While we want to be careful not to over-spiritualize the history we read in Scripture, there is an element of object lesson to us in these stories. I Corinthians 10:11 tells us, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.” So let’s not miss the warning in these stories, and “be careful so that (we) don’t fall.”
What do you learn about God from these stories of His actions in the affairs of men? Does it make you wonder if He is as involved in men’s affairs today? Does He do miraculous works on behalf of His people? If not, why not, since He tells us in Malachi 3:6 that “I, the Lord, do not change”?
If God viewed the battle against the invading armies (as armies did routinely in those days for no other reason than to take whatever they could from their target), as His battle, how much more that would be true for the battles we fight with the enemy that is ultimately His enemy. Satan would care nothing for us, care not even enough to engage us in battle, if not for God’s love for us. Does God abandon us to fight this enemy on our own? When the enemy comes against us to attack, we know that Jesus is with us (Matthew 28:20) and “is able to keep (us) from falling and to present (us) before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24). We know that “He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20), and that by that power we have all we need to live a godly life (II Peter 1:3). “That power is the same as the mighty power He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in heavenly places far above” any other power there is (Ephesians 1:19-20), so the power at work in us has already been demonstrated to be great enough to defeat sin and its works. Thus, based on the whole counsel of Scripture, I believe we can count on God’s help in our battles just as He helped Jehoshaphat and His Old Testament people. Just like Jehoshaphat, we’re going to have to do our part in winning those victories, but we can count on powerful help from God. What does this story suggest our part is in winning victory over our enemy?
It might have seemed to Jehoshaphat like an obvious good to ally himself with Israel; after all, they were also God’s chosen people, weren’t they? He sought God, but he failed to seek God in the matter of this alliance, and suffered God’s wrath. Again, this serves to warn us that we don’t ever need to think that we have God figured out or are beyond need of His guidance.
That Jehoshaphat’s family and nation suffered the consequences of his poor judgment reminds us that our sin is never just a private affair, but can have impacts that we can’t foresee. How painful it is when I see my loved ones suffer for my sin. There is much cause for us to hate sin and want to be free from it; how blessed we are that we can be!