An unanticipated diagnosis causes your heart to lurch:  cancer.

Your company replaces you with a younger executive who costs them less.

Your fiancé pierces your heart, reneging on his commitment, infatuated by someone else.  Will your long-held desire for a husband ever materialize?

A grown child shucks his faith in Christ, or exhibits self-destructive behavior, or he’s going through a bitter divorce with your only two grandkids in the picture.

 

A Timely Story

Such scenarios typically spawn fear.  It’s an internal emotional response to imminent danger, or to a threatening situation over which you have little or no control.

When I’m afraid, I sometimes camp out in 2 Chronicles 20, a story featuring King Jehoshaphat.  This narrative shows how dread turned into deeper faith in God for the king and the people of Judah.  Though the story is ancient, what we learn about handling fear is timeless.

I’m not saying that digesting this narrative will magically eradicate all your anxiety. I wish it were that easy.  But I am saying that this snippet from God’s Word can expedite the process of experiencing God’s peace, and of getting more intimate with the God of peace (Phil 4:9).

Today, I’ll explain three fear-fighting insights.  In a few days, I’ll complete this perusal of 2 Chronicles 20 and cite additional principles.  Yet each post packs enough truth to stand on its own.

Before proceeding with this post, you’ll benefit more if you familiarize yourself with the story by reading 2 Chronicles 20.

 

Appraising the Threat

Jehoshaphat reigned in Judah for 25 years.  Usually he exhibited strong faith in the Lord and sought Him for wisdom as a king.  Heads of pagan nations surrounding him saw God’s blessings on Judah, and feared Jehoshaphat’s God (2 Chronicles 17).

One crucial mistake increased Judah’s vulnerability.  Jehoshaphat entered into an unholy alliance with the wicked king Ahab, ruler  of Israel to the north. Their ensuing battle with Ramoth-gilead left Ahab dead and Jehoshaphat less secure (2 Chronicles 18).  As a consequence of Jehoshaphat’s disobedience, the Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites  joined forces near Judah’s border with conquest on their mind (2 Chronicles 20:-1-2).

The formerly faith-filled king  “was afraid” (20:3).  He knew the odds of a military victory were stacked against Judah.  After proclaiming a fast and a public assembly, Jehoshaphat admitted in a public prayer, “We are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what to do” (20:12).

In similar situations, a lot of rulers throughout history hid their heads in the sand and displayed a false bravado in front of their people, unwilling to admit the seriousness of the threat (like Adolf Hitler in the waning months of World War II).  Not Jehoshaphat.  He faced the facts and admitted his helplessness.  That took humility, spawned by desperation.

Honesty before God and others is the first step in handling fear. Not only admitting the severity of the threat, but confessing our own inability to handle it.  Others can’t pray for or with us–which happened later in 2 Chronicles 20– nor will God be prone to intervene, unless we own up to our desperate state, no matter how weak or immature it makes us feel.

As Ron Dunn put it, “No one trusts God until he has to.”  Let’s admit our “have to” situations so we can tap into the divine power needed to transform us, and/or our circumstances.  David didn’t write, “If I become afraid, I’ll put my trust in You.”  He said, “When I become afraid, I’ll put my trust in You” (Ps.56:3).

 

Asking for God’s Intervention

I’ve already mentioned that Jehoshaphat pleaded with God about the threat.  Digest the preparation for and the elements of his prayer in verses 2-12 of 2 Chronicles 20. Venting our anxiety through heartfelt prayer is a basic yet necessary step in turning fear into faith.  The king “turned his attention to seek the Lord” (20:3).

Paul and Peter echoed the necessity of pleading our case before God.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).  Cast “all your anxieties upon Him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).  If you’ve ever experienced the peace of God before the reason for your fear was removed, you know how spiritually precious God’s peace is.

Even if our faith is feeble and worry overshadows our peace, remember that the object of our faith is far more important than its amount.  I often cry, “Father,  I don’t have lots of faith, but what little I have I put in You.”

The first time I walked out on a lake in northern Wisconsin in January, I edged onto the ice with fear and trembling.  Folks from the southern U. S. like me don’t walk on water, even in the dead of winter.  But the locals were frolicking on the ice–one even driving his pickup truck across the lake!  That’s because they knew the ice was trustworthy. My trust level was off the charts low, but the ice was thick enough to support me and a whole lot more. I just needed better acquaintance with the ice to trust its capacity to support me.

And Jehoshaphat wasn’t the only person pleading Judah’s case.  “All Judah was standing before the Lord” that day (vs. 13).  One person in particular offered encouragement to Jehoshaphat and others:  Jahaziel.  God’s Spirit assured him that Judah would emerge victorious (20:14-17).  Jehoshaphat’s willingness to admit the need and call out to God fueled the prayers and faith of others in the assembly.

Who is praying for and with you as you face a fearful situation?  Do you labor before God in private prayer as you recruit others to intercede for you?

 

Acknowledging God’s Attributes

In his prayer, Jehoshaphat cited aspects of God’s character and Person.  Before mentioning the need that spawned his prayer, the king cited the Lord’s authority and sovereignty:  “Are You not God in the heavens? Are You not ruler over the kingdoms of the nations?” (vs. 6).  Then he added, “Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You” (vs. 6).

Jehoshaphat also referred to God’s past faithfulness in keeping promises to His people (vs. 7-11), an insight I’ll cover in more depth in the next post.

The king demonstrated a pattern woven through the pages of Scripture when people approached God with a desperate need:  they often began their prayer not with the request, but with a citation of one or more of God’s attributes.  Perhaps by focusing on God’s character, they reminded themselves of the sturdiness of the object of their faith, thus deepening their capacity to trust Him.

When the remnant who had returned to Jerusalem was threatened by foes and disheartened by the destruction of what had been a protective wall around the city, Nehemiah–still in Babylonia–reacted with fasting and prayer.  Yet before crying “Help!” Nehemiah said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him” (Neh. 1:5).

When  King Hezekiah faced a threat, like Jehoshaphat, he focused on God’s authority before making a plea. “O Lord, the God of Israel, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.  You have made heaven and earth” (2 Kings 19:15).

Jesus Himself, knowing the cross was looming, cited both His Heavenly Father’s love and power.  “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You” (Mark 14:36).  Only then did He ask for the cup of suffering to be removed (before yielding to the Father’s harsh plan).  The term “Abba” connotes intimacy and love between a father and son.

It’s helpful for us to know that God has the love that may compel Him to intervene for His children, as well as the power to intervene successfully if He so chooses. Love without power is weak sentimentality.  Power without love is tyranny.  Both attributes describe our God.

If you approach God today with a fear-inducing circumstance, what attributes will you cite in your prayer?  Why?  Why is it helpful to meditate on who God is before we  plead for Him to act on our behalf?

Oh, how I yearn for you to see the truths in this article not as a sermon outline, but as insights that will inflate your faith so it isn’t dwarfed by your worry.  I realize than ingesting these truths is a process and that turning fear into faith isn’t instantaneous, but if God’s Word is reliable, applying these points will instill more peace even before God acts to alleviate the threat.

Perhaps my primary takeaway from 2 Chronicles 20 is this:  faith isn’t necessarily the absence of fear, but the act of turning it over to a powerful, loving God.

Read this faith-boosting story again, paying special attention to the second half of the narrative.  That’s what I’ll cover in the next post.

And memorize Psalm 56:3-4:  “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.  In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can mere man do to me?”