Monday, September 22, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 2 Chronicles 19-24
Key Verse
2 Chronicles 21:17 — “And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.”
Devotional Thought
Jehoshaphat is one of the more sympathetic kings in Chronicles—a man who genuinely sought the LORD, who sent teachers throughout Judah, who appointed judges with the solemn charge, “ye judge not for man, but for the LORD.” Yet he had a fatal weakness for alliances. Jehu the seer met him returning from battle with Ahab and asked the piercing question: “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD?” Later, Jehoshaphat joined Ahaziah of Israel in building ships for Tarshish, and the LORD broke the works. The lesson runs through his whole reign: good men can still yoke themselves to the wrong partners, and the consequences outlive them.
But 2 Chronicles 20 shows us the same king at his best. When a great multitude—Moabites, Ammonites, and others—came against Judah, Jehoshaphat “set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” His prayer in the house of the LORD is one of the most honest in all Scripture: “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.” That is a prayer any of us can pray in a season of overwhelm. The answer came through Jahaziel: “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” And then the strangest battle plan in the Bible—singers appointed before the army, praising “the beauty of holiness” as they marched. When they began to sing, the LORD set ambushments, and the enemy destroyed itself.
The aftermath is tender. Three days gathering spoil, a fourth day of blessing in the Valley of Berachah—the Valley of Blessing. They returned to Jerusalem with psalteries, harps, and trumpets, and “the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.” Yet the chapters that follow are a warning. Jehoram, his son, married Ahab’s daughter, murdered his brothers, and died of a loathsome disease, “departed without being desired.” Ahaziah followed his mother Athaliah’s counsel into wickedness and was slain. The good heritage of one father did not automatically pass to the next generation.
As September turns toward autumn and the days shorten, this is a word for us. We may be faithful in our own generation and still watch the next one drift. We may have a long record of seeking God and still be tempted to yoke ourselves to what He hates. And we may face multitudes—of bills, of worries, of griefs—that we cannot possibly fight. Jehoshaphat’s prayer and Jehoshaphat’s singers show us the way: eyes on the LORD, praise before the battle, and the quiet rest that only He gives.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you currently “helping the ungodly” or yoking yourself to a partnership, habit, or influence that quietly pulls you away from wholehearted devotion to the LORD?
- When you face a “great multitude” you cannot fight, do you run first to strategizing and worry, or do you set yourself to seek the LORD with the honest prayer, “neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee”?
Prayer
O LORD God of our fathers, Thou art God in heaven and rulest over all the kingdoms of the earth; in Thine hand is power and might, and none is able to withstand Thee. We come as Jehoshaphat came, confessing that we have no might against the multitudes that rise against us, and that we often do not know what to do. Turn our eyes upon Thee. Break in us every unequal yoke, every alliance with what Thou hatest. Teach us to stand still, to sing before the battle, and to see Thy salvation. Give us rest round about, and let our children after us find Thee faithful. In the name of Jesus, Amen.