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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are James 2; Genesis 15; 2 Chronicles 20; Isaiah 41.
2 Chronicles 20:1-12
After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). 3 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. 7 Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, 9 ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ 10 And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— 11 behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
It was a cold rainy Tuesday night in Brooklyn, New York (no, this isn’t the beginning of a bad novel!). People stood outside of the Brooklyn Tabernacle waiting for the prayer service to begin. Pastor David Schultz and I were inside visiting with Jim Cymbala, the pastor of the amazing prayer-centered, God-honoring church. When the doors finally opened 2500 people found their way to their seats in the renovated former theater. When the service began people sang, listened, and prayed.
We stood together in groups of 4 or 5 people. Total strangers prayed for us and we for them. Then came the invitation to come forward for a special time of prayer. Pastor Cymbala had Pastor Schultz and me kneel on the steps in the front of the auditorium. People gathered around us and he prayed for us as pastors, and for many others as well. Others were praying during that time too.
It was a God-honoring experience. In fact, that was my complete assessment and impression of the night. God was being honored. He was being honored by people calling on his name, praying to him, praising him, pleading for loved ones’ salvation and for release from addictions of all kinds.
I am reminded of this when I see the phrase, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (v. 2 Chronicles 20:12). On the one hand this is a act of repentance, an acknowledgement of our need for help beyond ourselves and beyond our strength. It could be an act merely of surrender. But it is more than that. It is an act of faith, and a confession that God has the answer to our needs.
That is true not only in times of urgent distress, and when we are aware of the need. God is the answer to our ultimate need for life, hope, healing, salvation, peace, and joy. When we are in distress, we look to Christ, God’s ultimate answer to our needs. When we are in times of peace and wellbeing, we look to Christ, the source of true peace and ultimate wellbeing. In any case, we do well to echo the prayer of Jehoshaphat, and keep our eyes on Jesus.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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