The commitments we make with those who hate Jesus will influence us to make decisions that Jesus hates...

This week we are looking at the life of a king of the Jewish people named Jehoshaphat. Wednesday, we saw that as a result of the commitment that he had made to King Ahab, King Jehoshaphat ignored the warning of the prophet Micaiah. As a result of the commitment that he had made to King Ahab, King Jehoshaphat allowed himself to be used by King Ahab in a way that placed him in a vulnerable situation. As a result of the commitment that he had made to King Ahab, King Jehoshaphat almost lost his life. Only the Lord’s gracious intervention spared King Jehoshaphat’s life.

The prophet Jehu, confronted King Jehoshaphat by exposing the king's problem was the decisions that he was making because of the commitments he had made.  Then, shortly after this confrontation with the prophet, we see King Jehoshaphat’s devotion and trust in the Lord put to the test. Faced with a foreign army that threatened to remove the Jewish people from that land that the Lord had promised them, King Jehoshaphat turned his face to seek the Lord.

King Jehoshaphat led the Jewish people to gather together in the capital city of Jerusalem to fast and seek the Lord’s protection and intervention in the lives of the nation. Today, we pick up where we left off Wednesday by looking at how the Lord responded to King Jehoshaphat’s request in verse 13:

 All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their infants, their wives and their children. Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, 'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. 'Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 'You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you."

Now imagine yourself as King Jehoshaphat. Place yourself in his shoes. How would you respond to Lord’s answer of your prayer through one of the priests? How would you respond to this battle plan: “Go out and face this foreign army; here is where they are going to attack you from. Just go out there without any weapons and watch what I am going to do to them.”  How would you respond to that battle plan? We see King Jehoshaphat’s response in verse 18:

 Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel, with a very loud voice. They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed." When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, "Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting."

King Jehoshaphat responded to the Lord’s answer to prayer in two specific ways. First, King Jehoshaphat led the Jewish people in worship of the Lord. Second, the following morning, King Jehoshaphat led the Jewish nation out to meet the foreign army.

And as the Jewish nation went out to meet this foreign army, King Jehoshaphat encouraged he Jewish people to place their trust in the Lord and His promise through the word of the Lord. And as this foreign army approached to attack, King Jehoshaphat led the Jewish people to sing a worship song to the Lord. Ezra then records for us how the Lord responded to the Jewish nation’s demonstration of devotion and trust in verse 22:

When they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

Can you imagine what that must have looked like? Can you imagine what it must have looked like to see this foreign invading army suddenly turn their weapons on one another so as to destroy one another? King Jehoshaphat’s devotion and trust in the Lord led the Jewish people to place their devotion and trust in the Lord. And once again, the Lord demonstrated to the Jewish people that He was a promise maker and a promise keeper.

Now if King Jehoshaphat’s story had ended there, King Jehoshaphat’s story would have been a great story. However, King Jehoshaphat’s story did not end there. Instead, King Jehoshaphat’s decided to make a decision that would result in his story taking a turn for the worse. A decision that Ezra records for us in 2 Chronicles 20:35. Let’s look at that decision together:

After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. He acted wickedly in so doing. So he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, "Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your works." So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.

Once again King Jehoshaphat made a decision to enter into an alliance with a king from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This time, King Jehoshaphat allied himself with King Ahaziah, who was his son in law, on a joint business venture that was designed to strengthen both of their economies. However, Ezra explains that King Jehoshaphat acted wickedly in doing so.

You see, King Jehoshaphat acted wickedly because King Jehoshaphat entered into a commitment to help those who hated the Lord, as King Ahaziah also led the Northern Kingdom of Israel to worship false gods instead of the One True God.   And once again, King Jehoshaphat was met by a messenger from the Lord with a message from the Lord. "Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your works." The Lord responded to King Jehoshaphat’s decision by destroying the ships before they could ever sail on their joint venture.

And it is in the life of King Jehoshaphat that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth that has the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today. And that timeless truth is this: The commitments we make with those who hate Jesus will influence us to make decisions that Jesus hates. Just as it was for King Jehoshaphat; just as it has been for humanity throughout history; the commitments we make with those who hate Jesus will influence us to make decisions that Jesus hates.

Just as it was for King Jehoshaphat, when we make commitments with those who hate Jesus, those commitments place us in a position where we must honor our commitments.  Because we are influenced by what influences us, just as it was for King Jehoshaphat, when we make commitments with those who hate Jesus, those commitments will influence the decisions that we make as a result of those commitments.

And just like King Jehoshaphat, when we make commitments with those who hate Jesus, we will often be influenced to make decisions that go against the message and teachings of Jesus. We will be influenced to make decisions that oppose Jesus, decisions that Jesus hates. 

So here is a question to consider: Are you making commitments with those who hate Jesus? Are you making relational commitments with those who hate Jesus? Are you making business commitments with those who hate Jesus?