Beside Still Waters Ministries

Read 2 Chronicles 20:1-30

Woh. Did you catch who led the army out front? The singers! Now, it has always made sense to me that God would use praise and prayer to defeat demons and Satan himself, but are you seeing that this story is about God defeating people with praise? And did those singers sing “Hey you, we’re gonna kick your butt!”? or, “God, come wipe them out!”? Nope. They sang (it should sound familiar), “Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever.” Wow.

God doesn’t do anything like we think should happen, like how we would do it, or even what makes good common sense!! Could you imagine if the United States had sent singers and musicians ahead of the Coalition Forces in Iraq? And they wouldn’t have had any weapons in the way we think of weapons – no guns, no bombs, no grenades. What do you think would have happened? Bloodshed. Slaughter. Total wipeout.

The Israelites, specifically King Jehoshaphat, were so scared of the coming invasion that they had no choice but to trust in the Lord. So, instead of going out with confidence in their own strength and might, they did the first thing that we should be doing – they prayed and asked the Lord what to do. Then (of all the crazy things) they actually obeyed Him. God understands one amazing thing – the power of praise. That is, praise directed toward Him, because it releases Him to do all that He is able to do in that situation. This is how Bob Sorge in his book Exploring Worship puts it, “But these singers were not recommending battle strategy to God, nor did they bother to curse the enemy. In its essence, their song of praise said, ‘Lord, we recognize that you are the omnipotent God and that you have promised to fight for us today. So we thank you and praise you for the victory, rejoicing in what we know you have already determined to do on our behalf.’ Words like that release God to act in the way he knows is best” (pg 48).

What do you think might happen if we have the faith and courage to do that, too? For every day battles at home or at work. For the battles of the church? For the battles of our country? I know I have been looking at this economic downturn all wrong – I need to praise God now that He is already in control, that He will put into place the person He wants in leadership, and that He will do all that is needed to turn people towards Him. Our best effort means nothing without Him.

Challenge: Take time to pray each day for our world leaders. Forget your personal opinion, and open your heart to listen to God. Pray for God to lead you, to lead the population, and to lead the government leaders. Praise Him. For who He is, for what He has done, for what He does now, for what He is going to do. Put Him in control of the country and the world.

For further reading: Acts 16:12-40