The Response

It was a fearful time. Made up of just two tribes since the rebellion of Jeroboam and the ten northern tribes during the reign of Rehoboam, Judah was especially vulnerable. Judah was surrounded by a mighty enemy, a confederacy made up of nations from east of the Dead Sea. The Ammonites, from northeast of the Dead Sea (Amman, Jordan, was originally named “Rabbath Ammon”*), the Moabites, who lived to the south, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir, who were Edomites, were bent on destroying Judah. From a human standpoint, things were hopeless for the king of Judah. But Jehoshaphat knew what to do. “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD” (2 Chronicles 20:3, 4). Jehoshaphat was the son of Asa, one of the rare kings who “did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God” (2 Chronicles 14:2).

He rallied Judah to pray and seek God in their hour of need. Perhaps even more remarkable than Jehoshaphat’s leadership is the manner in which the people reacted to his appeal. When the nation was plunged into a crisis, the people all responded to Jehoshaphat’s plea to seek God.

They came “out of all the cities of Judah … to seek the LORD” (2 Chronicles 20:4, KJV). The story ends with God miraculously delivering Judah, leaving us to wonder what the church or the world would look like if God’s people took His call to pray seriously. In the same book, we read this mighty promise: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). God can work just as powerfully today as He worked for Judah during Jehoshaphat’s reign. When the church rises up as one to seek God in prayer and repentance, we will undoubtedly see God do remarkable things.