Cry Out In Your Time Of Trouble

Cry Out in Your Time of Trouble

2 Chronicles 20:3-9

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,

And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

David had a desire to build God temple.

• It was one of the greatest desires of his life and it pleased God.

o However, because of the blood that was on David’s hands, the Lord wouldn’t allow him to build the temple.

• Instead he amassed the raw materials, made the plans and wrote the songs that would be sung there but Solomon was designated as the one that would complete David’s desire.

o When it was finally done and Solomon had finished the exquisite temple of the one true God, he took to heart the great gravity of the situation as he invited God to inhabit the temple.

• As the Ark of the Covenant made that critical transition, there was a great day of sacrifice and petition before God.

• God answered this unprecedented display of worship with a very powerful promise:

2 Chronicles 7:12-15 (King James Version)

And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.

• However, it was generations before a situation would arise where that promise would b invoked.

o Across the reign of 5 generations of kings, there never arose a need that caused the nation of Israel to take God at his word.

• However, in the fifth generation we find a king named Jehoshaphat.

o Jehoshaphat fought many wars, was involved in many battles and was a victorious warrior.

o However, in our text, we find Jehoshaphat in a desperate situation.

• Never before had he needed God’s help.

• His own armies had always been enough.

• He never felt the need to call upon God for help.

• Never had he needed to rely on God’s help to gain the victory.

• He always had his own abilities to fall back on.

o However, now we find Jehoshaphat in a much different situation.

• 3 warring nations have risen together and combined their forces against him.

• The children of Moab, Ammon, and Mt Siere have determined to crush Jehoshaphat

o As Jehoshaphat surveyed his enemies no doubt he realized that he could conquer any one of them alone.

• However, when they combined their forces, they were far more and mighter than he and his armies.

• His back was to the wall and it was simply more than he could handle.

• Have you ever felt that way?

o When several different elements come together at the same time to create that perfect storm in your life that threatens your very existence.

• Any one of the problems, taken individually would represent a small challenge that you are well able to over come.

• But they don’t come separately.

• All at once you find yourself inundated and overwhelmed by problems and difficulties that threaten to drag you down.

o Verse 3 tells us that he felt fear.

• And Jehoshaphat feared… All of a sudden his own abilities weren’t good enough.

o For the first time in his life he was facing an obstacle that he couldn’t overcome on his own.