks like simply showing up.
Show up
God’s command to the people of Judah is, “Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf.” All they needed to do was show up for the battle.
Let’s not undersell the significance of that though. It’s not a comfortable thing to show up for a battle where the enemy has both overwhelming numbers and better equipment. It would have been far easier for the army to simply stay home in their walled cities, hoping that God would help them defend what they already held.
Instead they choose to trust God and show up for the battle. When they finally go out they discover that God has used one enemy to defeat another, leaving behind a load of plunder for them to pick over. When they obeyed God’s command – when they trusted and showed up – their seemingly impossible situation was flipped on its head and ended with them receiving a massive blessing.
We’re not Jehoshaphat, and it’s highly unlikely you’ll be facing an army of Ammonites in the next week or two, but the principles outlined in this story hold true for numerous situations in our lives as followers of Jesus. What situation in your life do you need to trust God’s promise and simply show up for? Where do you need to be bold enough to really be present?
God has promised to be present with us and to do good to us through Jesus. Remember Jesus’s words to his disciples, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20)? It’s our part to “believe in the one he has sent,” (John 6:29) and in believing trust and show up. It’s not our job to solve all our problems or slay our own sins. That’s already been taken care of by Jesus. When we were in the impossible depths of sin he saved us. That salvation can also show up tangibly in your everyday life.
Let’s chill out, trust, and show up. I bet we’ll discover that some of the most overwhelming and terrifying situation we encounter will turn out to be some of our greatest blessings when we do so.
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