When they began to sing and praise

Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. – 2 Chronicles 20v22

I love this picture. I love the mental image it calls up. Here we have the setting for a mighty battle. On one side we have the allied armies of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir. On the other side we have the armies of Judah.

It wasn’t going to be much of a fight. Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir were mighty nations with huge armies. Judah was part of a divided nation engaged in a long going civil war with Israel.

We saw yesterday the encouragement that came from God. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ God said, ‘I will fight the battle for you.’ Jehoshaphat led the nation in corporate worship for all that God was going to do. I really like the idea found in scripture of worshipping before God answers. There is surely a pattern there for us.

That attitude was manifest the next morning when the battle lines were arranged. Battles can start in various ways. Back in these days you might just send your foot soldiers into the battle. Perhaps you might set up a long term siege by cutting of the enemy supply lines. You might decide to soften up the enemy with an archery barrage. There are plenty of possible tactics.

Jehoshaphat used none of them. Even Sun Tzu in ‘The Art of War’ would never have come up with this military strategy. It was nothing if not unexpected.

On the morning of the battle Jehoshaphat ‘appointed those who should sing praise to the Lord, and those who should praise the beauty of his holiness’ to go out before the army. The first group into the fight were the praise singers!

As they went they sang ‘Praise the Lord for His mercy endures forever!’

Why would anyone do that? Logically speaking all the enemy had to do was pick off the praisers as they moved forward.

But what happened?

‘Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.’

When Jehoshaphat decided to praise God first and trust Him the battle was already over. When we knew that he could depend on his own strength the victory was won. When Jehoshaphat trusted God, God worked.

It is so easy for us to hold on to our own plans. We have a hard time taking our hands off and letting Him work. We want to follow our own battle plans.

Why do we have such a hard time rejoicing and praising God before the battle is fought and before He works?

There is only one explanation – we really don’t trust Him.