HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU!

2 Chronicles 20:1-30

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

November 25, 2007

“Focus, focus, focus!” I’ve said this many times and perhaps you’ve said this to yourself many times, needing to concentrate. We can be distracted so easily by all that is around us and thus our eyes need to be centered on what’s really important. Then again, under certain circumstances, the nature of a particular challenge before us can naturally lead us to remain focused and that’s precisely the case that was before King Jehoshaphat.

In our text for this morning, we are told that a collaboration of enemies from the east, southeast and the south converged on King Jehoshaphat and his small kingdom of Judah. As a result, he was alarmed and frightened in facing such a formidable force. Clearly, his eyes were focused on the LORD, looking to the LORD for help, not knowing precisely what to do. You might say he was in a holding pattern with his center of attention completely on the Lord.

I wonder if you haven’t felt the same way at times. When the challenge before you has been so intense and so demanding that all you could do is focus your eyes on the Lord? What do you do when the stress and strain of emotional pressure, spiritual conflict, relational dysfunction, financial duress, physical disability, or occupational difficulty becomes so much more than you can handle? Do you turn to the LORD as did Jehoshaphat and say: “I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are upon you”? But then again, in that very moment when it’s not perfectly clear precisely what steps we’re to take toward some kind of a resolution to the problem we’re facing, how can we keep our eyes on the LORD?

As we look again to Jehoshaphat and to his example, he provides us with many ways in which we can do this. By the example of his life and leadership, he shows us how to keep our eyes on God, as we wait upon the LORD to lead us in the direction we need to go.

I

ONE OF THE WAYS

WE CAN KEEP OUR EYES ON THE LORD

IS THROUGH FASTING and PRAYER.

As the enemy army marched against Jehoshaphat and his kingdom, the response was impressive as we see what happened. “Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek Him.”

Jehoshaphat clearly understood that keeping one’s eyes on the LORD does not mean idleness or inactivity. He called the entire nation to come to a place of utter humility, in abstaining from food for spiritual purposes, and turning to the LORD in prayer. And it is just as clear that all the people understood the necessity and the significance of doing this, as “people came from every town in Judah to seek (the LORD).”

Christians for centuries have recognized the significance of prayer and fasting coupled together in seeking the Lord. Great Christians like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards fasted and prayed often. They all give witness to the depth of spiritual awareness and sensitivity that the combination of fasting and prayer can bring.

John Wesley, as an example, believed so strongly in fasting that he called for it on Wednesdays and Fridays for the early Methodists. He also refused ordination to any candidate for the Methodist ministry who didn’t fast on these days. (I wonder how Presbyterians would do with this one!)

John Wesley saw the efficacy of fasting and prayer not only for ministers and churches, but also for nations. In 1756, the King of Britain called for a solemn day of fasting and prayer because of a serious threat by the French to invade the country. On February 6^th, he wrote in his journal: “The fast day was a glorious day, such as London has scarce seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God heareth prayer, and there will yet be a lengthening of our tranquility.” In a footnote he added: “Humility was turned into national rejoicing for the threatened invasion by the French was averted.” [i] Clearly, there stands a united witness that prayer and fasting coupled together is one of the more significant ways of keeping our eyes on the Lord.

ANOTHER WAY

WE CAN KEEP OUR EYES ON THE LORD

IS THROUGH PRAISE.

As Jehoshaphat and the people assembled together in Jerusalem, they gathered at the Temple and in the new courtyard. It was Jehoshaphat who then stood up in that assembly and led the gathering in prayer. And as he did so, he began with praise and adoration: “O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can withstand You.” Please note that Jehoshaphat didn’t turn in prayer immediately to his petition, as so many of us seem to do in our own time of need. No, as he set his eyes upon the LORD in prayer, he began as we always should, with honor and praise. He referred to the One who has all power and authority and who reigns over all nations of the world – without exception.

But this same God had also established a covenant relationship with Israel and had revealed His love and power in numerous ways. Today, in our covenant with God through Christ, to set our eyes upon the LORD is also to behold the greatness of His glory and grace, and to always acknowledge this in praise.

In my personal library I have a small book I’ve had for 25 yrs. It is written by Derek Prime, who was the pastor of Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh, for many years. The title of the book is Created to Praise: Giving God Glory in All of Life. In this book, Prime tells the story of Tony, a very young man who’d just become a Christian. One Sunday, just as Prime was about to drive home after the service, Tony came racing up to him on his bicycle. Prime thought Tony had left something behind after the service, so he asked, “What is it, Tony?” And Tony replied with a tremendous sense of enthusiasm, “Isn’t the Lord wonderful?”

As Prime notes: “God’s Word had so come home to his mind and heart that morning that he wanted to share it with me. Was that not true praise of the Lord? I’ve come to appreciate that my spiritual life is at a low ebb if there are not times when I say to the Lord, ‘You are wonderful!’ and when I want to say to other Christians, ‘Isn’t the Lord great?’” [ii]

How I want us here at FPC to do just that, my friends. To be able to acknowledge the Lord’s work in our midst and to say to the Lord, “You are wonderful!” And to then say to each other, “Isn’t the Lord great?”

III

YET ANOTHER WAY

WE CAN KEEP OUR EYES ON THE LORD

IS THROUGH HIS WORD.

After the time of fasting and prayer, praise and then petition, the LORD graciously sent a prophet to encourage the people. The Spirit of the LORD came upon the prophet Jehaziel and he spoke of the soon coming deliverance. Jehoshaphat believed that word from the Lord, as he responded by bowing down in worship and as the people also joined him in worship.

The next morning, the king had a word for his people as they turned toward their adversaries: “Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in His prophets and you will be successful.” Jehoshaphat called the people to trust and obey God’s inscripturated Word and His prophetic word. They had the Word of the Lord to comfort and console, to guide and direct. And so do we! Only we must use it, by reading, believing and obeying it, for it profits us very little otherwise.

Donald Whitney is a professor at Southern Baptist Seminary, but in 1989 when he was a pastor, Whitney went on a short term missionary trip to the bush country of East Africa. He tells us that he was startled in what he discovered there in the church. He found lying, stealing and immorality to be quite common – and even among the leaders of the church! Doctrinal error was also at a critical level.

He soon discovered one of the main causes to the problems at hand to be the fact that they had no Bibles. Not even the pastor, who had only about six sermons, “all half-baked over the coals of a few Bible-story recollections.” Whitney and three others quickly resolved to do something – they purchased Bibles and began teaching the people as best they could in the time afforded to them.

After Whitney and the others left to return here to this country, however, he was profoundly disappointed with a nation of “professing Christians (who) know little more about the Bible than Third-World Christians who possess not even a shred of Scripture.” He speaks directly in saying: “No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture. … Therefore if we would know God and be godly, we must know the Word of God – intimately.” [iii]

These words may at first sound rather strong to you, but I believe they are true; and I can only add that I know of no better way for us to keep our eyes on the LORD than through the daily diet of God’s Word.

THE LAST WAY

TO KEEP OUR EYES ON THE LORD

THAT IS MODELED FOR US HERE

IS THROUGH MUSIC and SONG.

It is fascinating to take note of what Jehoshaphat did on the day of battle. Not only did he call the people to place their faith in the trustworthiness of the word of the LORD, but he broke every rule in the manuals of military strategy. Instead of sending forth at the front of his army his finest soldiers and his bravest men, we are told: “Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, for His love endures forever.’” Can you imagine? At the end of the army at the very front was a choir of singers!

Even more amazing is the fact that as they began to sing and praise, the LORD brought confusion into the ranks of the enemy army, so much so that the different factions turned on one another and they destroyed each other! Thus, Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Judah had all the more reason to sing and to give thanks to the LORD, for His love was truly unending!

As Christians, we’re encouraged strongly to sing in praise of God. We’re told in Ephesians 5 to sing “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” We are told to “sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” As we do, we find the “eyes of our hearts” truly focused on the faithfulness of God.

While we often credit Martin Luther with many achievements, he also faced many challenges, sicknesses, discouragements and disappointments. Assessing his own personality, Luther knew that he needed the company of others to fight the dark times of deep depression and spiritual warfare. But Luther found that his favorite “medicine” was Christian music. “The devil hates music,” he said, “because he cannot endure gaiety. Satan can smirk but he cannot laugh; he can sneer, but he cannot sing.” [iv] He once more gave back the gift of congregational singing to the people of God, rather than solely to a choir. And in 1529, when Martin Luther was greatly depressed and deeply discouraged, he found great comfort in the 46^th Psalm, and penned the lines that open our eyes, that open our eyes to the God who is “A Mighty Fortress.” Who can sing this hymn and not see how truly great and glorious is our God!

Can we not all benefit from the example of Jehoshaphat in this event? As we face challenges of our own and in our own time, we cry out: “I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are upon You.” But as we do, let our eyes stay fixed on Him, as we fast and pray, as we offer Him our praise, as we read and listen to His Word, and as we sing of the greatness of His glory and grace!