It’s Time To Believe

Usually, we wait for circumstances to become favorable before we are ready to believe. We fear getting our hopes up lest we get disappointed.

But the time to believe is now, and it’s usually when we face different situations.

In King Jehosaphat’s world, things had gone from better to worse. A great company of enemy lands were coming to invade Israel. And no one knew what to do.

Instead of whining or complaining about how unfair life is, the whole nation sought God. From the oldest to the youngest, they “stood before the Lord.”

And God spoke to them. “Do not be afraid for this great multitude, nor be dismayed because of them. For this fight is not yours, it is God’s. You won’t need to fight; instead, stand still and you will see the salvation of the Lord.”

When trouble is on the attack against you, that is not the counsel you are looking for. You want answers. You want to plan. But what you need most is a word from God.

It’s time to believe God speaks to people. His word — the Bible — is God speaking to us all the time. To often, we are never seeking what God is saying. We are too busy telling God what our problems are, accusing him of not caring about us.

But the Bible reminds us that faith comes to us by hearing His words.

When God spoke to King Jehoshaphat and all the people, they chose to believe. The king said to all the people, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe His Ministers, so shall you prosper.”

God’s promises to us are our purpose to help us. When we are facing trouble, He tells us:

He will guide us (Romans 8:14), He will give us wisdom (James 1:5-5), He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:6), He will forgive us (1 Peter 2:24), He will heal us (1 Peter 2:24), He will give us what we need when we ask in His name (John 16:24), He will strengthen us (Isaiah 40:29), He will teach us to profit (Isaiah 40:17), He will meet our needs (Philippians 4:19), He will give us boldness (Ephesians 3:12), He will deliver us from unmeasurable and wicked people (2 Thessalonians 3:2), He will never abandon us (Hebrews 13:5). But you and I must believe him.

For if you come to God, you must believe He is, and that He is a reward of those who diligently seek him.

God is not making promises to you to give you a better attitude. He’s speaking to you to reward your faith in Him. It’s time to believe. If we don’t mix faith with what God says, His word is like a stack of dynamite that is never lit with fire. It just remains a stick of powder with no action.

Even though God had promised the nation of Israel to go in and possess the land, they wouldn’t do it for fear of the overwhelming circumstances. God willed it. He spoke it. But they wouldn’t believe it.

The Bible says, “they never could enter because of their unbelief. Not being mixed with faith, it did not profit them.” (Or reward them.)

It was time to believe. But they didn’t believe. And nothing happened. So they wandered in the desert until they died. They never experienced the “dynamite” of God’s word being mixed with the faith.

The exact opposite happened many years later when King Jehoshaphat was King in Judah. They believed what God spoke, and they were established and were rewarded as they praise the Lord with song about His mercy and goodness.

2 Chronicles 20:22 says, “God set a punishment against their enemies, all the Ammonites, Moabites, and those of Mount Seir were suddenly confused and started fighting one another instead of their common enemy, which was Israel.”

It got so crazy that they actually destroyed each other.

As the Israelites sang and praised God for their great victory, their greatest enemy destroyed each other. It took them 3 days to go through their camps and gather all the spoil, riches, jewels, clothing, food, and more than they could carry.

What seemed like the end, what felt like it was over, what looked like complete defeat. All changed when they believed what God had spoken and the ministers who said it to them.

That was, "Stand ye still, the Lord will fight for you."

It’s Time To Believe.