Life and Lessons of King Jehoshaphat

I want to share with you something that happened this week. It happens on occasion, but I had this scripture in mind that I had to go to and to understand it better. Has that ever happened to you where there's this scripture that comes in and just gets your attention? It certainly struck me. It wasn't because I didn't understand it as much as why it says it the way it does. It's something that is happening up in heaven that just pops into the Bible in such a way. Let's go to 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9. 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9. And it just says the following, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. So here's something that is revealed by a prophet of God that is one of God's duties. He's always looking down here on the earth who truly is faithful to him, who is obeying him, who has that great respect for him. And God looks at the entire earth and he delights when he says, here's one of my sons or one of my daughters that is doing my will, that is following me. And I am going to help them. I'm going to strengthen them. I'm going to reward them. In the Living Bible translation, it says, For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for a people whose hearts are perfect toward him so that he can show his great power in helping them. It's a wonderful thing to know that God is there and he knows our difficulties, what we're going through, but he also acts, he intervenes for those who faithfully follow him.

It reminds me of the scripture in the New Testament in Hebrews 11 in verse 6. I'll read it to you.

It says, But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. It means that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

So we don't have this fictitious idea about God. He is living to us. We can talk with him.

He is our Father. He is active in our lives. And so it's a beautiful scripture to know that one of God's duties is to look and see, whom can I bless today? Who needs my help that is following me, that is faithfully obeying me? And so there's a whole message here because afterwards I said, now this scripture just pops into this verse. And why was it given?

What was it trying to say? So going back to 2 Chronicles 16, let's look at the context. Let's look at what was going on, that all of a sudden God inspired this prophet to say, God is looking and he is pleased with those that follow him and he will make them stronger. It says here that the Lord, the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him so that he can show his great power in helping them.

God delights in that. So in 2 Chronicles, going back chapter 16, let's begin in verse 1. What was going on that all of a sudden this scripture appears? It has to do with the reign of King Asa. King Asa. It says in verse 1, in the 36th year of the reign of Asa, Basha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Rama, which was a big fortress that the king of Israel wanted to prevent some coming down and joining with Judah because at that time King Asa, who had been a king that was following God and became very blessed by God. And some of the Israelites are saying, well, we're going to join Judah.

And so the king of Israel said, well, I'm going to set up this fortress to prevent people from coming in to Judah. He says he came up against Judah, built Rama, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah. He was losing part of his population to King Asa. Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house and sent to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father and your father.

See, I have sent you silver and gold. Come, break your treaty with Beshah, king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me. So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. They attacked and it mentions all of these cities. Now it happened when Beshah heard it that he stopped building Rama so he couldn't continue with that fortress he was building and sees his work. Then King Asa took all Judah and they carried away the stones and timber of Rama, which Beshah had used for building and with them he built Geba and Mispa.

So he built his own fortresses on the border between the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And at that time Hanani the seer, which means prophet, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, because you have relied on the king of Syria and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.

If you would have relied on God, he could have defeated the king of Syria. And then he reminds an incident that happened in the reign of Asa before. He said, were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. In this you have done foolishly. Therefore from now on you shall have wars. And so here was a blessing that was taken away from King Asa because he went to a pagan king following a wrong idol and wrong gods and made an alliance with them.

And God is a jealous God. He does not want us to have alliances with anything that has to do with pagans and pagan teachings. Maybe they can benefit us. Maybe we can say, well, if we become chums with them, maybe they'll give us favor and help us here with this or that. And start building these partnerships with these people that are mixed with paganism and false teachings.

And what happened here, this king who had been blessed by God, who had generally followed God, he got too big for his own britches. And verse 10, he got mad at the prophet. Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. He said, how dare you talk like that? And here was a king who feared God and wanted to follow him.

But he had gotten too powerful and rich, and he didn't want to be heard again. It's kind of interesting that if you read the bulletin that Ecclesiastes 4, it says, better to be ruled by a poor young man that is wise than to be ruled by an old king who no longer takes correction or advice. They get too big for their own britches. They get prideful. They don't want anybody to correct them. And so what happened? Asa's blessings were taken away from him, and he died after this situation. Notice, and he said that Asa oppressed some of the people at that time, those that were backing the prophet, those that were following God. Note that the acts of Asa, first and last, are indeed written in the books or the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And in the 39th year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe. Yet in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. Again, he didn't go to God for healing. At that time, there was always a kind of an anointing as well that you could have with the priests and others. Prayers made, no, he just said, I'm going to rely on these pagan physicians. I'm going to rely on just them. And so what happened?

Well, he was not healed. So Asa rested with his fathers. He died in the 41st year of his reign.

And so again, physicians are helpful, but don't forget to put God first. Make sure you get anointed. Make sure there are prayers on your behalf. Don't put the physicians first.

Do your physical help and that can be done, but do not leave God out of the picture.

And so what the main message is, is not just about King Asa. There's a pattern there that you see. When he was doing the right things, God blessed him. When he did the wrong things, the blessings were taken away from him. But this is especially so with the son of King Asa, Jehoshaphat. And that's where we're going to focus on the life and lessons of this young man, because it teaches us many important spiritual lessons in our own lives. Notice in 2 Chronicles 17, it says, Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel. Remember, there were enemies at that time, rivals between the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

And he placed troops in all fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa, his father, had taken. Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his father David. He did not seek the bales. He did not seek the false gods. So here's a young man that followed God, and he had as his standard King David.

And that was the standard for the kings of Israel and of Judah. Who could follow in obedience and faith the example of King David? Well, here's one that did follow.

And so it says, verse 4, But he sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not according to the acts of Israel. Israel had wicked kings. They had left obeying God. There was a one king of Israel that actually followed God. There's only some of the kings of Judah, and not all of them did this, but Jehoshaphat was one that did.

Therefore, the Lord established his kingdom in his hand, and all Judah gave presence to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor and abundance, and his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord.

Moreover, he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah, removed the idols and a lot of the high places. He didn't remove all of them, but he did move quite a bit of them and removed them. Here are the four spiritual lessons that we want to focus on when we're studying Jehoshaphat. First of all, God is consistent. You will reap what you sow.

You saw that with the father, King Asa, when he did the right things. He received blessings. And then all of a sudden he deviated. He left God, and all the things started going wrong. Then Asa came back. But in general, he was a follower of God, but he had to pay dearly when he strayed.

And so you basically are going to reap what you sow. That's a principle in life. Number two, but God is merciful to those that follow him despite the mistakes they make. There's a difference. The people in the world, usually they're going to reap what they sow, and there's not much mercy involved in that. But those who follow God, he is going to extend that mercy more than a person deserves despite the mistakes they make.

Thirdly, God takes into account what we have done to please him. He looks back, and he says, well, this person, look at the things he has done on my behalf. Look at the way he's followed, my laws, my way of life. And even when a person strays and does wrong things, God brings them back. He helps that person. He extends that mercy to him because he remembers what the person has done for his name. And fourthly, as that key scripture we read at the beginning, God is always looking for someone that follows him to reward him. He's always looking to someone he can reward and bless, as it says, so he can show his great power in helping them. He will help and intervene. And so, as we see King Jehoshaphat following God, that was his secret to success. Obeying God as David had. But notice in verse 7, he not only applied it to himself, he actually had an educational system that he set up to teach his people God's ways and to keep his commandments. Notice in verse 7, it says, also in the third year of his reign, he sent his leaders, here's the name of several, to teach in the cities of Judah. And with them he sent Levites. And we see all the names there.

And with them, Elishamah and Jehoram, the priests. So they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them. So these were the first five books of the Bible. Certainly they had other sections, Joshua, Judges, and others that had been added. But the book of the law were the ones where you learned the commandments of God, the laws of God, and also the history of Israel, all the way back to the time of Adam. He says, and they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people. And what was the result? And the fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. Blessings. You follow? God's going to protect. You're going to have more peace. You're going to have even your enemies are not going to want to do you damage.

Verse 11, also some of the Philistines who were enemies brought Jehoshaphat, presents, and silver as tribute. And the Arabians brought him flocks at seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male gods because they saw God was blessing. You better not fool around with God's people when they're following God in the proper way. So Jehoshaphat became increasingly powerful, and he built fortresses in storage cities in Judah. And so it goes into all the blessings and what he did. But then we come to one terrible mistake that Jehoshaphat made. So you see in the Bible you never have these unalloyed, these perfect type of people. The Bible always shows not only their good attributes, but also the weaknesses that they have. It reminds me of a statement made by Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he was going to have his portrait made. The painter said to him, Mr. President, how would you like me to paint you?

And it was Roosevelt who said, go ahead and paint me warts and all. Just put everything. Don't just photoshop me. No, just warts and all. And in the Bible you see God's people and heroes, but they're shown warts and all. So let's look at one of the major mistakes made by this righteous king. In 2 Chronicles 18 verse 1, Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance. Everything looked good. And by marriage, he allied himself with Ahab, the king of Israel, the worst king that had left God, who had built all of these bales, who had married Jezebel. And what does this righteous king do? He marries his son off to Jezebel's daughter of all people. Why? Because, well, Jehoshaphat now was powerful and rich and Ahab had come and said, boy, let's get an alliance. Look, we're going to be much more powerful. And they sealed it with the marriage of his son Jehoram and he married Athaliah. 2 Chronicles 21.6 and 22.6 tells us about who they were.

I'd like to read from the beginner's commentary. It says, Jehoshaphat, who had resolutely trodden a path of religious purity, now entangled himself with an apostate, a heretical and paganized king. The result was to affect not only himself, but the royal house of Judah and his people. In the marriage of the crown prince Jehoram to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, a viper was introduced into the Judean nest. So they would never have peace again.

So this shows when you have the mixture between God's ways and the pagan ways, even if it was politically favorable, it turned out to be a disaster.

And so in verse two it says, after some years, Jehoshaphat went down to visit Ahab in Samaria. Now they were in-laws. Samaria was the capital of the house of Israel. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people who were with him and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramath Gilead, which was the area where the Syrians were. He showed them the territory. So Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, will you go with me against Ramath Gilead, which was the capital of Syria. And he answered him, I am as you are and my people as your people, we will be with you in the war. So here you have water and polluted water and just mixing the two.

You know it wasn't pleasing to God in heaven and God let Jehoshaphat know.

Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, please inquire for the word of the Lord today. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, these are all prophets of Baal, a false god, and said to them, shall we go to war against Ramath Gilead and the Syrians, or shall I refrain. So they said, of course, you know, they cut up all kinds of maybe chickens or other creatures, looked into their livers and did all of this astrology and looked at the stars. And guess what? They all said, everything aligns for you to do this. Now, Jehoshaphat, he had enough sense to know, well, these are a bunch of pagan prophets and they're consulting demons. And so he tells Ahab, is there not a still a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him? Is there anybody left that still teaches God's way? So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord. So again, it just blows your mind to think, here's this righteous king. He's got this educational system. He's got Levites teaching people. And he goes, it's almost, and maybe I shouldn't say, but it's almost like going into Las Vegas, into all of these casinos and say, okay, let's have a good time. Of course you're going to get corrupted. Of course you're going to see things you don't need to see and everything else. But that's what he did. He went right into the mouth of the lion.

And so Ahab says, yeah, I have one of these men of God. He says, but I hate him.

Why? Because he never prophesies as good concerning me. So you can tell he's a real prophet of God because he's telling Ahab, you're going to get it. You're doing the wrong thing. And Ahab didn't want to hear that. So again, remember what this principle is about. God is consistent.

You will reap what you sow. And that's what the prophets were telling Ahab and warning him.

He says, but he's always saying evil. He is Ma'qayah, the son of Imla.

And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say such things. So he tried to correct. He says, be more respectful to a prophet of God. Again, the Bible is very colorful because you can see Ahab was a spoiled king. He had this wicked woman. He had all of this wrong system, and he had riches and power. And he didn't want anybody to correct him. So there was one man that was willing to do it at this time, the prophet. Then the king of Israel called one of his officers and said, bring Ma'qayah, the son of Imla, quickly the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, clothed in their robes, all the throne room, all this power. And they basically had to grab this prophet of God and bring him by the neck over to him. And they sat at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. Right there in the front area. That's where they held court. That's where they had the gates. And all the prophets prophesied before them, saying, oh, everything looks positive. This is comical that we have. Now Zedekiah, the son of Canaan, had made horns of iron for himself. And he said, Thus says the Lord, with these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed. So he made two horns, kind of like one is Israel, one is Judah. You're going to go and you're going to ram Syria. You're going to destroy them. And all the prophets prophesied, saying, go up to Ramath Gilead, and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king's hand. Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, and warning him. Now listen. The words of the prophets with one accord encourage the kings. You have all of these soothsayers, all of these magicians, all these saucers, all of these demon-influenced people. And they're all saying the same thing.

They encourage the king. Therefore, please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak encouragement. Now, you see, sometimes it's not the moment to say encouraging things. When you've got the wrong crowd, when you've got the wrong principles, and here they threaten. Who are you, you tiny little prophet? Nobody follows you. Look at all the prophets of Baal. You remember with Isaiah? I mean, with Elijah, who was also during this a little bit later period.

And they're saying, oh, you don't have any power, and you better not say anything discouraging to the king. And what was the reply? And Micah said, as the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak. He wasn't going to soften his words. It's basically what the apostles told the Jewish Sanhedrin when they were up there being judged and threatened. And they said, we have to obey God before we obey man. This is what Micah was saying. Then he came to the king, and the king was against Ramath Gilead. He said, shall we go to war, or shall I refrain? And he said, go and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand. So really, the prophet was being sarcastic. He was just saying, oh, well, all the prophets, they can't be wrong. Yeah, follow the crowd. The majority must be on the right thing. And all spoiled Ahab, like a little kid, he goes and says, so the king said to him, how many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? So he said, why are you kidding me and joking about something like this? And then Micah said, then he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. In other words, no king. And the Lord said, these have no master. Let each return to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but he, see, it wasn't, oh, God said this. Now, this guy has it out for me. He never gives me good news.

So again, just like a spoiled brat of a king. Then Micah said, therefore hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and his left. So God allowed him in a vision to see what was going on in heaven at that time. And the Lord said, who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up that he may fall at Ramath Gilead? That was the destiny. So one spoke in this manner and angels gave different advice how this could be done. And another spoke in that manner. And, you know, Satan and his demons had access to going up to heaven. Just like in the times of Job, where they went up and they were part of the heavenly host there. Well, here's a demon that comes before God. And Spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him. The Lord said to him, in what way? So he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. So this is in a holy angel, but one that was willing to use lies. And the Lord said, you shall persuade him and also prevail. Go out and do so. God permitted this angel to deceive Ahab and the prophets. Therefore, look, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours and the Lord has declared disaster against you. So, Micaiah was warning Ahab. Now, don't believe this. It didn't make any difference. Ahab went ahead and did the same thing he wanted to. Then Zedekiah, the son of Shenanah, went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you? So he's saying, how dare you say I don't have a spirit of God.

Then Micaiah said, indeed you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide. In other words, once Ahab was going to be killed, the armies routed. See, these prophets of Baal weren't going to have any backing anymore. They were going to be hiding out because the Syrians were going to be after them. Then the king of Israel said, take Micaiah and return him to Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son, and say, thus says the king, put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction. So only bread and water to this prophet until I return in peace. But Micaiah said, if you ever return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. In other words, let's see what time. Who was right in the end? And he said, take heed, all you people. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramath Gilead. Again, how this righteous king is willing to follow this charismatic Ahab and almost lost his life if God had not intervened because of what Jehoshaphat had done in the past. That was the only thing that saved Jehoshaphat.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself and they went into battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots who were with him, saying, fight with no one, small or great, but only with the king of Israel. So it was when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat that they said, it is the king of Israel. Jehoshaphat had put on the robes of King Ahab. So they thought, here's the king of Israel.

Therefore they surrounded him to attack, but Jehoshaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and God diverted them from him. God still remembered Jehoshaphat's righteous works, and God intervened. For so it was when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel that they turned back from pursuing him. Now a certain man drew a bow at random and struck the king of Israel, Ahab, between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded. And this was a wound to death. The battle increased that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot, facing the Syrians until evening. And about the time of sunset he died. He just completely was drained of blood. And in the parallel account in the book of Kings, it mentions that Ahab's chariot was taken to the place in Jezreel, where the prophets had said, there will be dogs that will lick your blood there. So all of these warnings to this evil king, and he didn't pay attention, remember that old movie El Cid, which was this Spanish king, and he was fighting against the Moors, which are the Muslims, and he also got hit with an arrow, and they propped him up to the point where everybody thought he was okay. And he was actually dead in his chariot, but he rallied the troops because they saw him. Well, this is part of what Ahab tried to do, rally his troops when he was basically dead. Verse 19, chapter 19, then Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned safely to his house in Jerusalem. God intervened, and Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless, good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land and have prepared your heart to seek God. And so this was a moment when Jehoshaphat had to repent, had to change, and he did. He overcame this very serious mistake. Notice he started doing the right things. Verse 4, so Jehoshaphat dwelt in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Brashiba to the mountains of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord God of their fathers. Then he said, judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities, city by city, and said to the judges, take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment. And so, again, we see the humanity. Not everybody is going to do everything perfectly. Nobody bats a thousand, as they say in baseball. And yet, you see also that God is merciful to those who follow him despite the mistakes they make. And then in chapter 20, there it says in verse 1, as I'm slowly winding down the message, it happened after this that the people of Moab, with the people of Ammon, that's what is today Jordan on the east side of Israel, with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea. Talking about beyond the Dead Sea. From Syria, and they are the Hazazar Tamar, which is in Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah in Jerusalem, the house of the Lord before the new court. And this is one of the famous prayers of asking God for help.

He says, O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand you? Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever? And they dwelt in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name. And this is the temple in Jerusalem, saying, if disaster comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple in your presence, for your name is in this temple, and cry out to you in affliction. And you will hear and say, and now hear the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Sare, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. But they turned from them and did not destroy them. They could have. They didn't. Here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. They wanted to drive them all the way out to the sea. Have you heard that recently? That's what the Arabs want to do. That's what the Muslims want to do, is drive out Israel all the way. Just throw them into the Mediterranean Sea.

And it says, O our God, will you not judge them, for we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives and their children, stood before the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon HaHeziel, the son of Zechariah, and he said, verse 15, Listen, all of you, Judah, and your inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid nor dismayed, because of this great multitude. For the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Zis, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jerul. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourself. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, just like the opening of the Red Sea at the time of the Exodus.

Who is with you? O Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. And so God intervened and defeated them all. And at the end of Jehoshaphat's reign, he committed another mistake. Notice in verse 31, so Jehoshaphat was king over Judah. He was 35 years old when he became king, and he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Sheel. Normally, when you see the mother mentioned in one of the kings, it's because she followed God and she taught her children. And here we see her being honored in this way. And he walked in the way of his father and did Asaam and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, not all of them, for as yet the people had not directed their hearts to the God of their fathers. And then it says in verse 35, after this, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, allied himself with Azariah, king of Israel. Oh, again, here's this in-law relationship with the pagans who acted very wickedly, says about the king of Israel. And he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made ships in Ezion Gebur. That's the area of the Gulf of Zuez. No, the Gulf of Elat. But Eliezer, the son of Dadava, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, because you have aligned yourself with Eheziah, the Lord has destroyed your works. Then the ships were wrecked so that they were not able to go to Tarshish. And so, again, we have these four lessons.

It's the same pattern then as it is today. First, God is consistent. You will reap what you sow.

If you sow obedience, submission to God, you will reap help and blessings in the times of difficulty. Number two, God is merciful to those that follow Him despite the mistakes they make.

Number three, He takes into account what we have done to please Him. And fourthly, He is always looking for someone that follows Him to reward Him, quote, so He can show His great power in helping them. Now, we know there are all kinds of accidents and things happen in life. These are general principles. And we have to see how they apply to each one, because we are going to go through tragedies and difficulties. But the point is, continue following God, because He will always be there to help you in the future, whatever are the consequences. We need to apply these lessons in our lives and see how wonderful they work. The last scripture in Hebrews 6, verse 10, is a good conclusion to this lesson of King Jehoshaphat. It says, For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward His name, and that you have ministered or served to the saints, and do minister and continue serving. So that's the best investment we can do. And that's the life and lessons of King Jehoshaphat.