HealingStrong's Around the Word

Episode 30 - The Jehoshaphat Series: The Hard Truth (2 Chronicles 19:1-3 NIV)

• HealingStrong • Episode 9

Share episode

We explore Jehoshaphat's return to Jerusalem after unwisely aligning himself with wicked King Ahab, focusing on how God balances judgment with mercy when we stray from His path.

• God sent prophet Jehu to confront Jehoshaphat about his poor alliance
• Despite his error, God showed mercy because Jehoshaphat had "set his heart on seeking God"
• The importance of having truth-telling friends who will confront us when we stray
• God's mercies are new every morning when we return to Him

Suggested Resources:

BIBLE PLAN - Trusting God's Plan in the Battle: Lessons from the Life of Jehoshaphat

PODCAST - Genesis to Revelation Bible Reading

TOOLS - Refresh Your Spirit through God's Word


Please visit our website at healingstrong.org to learn more about our mission and community groups.

HELP US GROW:

Your donation enables us to continue offering this podcast and other resources for free supporting those facing cancer and chronic illness, caregivers and others. Every donation makes a big difference. Please donate here.

Speaker 1:

we all get in that place where we walk away from what the Lord has told us to do, and, as believers in Jesus, that's, the one anchor that we have is our salvation in Christ alone. That's it, he's it.

Speaker 2:

Well, hi there, my name's Cheryl and you're listening to Healing Strong's Around the Word. We're friends sitting around the table who love God and we love digging deep into His Word. Each day, you'll hear me reading a Bible passage, and then we'll chat about what we're learning from it. Today, I'll be reading 2 Chronicles 19, verses 1 through 3 from the NIV version of the Bible. So join us Around the Word of the Bible. So join us around the word. 2 Chronicles 19, verses 1 through 3. When Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is on you. There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God. And there you have it. That was the Bible reading for today. Now let's listen in on what Susie, Angie, Jeff and myself were finding about Jehoshaphat around the Word.

Speaker 3:

Jehoshaphat returns to Judah unharmed from the battle, so he goes back to Jerusalem with his people. But when he arrives back, Jehu the prophet went out to meet him and said to the king it's almost like a judgment. Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord? It's a scolding that you knew you shouldn't do, that. You allied yourself with a really awful king, and so why did you do that? He said you should not do that, and so he's being scolded. And so, in that the Lord still had mercy on him. He didn't cast him away, he said, because you had removed the Asherah from the land and set your heart to seek God. So God doesn't just look at each individual thing, he's looking at us as a whole. He's looking at our hearts, and so he had mercy on him.

Speaker 4:

And his mercies are new every morning. It makes me think of Romans 8, 28. All things work to the good. So Jehoshaphat made some mistakes, yeah, but the Lord allowed it to work for his good. He came home uninjured I mean, he's in this awful battle and he's uninjured and of course, his King Ahab, completely died, shot an arrow right in one spot and killed him. So that's what happens to the one whose heart is turned toward the Lord.

Speaker 2:

I also noticed too that it just hit me when this all kind of went sideways for Jehoshaphat. He had left his home and he went elsewhere and aligned himself with someone. That wasn't good, but funny that when he comes back, who's one of the first people to greet him? But a godly prophet. So a lot of times we have our circle of friends, our advisors, our counselors, and sometimes we go walk away from them and go do our own thing we go walk away from them and go do our own thing.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I hope there's always a Jehu there for me to bring me back a prophet that the Lord will allow to speak to me and say should you really have been doing that?

Speaker 1:

This is so good because it's just a few verses and you know, just talking about it really reminds me that we all get in that place where we walk away from what the Lord has told us to do, and the one verse that comes to mind for me is restore to me the joy of my salvation, and as believers in Jesus, that's the one anchor that we have is our salvation in Christ alone. That's it, he's it.

Speaker 2:

Amen. Yeah, good lesson today. I know it was an I told you so kind of moment for Jehoshaphat, but he took it really well. And I'm just wondering for all you listeners out there do you have a person like Jehu in your life that's going to tell you the truth, even if it's hard? They're going to have that hard talk with you. That's a good person to have and just really start thinking about your friends and think of who that is and being that kind of friend for other people. It's not fun to have that conversation, but you'll see that a lot of amazing things happened in Jehoshaphat. He turned around because of that. Anyway, thank you so much for joining us for Healing Strong's Around the Word podcast. I hope you were encouraged to dig deeper into God's Word. You can find out more about who we are healingstrongorg at our website and find out about our awesome community groups. Believe me, people have life change that happens in them, so just check it out. Until next time, remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.