WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.660 Welcome to Pamoja Ministry. In our previous conversation, 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.900 we stood with Jehoshaphat on a battlefield, surrounded 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:09.560 by enemy commanders who believed they had finally 00:00:09.560 --> 00:00:11.800 found the king they had been ordered to kill. 00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:14.400 There was nowhere to run. There was no time to 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.140 develop another strategy. There was no opportunity 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:20.219 to explain the misunderstanding. The enemy was 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:22.699 already there. And in that moment, Scripture 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:25.339 tells us that Jehoshaphat did something incredibly 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:29.760 simple. He cried out, Then 2 Chronicles 18 -31 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.159 gives us one of those sentences in scripture 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:35.320 that can easily be read quickly, yet contains 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:38.439 an extraordinary revelation about the way God 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:41.679 intervenes in the lives of His children. It says, 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:52.560 I want us to stay with those words for a moment 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.020 because there is something here that we need 00:00:55.020 --> 00:00:58.159 to understand. God could have helped Jehoshaphat 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:01.240 without moving his enemies. He could have strengthened 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:04.000 Jehoshaphat to fight. He could have given him 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.760 unusual courage. He could have empowered his 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:09.560 soldiers. He could have shown him an escape route. 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:12.340 He could have given him wisdom to survive the 00:01:12.340 --> 00:01:15.019 attack. All of those things would have been divine 00:01:15.019 --> 00:01:17.879 help, but that is not what the text emphasizes. 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:21.519 Jehoshaphat cried out, the Lord helped him, and 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:25.659 God moved them. God did not merely change Jehoshaphat. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.180 God changed what was happening around Jehoshaphat. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:31.939 And there is a major difference, because sometimes 00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:35.120 when we ask God for help, we assume that God's 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.780 answer will always be to give us enough strength 00:01:37.780 --> 00:01:41.540 to survive what is coming. And sometimes he does. 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:44.420 There are battles God will strengthen you to 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:47.420 fight. There are storms God will give you grace 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:50.159 to endure. There are valleys through which he 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:52.989 will give you strength to continue walking. There 00:01:52.989 --> 00:01:55.769 are seasons where the situation does not immediately 00:01:55.769 --> 00:01:59.049 change, but somehow God changes you while you 00:01:59.049 --> 00:02:02.269 are inside it. Paul understood that kind of grace. 00:02:02.549 --> 00:02:05.069 He prayed repeatedly concerning what he called 00:02:05.069 --> 00:02:08.409 a thorn in his flesh, asking God to take it away. 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:12.530 But instead, the Lord told him, My grace is sufficient 00:02:12.530 --> 00:02:15.389 for thee, for my strength is made perfect in 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:18.250 weakness. God did not remove what Paul asked 00:02:18.250 --> 00:02:21.599 him to remove. God gave Paul sufficient grace 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.680 to live faithfully through it. That is divine 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:27.759 help. And we should never underestimate that 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:31.120 kind of help. Sometimes the miracle is not that 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.479 the storm disappears. Sometimes the miracle is 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.400 that you remain standing while the storm continues. 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:42.159 Sometimes God calms the sea. Sometimes God strengthens 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:45.439 the sailor. Sometimes God removes the mountain. 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:48.479 Sometimes God gives you strength to climb it. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.800 Sometimes God opens the prison. Sometimes He 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:54.919 gives you a song while you are still inside it. 00:02:55.379 --> 00:03:00.419 Both are God. Both are grace. Both are evidence 00:03:00.419 --> 00:03:04.319 of His presence. But Jehoshaphat's experience 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:08.060 introduces us to another dimension. There are 00:03:08.060 --> 00:03:10.719 moments when God does not merely strengthen you 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.659 to face what is coming. God intervenes with what 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:17.719 is coming. The text says, God moved them. Think 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:20.400 about that. Jehoshaphat's enemies had already 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:23.020 made a decision. They had already identified 00:03:23.020 --> 00:03:25.620 him. They had already surrounded him. They had 00:03:25.620 --> 00:03:28.360 already begun moving toward him. Their intention 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:31.300 was established. Their direction was established. 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:34.280 Their military orders were established. Everything 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.379 appeared to be moving toward one conclusion, 00:03:36.580 --> 00:03:39.439 but somewhere between their intention and its 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:43.800 fulfillment, God intervened. And suddenly the 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:47.340 people who were coming toward Jehoshaphat, began 00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:50.800 moving away from him. There are things in life 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.919 that you cannot move. There are decisions you 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:57.819 cannot reverse. There are hearts you cannot change. 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:01.180 There are conversations you are not present to 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:04.460 influence. There are rooms you cannot enter. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.580 There are circumstances beyond your authority. 00:04:08.139 --> 00:04:10.960 There are systems bigger than you. There are 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:14.560 people whose intentions you cannot control. And 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.300 one of the greatest sources of anxiety in human 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:19.720 life is discovering that something important 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:22.480 to your future is happening in a place where 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:25.680 you have no influence. You cannot control what 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.879 they say. You cannot control what they decide. 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:32.319 You cannot control what they think. You cannot 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:35.779 control what they intend. Jehoshaphat could not 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:38.360 stop those commanders from believing he was their 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.379 target. But he knew someone who could intervene. 00:04:41.629 --> 00:04:44.930 And perhaps this is where some of us have exhausted 00:04:44.930 --> 00:04:47.949 ourselves unnecessarily. We have been trying 00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:51.009 to move things that only God can move. Trying 00:04:51.009 --> 00:04:54.269 to change hearts we cannot change. Trying to 00:04:54.269 --> 00:04:57.430 force doors we cannot open. Trying to control 00:04:57.430 --> 00:05:00.730 conversations we cannot hear. Trying to defend 00:05:00.730 --> 00:05:03.290 ourselves in places where we are not present. 00:05:03.589 --> 00:05:06.209 Trying to manage outcomes that are completely 00:05:06.209 --> 00:05:09.750 beyond our authority. And eventually, God brings 00:05:09.750 --> 00:05:13.230 us to the place where our prayer becomes, Lord, 00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:17.490 I cannot move this. If it is going to move, you 00:05:17.490 --> 00:05:21.170 will have to move it. That is not weakness. That 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:24.529 is recognition. It is recognizing the boundary 00:05:24.529 --> 00:05:28.430 between human responsibility and divine sovereignty. 00:05:29.110 --> 00:05:31.689 Jehoshaphat had reached that boundary. He could 00:05:31.689 --> 00:05:35.209 cry, but God had to move. And I wonder how many 00:05:35.209 --> 00:05:37.810 times God has moved something for us without 00:05:37.810 --> 00:05:40.990 us ever knowing it. How many conversations changed 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.750 before they reached us? How many decisions were 00:05:43.750 --> 00:05:46.670 reconsidered? How many dangers passed without 00:05:46.670 --> 00:05:50.160 our awareness? How many plans never materialized? 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:53.220 How many people intended something that somehow 00:05:53.220 --> 00:05:56.319 never happened? How many roads were closed because 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:58.860 something was waiting farther ahead? How many 00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:02.300 delays frustrated us while unknowingly protecting 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:05.639 us? How many times did something move away from 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:08.819 us while we were sleeping? We may never know, 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:11.740 because one of the mysteries of divine intervention 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:14.819 is that you do not always see the intervention 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:18.339 taking place. Sometimes all you see is the result. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:21.500 Jehoshaphat cried out. Then the men departed. 00:06:21.699 --> 00:06:24.339 He could see them leaving. But could he see God 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:27.560 moving them? No. He saw the effect. Scripture 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:31.040 reveals the cause. God moved them. And this is 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.629 important because there are moments when What 00:06:33.629 --> 00:06:37.370 appears to us to be a human change of mind may 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:40.449 actually be the invisible hand of God, working 00:06:40.449 --> 00:06:43.329 through human decisions. The commanders eventually 00:06:43.329 --> 00:06:45.990 recognized that Jehoshaphat was not the king 00:06:45.990 --> 00:06:48.769 of Israel they were seeking. From a purely human 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:52.470 perspective, someone could say, they simply realized 00:06:52.470 --> 00:06:55.370 they had the wrong man. And that would appear 00:06:55.370 --> 00:06:58.290 to explain everything. But scripture takes us 00:06:58.290 --> 00:07:01.410 behind what human eyes could observe. The Bible 00:07:01.410 --> 00:07:05.199 says, The Lord helped him, and God moved them 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:08.639 to depart from him. That means heaven was involved 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.639 in what looked like an ordinary battlefield decision. 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:14.360 And perhaps that is one of the reasons divine 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.920 intervention remains a mystery. Because not every 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.019 intervention looks supernatural from the outside. 00:07:21.209 --> 00:07:24.810 Sometimes a sea opens. Sometimes fire cannot 00:07:24.810 --> 00:07:29.310 burn. Sometimes chains physically fall. But sometimes 00:07:29.310 --> 00:07:32.689 someone simply changes direction and only God 00:07:32.689 --> 00:07:35.589 knows what happened inside that moment. This 00:07:35.589 --> 00:07:39.250 is why we must be careful not to define miracles 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:43.410 only by spectacular events. Sometimes the miracle 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:46.490 is the phone call you never received. Sometimes 00:07:46.490 --> 00:07:48.949 the miracle is the accident that never happened. 00:07:49.819 --> 00:07:52.600 Sometimes the miracle is the person who suddenly 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:56.199 said, I've changed my mind. Sometimes the miracle 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:59.259 is the opportunity that unexpectedly opened. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:02.399 Sometimes the miracle is the enemy who simply 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:06.100 walked away. You saw the person move. God saw 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:09.459 his hand moving them. And this pattern appears 00:08:09.459 --> 00:08:12.680 throughout scripture. When Israel left Egypt, 00:08:13.139 --> 00:08:15.939 Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them. But 00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:19.600 at the Red Sea, God intervened in a way no human 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.639 being could manufacture. When Daniel was thrown 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:26.319 into the lion's den, God did not remove Daniel 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:30.300 from the den immediately. Instead, God intervened 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:34.440 with the lions. Daniel later testified, My God 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:37.200 hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lion's 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:41.320 mouths, that they have not hurt me. Daniel could 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:46.080 not shut those mouths. God could. When Shadrach, 00:08:46.139 --> 00:08:49.019 Meshach, and Abednego entered the furnace, God 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:51.419 did not prevent them from being thrown into the 00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:55.080 fire. Instead, he intervened with the power of 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:58.580 the fire. The furnace remained hot, the flames 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:01.559 remained real, but what had the natural ability 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:05.019 to destroy them could not accomplish its assignment. 00:09:06.019 --> 00:09:08.700 When Peter was sleeping between soldiers in Acts 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:12.299 chapter 12, bound with chains and guarded inside 00:09:12.299 --> 00:09:16.539 a prison, Peter could not open those doors. He 00:09:16.539 --> 00:09:20.139 could not remove those chains. He could not overpower 00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:23.620 those guards. But while the church was praying, 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:27.000 heaven entered a place human help could not reach. 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:32.639 The angel came, the chains fell, the doors opened, 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:37.299 and Peter walked out. Again and again scripture 00:09:37.299 --> 00:09:41.159 reveals this pattern. Human impossibility becomes 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:44.120 a stage upon which divine possibility is revealed. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:47.539 But there is another layer we must not miss. 00:09:48.259 --> 00:09:51.039 Divine intervention does not mean that every 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:53.679 difficult circumstance will disappear simply 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:57.200 because we cry out. The same Bible that tells 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:00.460 us God moved Jehoshaphat's enemies also tells 00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:04.120 us about believers who endured suffering faithfully. 00:10:04.779 --> 00:10:08.220 Paul knew deliverance, but Paul also knew hardship. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:12.320 Peter experienced miraculous prison escape, but 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.919 later gave his life for Christ. Jesus himself 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:19.220 prayed in Gethsemane, and the cup was not removed. 00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:22.879 So our confidence cannot be built on the idea 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.940 that God must always change every circumstance 00:10:25.940 --> 00:10:29.159 according to our preferred outcome. Our confidence 00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:32.340 is deeper than that. We trust the God who decides 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:35.299 how His help will come. Sometimes His help is 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:39.230 strength. Sometimes His help is endurance. Sometimes 00:10:39.230 --> 00:10:42.710 his help is wisdom. Sometimes his help is peace. 00:10:43.210 --> 00:10:46.169 Sometimes his help is a person. Sometimes his 00:10:46.169 --> 00:10:49.509 help is an open door. Sometimes his help is a 00:10:49.509 --> 00:10:53.669 closed door. And sometimes his help is intervention. 00:10:54.289 --> 00:10:58.610 He moves the thing. And this is why Psalm 121 00:10:58.610 --> 00:11:02.190 begins with such a profound question. I will 00:11:02.190 --> 00:11:05.309 lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence 00:11:05.309 --> 00:11:09.919 cometh my help. Then comes the answer, my help 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:13.679 cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. 00:11:14.740 --> 00:11:17.179 Think about the qualification scripture gives 00:11:17.179 --> 00:11:20.500 your helper. The one helping you is not merely 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:23.879 someone stronger than you. He made heaven and 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:27.940 earth. So when Jehoshaphat cried out, he was 00:11:27.940 --> 00:11:30.500 not calling upon someone operating under the 00:11:30.500 --> 00:11:33.629 same limitations he was facing. He was calling 00:11:33.629 --> 00:11:36.330 upon the God who stands above the battlefield. 00:11:37.570 --> 00:11:40.909 Jehoshaphat saw chariots. God saw everything. 00:11:41.889 --> 00:11:45.750 Jehoshaphat saw soldiers. God saw their hearts. 00:11:46.610 --> 00:11:50.250 Jehoshaphat saw himself surrounded. God saw a 00:11:50.250 --> 00:11:53.570 way of escape that did not even require Jehoshaphat 00:11:53.570 --> 00:11:56.529 to create one. And that is why there are moments 00:11:56.529 --> 00:11:59.909 when faith must stop asking, how am I going to 00:11:59.909 --> 00:12:03.679 move this? And begin asking, Who is my helper? 00:12:04.299 --> 00:12:07.220 Because once you know who your helper is, you 00:12:07.220 --> 00:12:09.659 understand that your deliverance is not limited 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:12.519 to the possibilities you can currently imagine. 00:12:13.379 --> 00:12:17.080 God can strengthen you, but God can also move 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:20.480 them. And now we are beginning to understand 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.019 why Psalm 91 connects deliverance with knowing 00:12:24.019 --> 00:12:27.419 his name. God says, because he hath known my 00:12:27.419 --> 00:12:31.620 name, then he shall call upon me and I will answer 00:12:31.620 --> 00:12:35.320 him. and eventually I will deliver him, knowing 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:38.460 the name changes the cry. Because when a child 00:12:38.460 --> 00:12:42.259 cries, Father, that cry carries relationship. 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:46.399 And when the believer cries, Jesus, we are not 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.960 speaking a magical formula. We are calling upon 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:53.500 a person. We are calling upon the one to whom 00:12:53.500 --> 00:12:56.600 scripture says all authority in heaven and earth 00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:59.860 has been given. We are calling upon the name 00:12:59.860 --> 00:13:03.720 that Philippians says is above every name. We 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:07.120 are calling upon the one before whom every knee 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:10.840 will ultimately bow. And this is where our journey 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:14.379 is going, because Jehoshaphat teaches us that 00:13:14.379 --> 00:13:16.980 there comes a moment when you may not have the 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:20.980 strength to fight, the wisdom to solve, the influence 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:24.779 to change, or the ability to escape, but you 00:13:24.779 --> 00:13:28.759 can still cry. And when you cry, you are crying 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.960 to someone who is not surrounded simply because 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:35.159 you are surrounded. Your limitation does not 00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:39.000 become God's limitation. Your impossibility does 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:42.980 not become God's impossibility. Your locked door 00:13:42.980 --> 00:13:46.519 does not lock heaven out. Your enemy's decision 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:50.080 does not remove God's sovereignty. And what has 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.500 already started moving toward you is not beyond 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:57.149 the authority of God to redirect. Jehoshaphat 00:13:57.149 --> 00:14:01.929 cried out, the Lord helped him, and God moved 00:14:01.929 --> 00:14:05.490 them. Perhaps that is the word somebody needs 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:09.549 to carry away from this conversation. Stop measuring 00:14:09.549 --> 00:14:13.230 God's ability by your ability. Stop assuming 00:14:13.230 --> 00:14:16.789 that because you cannot move it, it cannot move. 00:14:18.190 --> 00:14:20.669 Stop assuming that because you cannot see an 00:14:20.669 --> 00:14:24.779 exit, there isn't one. Stop assuming that because 00:14:24.779 --> 00:14:28.179 the decision has already been made, God has nothing 00:14:28.179 --> 00:14:31.580 left to say. Stop assuming that because they 00:14:31.580 --> 00:14:35.500 have surrounded you, the story is finished. There 00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:39.299 is still a God above the battlefield, and sometimes 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:43.539 his answer will be, I will strengthen you. Sometimes 00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:47.059 his answer will be, my grace is sufficient for 00:14:47.059 --> 00:14:51.159 you. Sometimes his answer will be, stand still. 00:14:51.930 --> 00:14:55.629 Sometimes his answer will be, this battle is 00:14:55.629 --> 00:14:59.610 not yours. And sometimes without explanation, 00:15:00.529 --> 00:15:04.029 without warning, without your assistance, you 00:15:04.029 --> 00:15:07.289 will look again at what was surrounding you and 00:15:07.289 --> 00:15:11.009 discover that it is moving away. And when someone 00:15:11.009 --> 00:15:15.409 asks you, how did that happen? Perhaps you will 00:15:15.409 --> 00:15:18.289 not have an explanation. Perhaps all you will 00:15:18.289 --> 00:15:21.960 be able to say is, I cried out. The Lord helped 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:26.500 me and God moved them. That is the mystery of 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:27.639 divine intervention.