I will remember the works of the LORD;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?
You are the God who does wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
Psalm 77:11-14

Do you know what it feels like to be in a no-win situation? One of those where no matter how you look at it, you're going to come up on the losing end?

In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat was facing a no-win situation. He had just received disturbing news that the Ammonites, and their allies, were in full force battle-array with plans to decimate his kingdom.

Understandably, Jehoshaphat was afraid. The Ammonites were a plundering and marauding group of people. Predatory. Uncivilized. No rules of engagement, no civilized protocols of war... just blunt, brute force. No way to reason with the unreasonable. No way out. Except...God.

Jehoshaphat immediately "set himself to seek The Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." (v3) All the people fasted and gathered together to pray and hear from God.

And Jehoshaphat passionately petitioned the Lord, saying:

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 dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying,
‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’

And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—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— here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit.

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.” (vs 4-11)

Personally, I find the simplicity of this prayer powerful. In essence, Jehoshaphat was recounting and remembering the things God had done for them before, while reminding himself and the people of the greatness and magnificence of God. This prayer is a declaration of faith.

In facing difficulties, when we remember what God has done for us in the past, it strengthens our faith to trust Him to bring us through the trial at hand.

And in this incident, God's people didn't even have to go to battle. The word of the Lord came through the prophet declaring that "the battle is not yours, but God's." (v15). They were given specific instructions on what to do, being assured that the Lord was with them.

All they basically had to do was show up, sending the worshipers out first singing praises to God, and the Lord caused the enemy to fight amongst themselves and kill each other off.

It's an awesome story of deliverance that I encourage you to read.

Oh Lord, you are God in heaven, and you rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand there is power and might, so that no one and nothing is able to withstand You. Oh Lord, as you have helped me in the past with (situations), I look to you now for your help. For God I have no power over these things and I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on YOU.