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November 4- Plead Your Case

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2 Chronicles 20:12 The Message Bible: We’re helpless before this vandal horde ready to attack us. We don’t know what to do; we’re looking to you.

King Jehoshaphat had a crisis. Three kingdoms had joined forces in order to take him out. But Jehoshaphat also had a case. Back when his people, Israel, made their march from Egypt to the land God promised them, God wouldn’t let them touch these enemies. The book of Joshua (Old Testament) is all about Israel miraculously conquering all types of kings and kingdoms in order to settle in the land God had promised their forefather, Abraham. And instead of trusting in his own abilities as king, Jehoshaphat threw pride to the wind and appealed to the One who was ultimately responsible for Israel being on the land in the first place.

Take a moment and read verses 5-12 of 2 Chronicles 20 and listen to this desperate, humble and broken man plead his case to God. What I love the most is how he concludes his case with, “We don’t know what to do; we’re looking to you.” That’s powerful!

What would happen if you and I got up every morning and before we washed our face, brushed our teeth or even got that first cup of coffee, looked toward heaven with this confession? “Lord, I don’t know what to do today, so I am looking to you.” I fully believe those words would start the ball rolling. Our eyes will be off of our ability and on God’s availability to guide us every step of the way. Follow Jehoshaphat’s lead and lay your case and crisis before the Lord. Big or small, it’s all the same to Him. I can promise you, His way of handling the matters of life are quite a bit different than ours. But in the end, you will feel closer to Him because you know it was Him that brought you through.

Lorenzo Biblical Meditation: 2 Chronicles 20:5-12

September 1 – Like a Good Neighbor

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Withhold not good from those to whom it is due [its rightful owners], when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Proverbs 3:27 AMP
Some time ago, God helped me see that when it came to my fellow man, instead of seeing them as my brother,” I treated them like “just another.” My attitude could be characterized as “that ain’t my problem.”

Then something happens like your wife and your little ones have a flat on the highway and you are several hours away. You’ve got insurance, you’ve got AAA, but you have no control over the situation.

Will anybody stop to check on her? What kind of “anybody” will that anybody be? How will the service people treat my precious cargo in my absence? All of a sudden, you find yourself thinking and praying really hard about your “brother.”

Today’s Proverb is a bit stiff and sobering. But I think it’s a tad more digestible contextually in the more laid back Message translation:

Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbor “Maybe some other time” or “Try me tomorrow” when the money’s right there in your pocket. Proverbs 3:27-28 The Message

My hands, our hands, are God’s hands for our neighbors, our brothers, and our fellow man. From time to time on this journey, even the king’s carriage breaks down. So may we be found being neighborly to the brother, who in God’s eyes, is not just “another.” He is a major part of the story.