UTTER DEPENDENCE UPON GOD

The fourth step to victory is perhaps the most critical step of all because it is so hard for us to admit that we can’t do it ourselves and even more difficult to be willing to take our hands off.

Consider the greatness of this man Jehoshaphat. He was their king, the leader of the people. In their eyes he was their defender and deliverer. There have been many leaders in history who would rather drag their whole nation down to defeat than to openly admit that they were not strong enough for the battle.

You have an invisible shield that is established through self-sufficiency that is very difficult for even God to penetrate. As long as you think that you have everything in hand and can fight your own battles, the Lord will let you do just that.

No doubt at this climactic moment when Judah faced certain annihilation, Jehoshaphat remembered the words of the Lord to Solomon, his predecessor, as he dedicated this very temple that he stood before:

“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” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

The words of King David may have also rung in Jehoshaphat’s ears:

“He forgetteth not the cry of the humble” (Psalm 9:12).

As King Jehoshaphat stood before the house of the Lord with all of his people gathered with him, he prayed: “God, I want you to know something; I am not standing here before you in my own strength. I want you to know that I completely recognize my own inability to cope with this situation. It does not take a military genius to understand that we are so outnumbered and outflanked that it is beyond human strategy, human experience, or natural understanding to resolve.”

The Scripture is very succinct and we see the King going immediately before the people to pray; but you had better believe that there was a period of dying in the life of the King before this spirit of humility took over. I will guarantee you that if there was any way that he could have figured out how to do it himself, he would have done it because that is human nature.

We are a race of people who make up the proverb, “God helps those who help themselves.” This simply is not true in the Word of God. God is teaching us to be utterly dependent on Him.