The Power of Praise

    Many of you probably remember the week of Labor Day, 2020.  A haze of smoke covered our valley.  Fires sprang up all around the state.  An eerie, yellow-orange light saturated the air, causing the indoor lights to seem blue in contrast. Ash rained continuously and many suffered from the poor air quality. 
    Like many, we had to be evacuated from our home up in Gates because the wildfires surrounded it, burning down many homes and leaving everything temporarily uninhabitable.  While we were safely evacuated with our family, our home suffered damage. 
    Our kitchen was destroyed and the smoke entering in from left-open windows covered every square inch.  The mattresses, clothing and furniture were permeated with the stench. Thankfully, unlike some, we have homeowners’ insurance.  Unfortunately, like many, our insurance didn’t want to pay for all that we believe are the damages.  They delayed, made excuses and finally just fell far short of the cost of repair, in our opinion.  Finally, after much wasted negotiation, we found an attorney who specializes in bringing insurance companies to court and started the next part of the process. 
    We have finished the arduous process of compiling evidence and are now waiting in queue to bring our evidence to the judge. 
     We hope he will see things the way we see them.  We hope that he will hear us out and be a fair and experienced judge, able to discern and distinguish between arguments and evidence. 
    We hope that he is impartial, not showing favoritism to anyone, and above reproach and corruption.
     It is how our story today starts as well.  In 2 Chronicles 19, we find that King Jehoshaphat very righteously has been about the business of setting up judges to sort through every case, civil and criminal, to judge in the fear of the Lord.  They were to carefully examine the evidence, only giving out consequences to those who had committed a crime against another, and in civil cases to make sure that property continued to be disbursed to those to whom it belonged.
   After remonstrating with the newly appointed judges, King Jehoshaphat exhorts them:

     “Behave courageously, and the Lord will be with the good.”  v. 11

    Little did he know how those words would portend his future and the future of his country!
    Immediately after those days, as the enemy is wont to do when they find that order and righteousness are being restored to God’s people, the enemy joined forces to descend upon all of Judah under King Jehoshaphat:
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It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said: “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.”

    The  Ammonites and Moabites, those nations descended from Lot, Abraham’s nephew, came against them en masse.  Now God had strictly forbidden the Israelites from messing with their relatives’ land as they came to the Promised Land:  God had apportioned the Moabites their country, and the Ammonites their country.  It was their allotment from God just as the Promised Land was the Israelites’ allotment.  So, on their way from Egypt, the Israelites were not allowed to fight with their neighbors because they were their fellow relatives descended from Lot. 
    At this juncture, however, it is the Ammonites and Moabites who are coming to try to remove the Israelites from their land, repaying evil for good. 
    The only time someone could legitimately be removed from their land and property was 1) if they had illegally taken possession of it or 2) it could be temporarily given away as consequence to pay off a debt or sin of the people for a specified period of time.
    So, in effect, the Moabites and Ammonites were making a claim that the people of the land of Judah had violated God’s law so much that they would have to be removed as consequence of their sin just as the Canaanites had been removed.  This would, in fact, happen eventually.  God often used other nations to bring judgment upon one another for their national sin.  Eventually, Judah’s sin would increase so much that they would be exiled for a time. 
     So, just as the people were to gather in the previous chapter to seek the judgment of the judges for any disputes, now Jehoshaphat and all of Judah, small and great, were called to come to the judgment of God in order to plead their case and defense against this accusation and hostile trespass. (v. 9) 
 
We must act in justice as a community: loving God and people.

    Sometimes the enemy threatens what God has given us to steward. 
Satan’s first tactic is to try to get us to worship idols, to worship what people have; to be obedient to what we have created with our own hands. 
    But Jehoshaphat, in chapter 17, had removed the idols from the land and caused the people to worship God alone. They were loving the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
    In chapter 19, we found King Jehoshaphat establishing justice and morality throughout the land, making sure that people were held accountable for treating one another right.  They were loving their neighbors as themselves.
    They were walking in obedience to the two greatest commands of God!
     The Bible tells us that we are not unaware of the enemy’s schemes (1 Cor. 2:11). While he has several, he reuses them.  They are identifiable and repetitive.  
     When the enemy cannot get us to worship our own desires and works, his next scheme is to accuse us falsely as if we have.
    He comes against us, our constant legal adversary to the Father, as the Accuser which accuses us night and day before our God (Rev. 12:10). However, if we have been walking in righteousness, he has no legal right or authority because we have done nothing wrong. 
    Now, if we have been unfaithful to God, if we have allowed other things to be first in our heart and life, if we have wronged our brother or sister, then the enemy has a legal standing to take issue with us before our Judge.  In such a case, if we find that we have sin in our hearts, 1 John 2:1 tells us, we have an advocate, an attorney who pleads our case for us: Jesus Christ, The Righteous who always lives to make intercession for us.  If we repent from sins and cry out to Jesus for forgiveness, we have peace with God and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin so that we can once again come boldly to the throne of grace and find help in time of need.
    If, when examining our hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit, we find that we have kept faithfully to walk in obedience to the Spirit, then, in our legal system, the case becomes what is called a “frivolous lawsuit,” one intended to distract and use up our resources and attention in order to deplete us in an attempt to wear us out and keep us from being successful.
    These kinds of earthly lawsuits can be demoralizing, because even if we know that, given a good Judge, we should ultimately win, the case will be so costly that it could bankrupt us.
     In Jehoshaphat’s case, this was a class action lawsuit.  It involved the entire nation being dispossessed. 
     We saw from Jonathan’s story that if we act in righteousness and boldly walk in the Lord’s victory, there will be a victory accomplished for us.  But if we want not only victory for ourselves, for our families—if we want victory for our communities and our nation and our world, then there must be a turning back to God corporately by God’s people. 
     1 Peter 4:17 tells us that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” If the enemy were to come against our nation, could we as believers, declare boldly to the Lord that His Church here in America has been faithful? Could we say with confidence that we have turned away from sin, that we have worshiped him above everything and that we have treated all alike with the love of Jesus Christ? 

We must send the call out. 

     Here in America our land is under siege.  Our children, our neighbors, our communities are being threatened.  There is so much coming against our nation from the enemy that it is countless.  A couple of weeks ago we talked about what we should be personally doing, in our own lives about spiritual battles. 
     I want to bring us to this corporate battle.  It is the whole church of God around the world, in our nation, against the enemy who wants to dispossess us from being God’s people. 
    King Jehoshaphat called everyone: rich, poor, slave, free, men, women and children.  There was no one who was not necessary to come seek the Lord together.  Every, single person from every walk and class of life was essential and valuable in the commission.
     God declares in 2 Chron 7:14 that: “If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land.” 
     We, the people of God, must call all to humble repentance.  We, the people of God, must call all to come to seek the Lord with us: small and great, men, women, children and families. 
     We do this by setting an example in front of them of holy, loving lifestyles and by repeatedly inviting and calling out to them to follow us as we follow Christ.  At school, at work, in our neighborhoods, in our families: it’s not a private thing.  It’s not enough to just go into our closets and work out our private, personal salvation.  Yes, that is first.  Yes, that it right.  But if we want to see revival, if we care enough and love our neighbors enough, we will reach out to them to call them back to seek God. 

We must humble ourselves in unity.

     King Jehoshaphat calls all of Judah out to fast.  This is a humbling thing.  To fast and to present themselves in worship to the Lord makes a clear statement:  God is over them as Judge and they are pleading for His mercy.  They are not assuming that they are good enough to be heard for what they have done.  They are throwing themselves at His feet in humble petition, and the King is the one leading this!
    In a court, what happens if you do not show up to the case?  You automatically lose your case.  Whoever shows up and stays there for the duration can be heard out. 
    Fasting puts us in a vulnerable, weak state.  It declares our subsistence, not on physical bread, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of our God, the Judge of all.  When we fast, we deny our own appetites, our own desires, and fully focus every part of ourselves, spirit, soul and body, for a season so that nothing distracts us from waiting on God for His answer.
     We don’t allow anything to prevent us from coming boldly to the throne room to petition our God. We don't allow our case to be thrown out by our failure to appear before the Judge. 
     Corporately, fasting together creates a unity of purpose that focuses our prayer powerfully and effectively.

Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

     God answered with a musical prophet.  These musicians, both men and women, the Bible tells us, would “prophesy” with their instruments and voices in corporate, temple worship (1 Chron 25:1).  It is one of these musical prophets that God comes upon to give them their word from the Lord.
     The wilderness of Yeruel is where God would fight this battle with them.  Yeruel comes from the Hebrew word, “yara,” and means to be unified together and established based upon many, many small substances being brought together in unification.  It has the idea of raindrops converging together to form one substance of a mighty body of water all focused in one direction together. 

     Yara-El: Founded by God in Unity.

     Their corporate fasting and worship had created a unity among them that was powerful and effective before the throne and would soon lead them to a powerful victory through praise!

We must praise the beauty of God’s holiness--Rejoice!
 

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.
So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever.”
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. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

     A lot of times we think of worship as music and praise.  While it really incorporates the entirety of ourselves as a living sacrifice walking in obedience to the Spirit, there is a huge element of worship including fasting, prayer, psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord, both personally and corporately. 
     King Jehoshaphat did a noteworthy thing:  He consulted with all the people.  They helped to choose who would bravely go before them:  those who were unafraid and courageously walking in faith by God's command.  They put the musicians before the soldiers.  These worshipping musicians must have walked in a mighty act of faith, voluntarily weaponless except for the Almighty God who went before them!
     The word, “Rejoice” is built on the word for grace, for the favor that God gives a humble petitioner, already thanking and rejoicing that they know that they will be given what they need before they even ask.  It is a huge act of faith and such an honor to God that His people would rejoice in His goodness to them in front of the world!
     They rejoiced before they won as an act of faith because they fully believed that God’s promise was true. They rejoiced as if it had already happened.
     Jehoshaphat knew that he could appeal to God in this way, because he understood God’s nature as a just and holy Judge. You see, Jehoshaphat’s name means: the Lord is Judge.  He meditated in this concept of righteous judgment and trusted fully in His vindication of judgment from God alone.
     Jehoshaphat knew personally the importance of a judge being just and holy in his judgments.  If a judge was corrupt, then corruption would spread through the land. 
    Meeting together in the Valley of Tekoa, or the Valley of the Trumpet, they praised God for His holiness, high and loud, lifting up their voice and sounding out the proclamation —God is Holy!  God is not a corruptible Judge.  He cannot be bribed.  He will not err in judgment.  God will be faithful to His promise unwaveringly.  He is both absolutely, stunningly holy and as well as abounding in love and mercy. 
    It is this kind of wholehearted, unified abandonment to praise that touches the heart of God.
     In Ephesians we are told that the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God.  We are told that after we have armed ourselves, having done all, to “Stand”, positioning ourselves, praising God for the mighty work He has already completed on our behalf.
     We often get discouraged when we see the enemy mount up against us.  We think it will only bring pain and at the most- at best- we will just survive it. 
     The reality is, that God is intending to use these things for our good.  In Romans 8:28, Paul explains to us as believers that “God uses all things for the good of those who love him, who are called according to His purpose.”  A good judge throws out any frivolous lawsuits and penalizes the offending party for wasting the court’s time and for trying to harm another person vindictively.
     Even more, a good, just judge will also award compensation to those in the right—or as King Jehoshaphat told his judges, “the Lord will be with the good!”
     Once again, we see God positioning Himself to fight for His people. It is His battle.  He will cause our enemies to destroy themselves.  You see, a house divided against itself cannot stand.  Satan’s house never has unity, because he is the author of confusion, selfish ambition, jealousy, covetousness and dissension.  His own house cannot stay united because true unity comes from God alone.  All the enemy can do is create a semblance of fake unity—one focused on a common enemy, while they themselves are also one another’s enemies. In the end they will be routed by the unity of the Church.
 
We must gather and bless the Lord.

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

​     When we are victorious over our enemy, there are the spoils of war. In a large army camp, they would have had huge flocks of animals to feed the soldiers.  They would carry with them other foods, oils, dried fruits, spices.  These all carried a significant value.  They would carry with them all kinds of jewels and gold and treasures that they had raided or brought from home.  They would have massive amounts of weapons and armor and horses and chariots. 
     Sometimes we think that when the enemy mounts up his forces against us, it is really a lose-lose.  Either way, even if we survive, there will be no benefit. We approach these battles with dread, wishing we were never required to go through them.  But God intends these things to bring us greater blessing than we could ever imagine! 
      Jesus echoes this concept in Matthew 5:12: "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
     Instead of just surviving, the provision and blessing of God is multiplied for God’s people as a result of these battles.
     The people of Judah gathered together in the Valley of Blessing to gather home all that God had just provided for them and to bless His Name together, gratefully acknowledging what God had overabundantly supplied for them. 
     When we are victorious in spiritual battle, there is provision for our communities.  There is provision for our weapons and protection.
     Most importantly, the slaves they would have brought as captives to serve them are set free.
     If we want to see our communities set free, the Church must walk in love first to God, then in love and justice toward one another.  We must send out the call and invite all to seek God in humility with us. 
     Finally, let’s rejoice together in the beauty of God’s holiness, because He will only render a good verdict for His people as the Judge of all the earth.  Let’s praise the Lord as if God’s word is really true! Let’s walk in front, boldly marching ahead, confident in His holiness.

Bless His holy name!