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THE MYSTERY OF DIVINE INTERVENTION Conversation Two: When God Changes What Is Coming Against You · PAMOJA PODCAST | PAMOJA MINISTRY, A LIFE OF CHRIST INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

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  Welcome to Pamoja Ministry. In our previous conversation,
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  we stood with Jehoshaphat on a battlefield, surrounded
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  by enemy commanders who believed they had finally
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  found the king they had been ordered to kill.
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  There was nowhere to run. There was no time to
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  develop another strategy. There was no opportunity
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  to explain the misunderstanding. The enemy was
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  already there. And in that moment, Scripture
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  tells us that Jehoshaphat did something incredibly
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  simple. He cried out, Then 2 Chronicles 18 -31
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  gives us one of those sentences in scripture
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  that can easily be read quickly, yet contains
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  an extraordinary revelation about the way God
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  intervenes in the lives of His children. It says,
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  I want us to stay with those words for a moment
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  because there is something here that we need
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  to understand. God could have helped Jehoshaphat
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  without moving his enemies. He could have strengthened
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  Jehoshaphat to fight. He could have given him
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  unusual courage. He could have empowered his
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  soldiers. He could have shown him an escape route.
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  He could have given him wisdom to survive the
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  attack. All of those things would have been divine
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  help, but that is not what the text emphasizes.
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  Jehoshaphat cried out, the Lord helped him, and
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  God moved them. God did not merely change Jehoshaphat.
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  God changed what was happening around Jehoshaphat.
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  And there is a major difference, because sometimes
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  when we ask God for help, we assume that God's
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  answer will always be to give us enough strength
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  to survive what is coming. And sometimes he does.
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  There are battles God will strengthen you to
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  fight. There are storms God will give you grace
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  to endure. There are valleys through which he
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  will give you strength to continue walking. There
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  are seasons where the situation does not immediately
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  change, but somehow God changes you while you
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  are inside it. Paul understood that kind of grace.
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  He prayed repeatedly concerning what he called
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  a thorn in his flesh, asking God to take it away.
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  But instead, the Lord told him, My grace is sufficient
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  for thee, for my strength is made perfect in
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  weakness. God did not remove what Paul asked
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  him to remove. God gave Paul sufficient grace
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  to live faithfully through it. That is divine
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  help. And we should never underestimate that
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  kind of help. Sometimes the miracle is not that
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  the storm disappears. Sometimes the miracle is
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  that you remain standing while the storm continues.
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  Sometimes God calms the sea. Sometimes God strengthens
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  the sailor. Sometimes God removes the mountain.
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  Sometimes God gives you strength to climb it.
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  Sometimes God opens the prison. Sometimes He
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  gives you a song while you are still inside it.
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  Both are God. Both are grace. Both are evidence
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  of His presence. But Jehoshaphat's experience
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  introduces us to another dimension. There are
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  moments when God does not merely strengthen you
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  to face what is coming. God intervenes with what
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  is coming. The text says, God moved them. Think
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  about that. Jehoshaphat's enemies had already
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  made a decision. They had already identified
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  him. They had already surrounded him. They had
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  already begun moving toward him. Their intention
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  was established. Their direction was established.
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  Their military orders were established. Everything
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  appeared to be moving toward one conclusion,
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  but somewhere between their intention and its
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  fulfillment, God intervened. And suddenly the
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  people who were coming toward Jehoshaphat, began
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  moving away from him. There are things in life
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  that you cannot move. There are decisions you
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  cannot reverse. There are hearts you cannot change.
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  There are conversations you are not present to
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  influence. There are rooms you cannot enter.
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  There are circumstances beyond your authority.
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  There are systems bigger than you. There are
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  people whose intentions you cannot control. And
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  one of the greatest sources of anxiety in human
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  life is discovering that something important
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  to your future is happening in a place where
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  you have no influence. You cannot control what
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  they say. You cannot control what they decide.
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  You cannot control what they think. You cannot
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  control what they intend. Jehoshaphat could not
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  stop those commanders from believing he was their
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  target. But he knew someone who could intervene.
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  And perhaps this is where some of us have exhausted
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  ourselves unnecessarily. We have been trying
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  to move things that only God can move. Trying
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  to change hearts we cannot change. Trying to
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  force doors we cannot open. Trying to control
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  conversations we cannot hear. Trying to defend
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  ourselves in places where we are not present.
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  Trying to manage outcomes that are completely
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  beyond our authority. And eventually, God brings
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  us to the place where our prayer becomes, Lord,
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  I cannot move this. If it is going to move, you
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  will have to move it. That is not weakness. That
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  is recognition. It is recognizing the boundary
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  between human responsibility and divine sovereignty.
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  Jehoshaphat had reached that boundary. He could
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  cry, but God had to move. And I wonder how many
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  times God has moved something for us without
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  us ever knowing it. How many conversations changed
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  before they reached us? How many decisions were
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  reconsidered? How many dangers passed without
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  our awareness? How many plans never materialized?
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  How many people intended something that somehow
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  never happened? How many roads were closed because
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  something was waiting farther ahead? How many
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  delays frustrated us while unknowingly protecting
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  us? How many times did something move away from
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  us while we were sleeping? We may never know,
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  because one of the mysteries of divine intervention
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  is that you do not always see the intervention
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  taking place. Sometimes all you see is the result.
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  Jehoshaphat cried out. Then the men departed.
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  He could see them leaving. But could he see God
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  moving them? No. He saw the effect. Scripture
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  reveals the cause. God moved them. And this is
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  important because there are moments when What
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  appears to us to be a human change of mind may
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  actually be the invisible hand of God, working
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  through human decisions. The commanders eventually
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  recognized that Jehoshaphat was not the king
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  of Israel they were seeking. From a purely human
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  perspective, someone could say, they simply realized
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  they had the wrong man. And that would appear
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  to explain everything. But scripture takes us
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  behind what human eyes could observe. The Bible
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  says, The Lord helped him, and God moved them
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  to depart from him. That means heaven was involved
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  in what looked like an ordinary battlefield decision.
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  And perhaps that is one of the reasons divine
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  intervention remains a mystery. Because not every
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  intervention looks supernatural from the outside.
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  Sometimes a sea opens. Sometimes fire cannot
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  burn. Sometimes chains physically fall. But sometimes
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  someone simply changes direction and only God
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  knows what happened inside that moment. This
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  is why we must be careful not to define miracles
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  only by spectacular events. Sometimes the miracle
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  is the phone call you never received. Sometimes
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  the miracle is the accident that never happened.
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  Sometimes the miracle is the person who suddenly
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  said, I've changed my mind. Sometimes the miracle
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  is the opportunity that unexpectedly opened.
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  Sometimes the miracle is the enemy who simply
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  walked away. You saw the person move. God saw
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  his hand moving them. And this pattern appears
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  throughout scripture. When Israel left Egypt,
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  Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them. But
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  at the Red Sea, God intervened in a way no human
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  being could manufacture. When Daniel was thrown
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  into the lion's den, God did not remove Daniel
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  from the den immediately. Instead, God intervened
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  with the lions. Daniel later testified, My God
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  hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lion's
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  mouths, that they have not hurt me. Daniel could
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  not shut those mouths. God could. When Shadrach,
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  Meshach, and Abednego entered the furnace, God
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  did not prevent them from being thrown into the
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  fire. Instead, he intervened with the power of
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  the fire. The furnace remained hot, the flames
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  remained real, but what had the natural ability
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  to destroy them could not accomplish its assignment.
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  When Peter was sleeping between soldiers in Acts
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  chapter 12, bound with chains and guarded inside
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  a prison, Peter could not open those doors. He
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  could not remove those chains. He could not overpower
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  those guards. But while the church was praying,
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  heaven entered a place human help could not reach.
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  The angel came, the chains fell, the doors opened,
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  and Peter walked out. Again and again scripture
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  reveals this pattern. Human impossibility becomes
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  a stage upon which divine possibility is revealed.
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  But there is another layer we must not miss.
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  Divine intervention does not mean that every
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  difficult circumstance will disappear simply
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  because we cry out. The same Bible that tells
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  us God moved Jehoshaphat's enemies also tells
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  us about believers who endured suffering faithfully.
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  Paul knew deliverance, but Paul also knew hardship.
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  Peter experienced miraculous prison escape, but
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  later gave his life for Christ. Jesus himself
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  prayed in Gethsemane, and the cup was not removed.
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  So our confidence cannot be built on the idea
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  that God must always change every circumstance
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  according to our preferred outcome. Our confidence
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  is deeper than that. We trust the God who decides
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  how His help will come. Sometimes His help is
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  strength. Sometimes His help is endurance. Sometimes
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  his help is wisdom. Sometimes his help is peace.
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  Sometimes his help is a person. Sometimes his
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  help is an open door. Sometimes his help is a
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  closed door. And sometimes his help is intervention.
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  He moves the thing. And this is why Psalm 121
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  begins with such a profound question. I will
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  lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence
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  cometh my help. Then comes the answer, my help
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  cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
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  Think about the qualification scripture gives
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  your helper. The one helping you is not merely
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  someone stronger than you. He made heaven and
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  earth. So when Jehoshaphat cried out, he was
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  not calling upon someone operating under the
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  same limitations he was facing. He was calling
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  upon the God who stands above the battlefield.
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  Jehoshaphat saw chariots. God saw everything.
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  Jehoshaphat saw soldiers. God saw their hearts.
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  Jehoshaphat saw himself surrounded. God saw a
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  way of escape that did not even require Jehoshaphat
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  to create one. And that is why there are moments
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  when faith must stop asking, how am I going to
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  move this? And begin asking, Who is my helper?
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  Because once you know who your helper is, you
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  understand that your deliverance is not limited
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  to the possibilities you can currently imagine.
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  God can strengthen you, but God can also move
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  them. And now we are beginning to understand
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  why Psalm 91 connects deliverance with knowing
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  his name. God says, because he hath known my
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  name, then he shall call upon me and I will answer
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  him. and eventually I will deliver him, knowing
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  the name changes the cry. Because when a child
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  cries, Father, that cry carries relationship.
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  And when the believer cries, Jesus, we are not
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  speaking a magical formula. We are calling upon
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  a person. We are calling upon the one to whom
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  scripture says all authority in heaven and earth
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  has been given. We are calling upon the name
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  that Philippians says is above every name. We
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  are calling upon the one before whom every knee
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  will ultimately bow. And this is where our journey
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  is going, because Jehoshaphat teaches us that
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  there comes a moment when you may not have the
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  strength to fight, the wisdom to solve, the influence
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  to change, or the ability to escape, but you
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  can still cry. And when you cry, you are crying
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  to someone who is not surrounded simply because
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  you are surrounded. Your limitation does not
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  become God's limitation. Your impossibility does
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  not become God's impossibility. Your locked door
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  does not lock heaven out. Your enemy's decision
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  does not remove God's sovereignty. And what has
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  already started moving toward you is not beyond
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  the authority of God to redirect. Jehoshaphat
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  cried out, the Lord helped him, and God moved
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  them. Perhaps that is the word somebody needs
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  to carry away from this conversation. Stop measuring
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  God's ability by your ability. Stop assuming
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  that because you cannot move it, it cannot move.
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  Stop assuming that because you cannot see an
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  exit, there isn't one. Stop assuming that because
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  the decision has already been made, God has nothing
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  left to say. Stop assuming that because they
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  have surrounded you, the story is finished. There
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  is still a God above the battlefield, and sometimes
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  his answer will be, I will strengthen you. Sometimes
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  his answer will be, my grace is sufficient for
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  you. Sometimes his answer will be, stand still.
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  Sometimes his answer will be, this battle is
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  not yours. And sometimes without explanation,
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  without warning, without your assistance, you
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  will look again at what was surrounding you and
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  discover that it is moving away. And when someone
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  asks you, how did that happen? Perhaps you will
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  not have an explanation. Perhaps all you will
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  be able to say is, I cried out. The Lord helped
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  me and God moved them. That is the mystery of
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  divine intervention.