Juggling Act: Cleanup on Aisle 1

Okay, I know for a fact that I have told this story on this blog once before... but it's been a while, and this story so perfectly illustrates what the Lord was speaking to me today, that I'm going to tell it again. :) 

Once as a fresh-faced college junior, I had run to the store to grab "lunch," which at that point in my life was only ever six ounce containers of yogurt. You know the awesome thing about six ounce containers of yogurt? They're the perfect size, and you don't have to wash your dishes afterward. Peel lid, dig in, scrape clean, toss. Lunch is done, and you move on. 

The only problem was, I didn't want to have to run to the store every day for these yogurt containers, so I would usually purchase at least two weeks' worth of containers at a time.

So on this particular day, I drove to the store and headed inside for my yogurt. I was in a hurry, because my next class was beginning soon and I didn't have much time to acquire my yogurt containers, take them to my refrigerator, and then head to class. I made a beeline for the refrigerator section.

They had just stocked, and every possible flavor was displayed for my mouth-watering enjoyment. Key Lime! I had to get Key Lime. Oh, and raspberry! Yeah! Strawberry banana was important certainly, as was just plain ol' strawberry. Blueberry! Mmmm. Wait, there's cookies and cream? And cinnamon roll?!

So I grabbed two and then four... and then I realized... I'd forgotten to get a cart.

Time was urgent, class was imminent, I didn't have time to correct my mistake. 

So I hooked my left forearm across my stomach and began to line up the yogurts on it. Five, then seven, eight, ten... twelve... I needed my chin to do some balancing of the precarious ones at the top... fourteen...

Do you see where this is going?

I wedged one last yogurt container beneath my chin, tried to steady the stockpile I was holding, felt the instability of it give way in a single instant... 

Yogurt, yogurt, everywhere. Did you know that bursting open yogurt containers really do make kind of a cool-sounding splat!?

So there were fourteen cool-sounding splats in a row. Cleanup on Aisle 1.

I meekly retrieved a cart while a poor beleaguered employee cleaned up my mess (he wouldn't let me help, I promise!), and I bought more yogurt containers, safely placing them in a cart this time.

I was late to class. 

Anyway, I've been going through Priscilla Shirer's Jonah Bible study, and one of the big themes of this week is "mountain-moving." I don't know if she says it in so many words, but the idea is: We so often get caught up in juggling our mountains that we forget we've got a place to lay those mountains... at the feet of the original mountain mover and shaker (Exodus 19:16-19; Hebrews 12:18-24).

In 2 Chronicles 20, there's this awesome story of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel, who gets word that three nations are coming against him in warfare. So when he hears from his messengers that this is happening, the very first thing he does is grab his grocery cart and place all the yogurt containers in it. 

Oh wait, that's my paraphrase. NIV says: "Alarmed [at the news], Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him." 

The very first thing Jehoshaphat does is to declare a time of fasting and prayer. He stands up in front of the people he's gathered and he prays. He ends his prayer with a humdinger of a heart's cry that echoes in my own heart for many reasons: "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

God answers. There's a man, just a random dude, named Jahaziel on whom the Spirit of the Lord comes. He (Jahaziel) is nobody special that we know of. He's not a well-known prophet who has made our list of "Bible Prophets" we study today, he doesn't write wisdom literature, he isn't a leader in Jehoshaphat's armies. The only thing that stands out here is that he was willing to stand up and let the Lord use him. He's one of my role models as a result. He says: 

"Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's." And he proceeds to give instructions for what Jehoshaphat needs to do.

They've got to wait until tomorrow before they head toward the battleground. Jahaziel reminds them again that they aren't going to have to fight the battle; it's the Lord's. 

The next morning, guess who Jehoshaphat puts on the very front lines of the battle?

Jehoshaphat might have made a decent chess players. He sends out his pawns first to sort of sweep the board and make room for the heavy-lifters to come behind. 

So there weren't knights on horses riding into the first clash of battle; there weren't well-trained infantry with swords at the ready on the front lines. Nope. 

He sends in the praise and worship band. "Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: 'Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever."

The strategy is, to say the least, effective.

"As they began to sing and praise, the Lord -- WHO? Jehoshaphat? Jehoshaphat's mighty men? Nope -- the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated."

By the time Jehoshaphat arrived at the battle ground with the sound of his worship band still leading their songs on the front lines... "they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped."

To sum up: Jehoshaphat faced a mountain that was far, far, far to big and wide and tall for him. He turned to the only One Who could move that mountain. He released his stack of yogurts into the Lord's capable hands, and he trained his eyes on his Commander.

By all natural laws, Jehoshaphat should have been wiped out. By all natural circumstances, he had no chance. He juggled this idea and that idea; he worried, he was dismayed. He thought of one thing, and he thought of another thing. He discarded them all. The only way he would succeed was to trust that the Lord would take him beyond the natural, seeming outcome of events.

The Lord took Jehoshaphat's trust and turned the occasion into a supernatural event. Amid the praise and worship of the people, all the Israelites saw when they approached the battlefield... were the dead bodies of the enemy.

I've been juggling a whole lot of yogurt containers recently. I keep thinking I'll put them in the shopping cart, but then once I do, I snatch them out again. Sometimes five minutes don't even pass before I'm pulling my yogurt containers back into my arms again with the fiery conviction that I have to have my hands on them to keep them in my grasp.

I keep forgetting that when they're in the shopping cart... they're still a part of my story; I just have placed them in a spot that is more capable of containing them safely that I am.