2.204 Set Himself to Seek the Lord

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends, it's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Well, my friends, it has begun for my second oldest daughter.

She is now set apart to serve as a missionary for Jesus Christ and His Church here on the earth. And so for the second time inside of Savory Salt recordings, I have a daughter serving on a mission and I'm sure that some of her experiences will sprinkle in to our experiences here on Savory Salt. That thought has me thinking specifically about the message for today and the verse for today because I think she has lived this verse and experienced the benefits and blessings of it.

We're going to look directly at our verse for today in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. And really today I'm going to talk about most of chapter 20, but our verse for today is going to come in verse 3, right off the front end of things, as Jehoshaphat finds himself surrounded pretty much by the armies against him. In verse 3 it says, "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." Now, what are your first reactions when you consider being afraid?

In most cases for me it turns to kind of the frenetic chaos of not knowing what's coming on the backside. And while I have an experience being surrounded by literal armies, I can think of times in my life. I know that she's experienced that and now off she goes to serve and to help.

I want to also share a thought with it that comes from the New King James Version of the Bible. I referenced this one before, but it's been quite some time. I read a Bible that has some additional annotations by John Maxwell, one of my mentors and kind of a leadership expert in the professional community. "The Bible of Leadership"—the concept of Jehoshaphat's story, he coins the term responsibility for the things Jehoshaphat does.

And this is just some quick thoughts of the way that Jehoshaphat really approaches his situation. Number one: He fought his fear. He was terrified, but he didn't let it paralyze him.

He stayed enough to think and to turn to the Lord. Two: He sought the Lord. Before he did anything else, he sought perspective by praying and seeking wisdom from God.

Three: He brought the synergy. He didn't act alone, but he gathered people to inform them of the issue. Four: He caught the vision.

He listened to the voice of the Lord until he knew what to do and succeeded just as God had predicted. My friends, the blueprints for success are written all over the pages of the scriptures. Here we see one: a time that starts out being completely surrounded by armies, chaos, wonder, fear.

What's going to happen? And then we start off the recipe with: "Set yourself to seek the Lord and proclaim a fast." What a great recipe for tackling the fears that we. That's all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.