Trusting God's Plan in the Battle: Lessons From the Life of JehoshaphatEsimerkki

Day 15: Worshiping God

Wow, wow, wow is all I can say about this passage! It starts out with the king of Judah bowing with his face to the ground in a truly humbling form of worship. He kneels prostrate before Almighty God who is the only one that can save the people of Judah from the encroaching armies. I just love this scene of a humble leader that knows he’s powerless without God and His intervention.

The people follow Jehoshaphat’s lead and begin bowing down and worshiping as well. Some priests start standing up and praising God loudly. Talk about a beautiful scene of worship! These people desperately need God!

Early in the morning, they leave for the battle. Imagine the thoughts that must have been plaguing their minds, but even as they were stepping out in courage and faith, Jehoshaphat gave them a good reminder. “Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld, have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” 2 Chronicles 2:20 He’s basically saying, God’s got this!

Next, Jehoshaphat puts men on the frontlines at the head of the army to shout praises to God. They were to say, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” Now I’m no military strategist but having people singing praises would call attention to your location and make you a big target. The enemy would know exactly where to point all their bows and arrows. But this demonstrates how confident Jehoshaphat is in God and His promise to battle for His people.

Oh, let this be a lesson for all of us when we are surrounded by the enemy. Don’t try to fix things on your own. Don’t run away and hide. Don’t complain to all your friends about how bad it is. Look up to God. Humble yourself before Him! Praise His name. Crank some worship music up in your car, in your house or on your phone! Sing to the top of your lungs and praise God!

Here’s some homework for you! Create a playlist of worship songs to play whenever you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or attacked. Then when you hear the whispers of defeat in your mind, just click play and start drowning out those whispers with the sound of your praise. Better yet, don’t just wait until a battle occurs, start each morning with a praise song inviting God into your day. You’ll be amazed at how that shifts your focus from the stress of your to-dos to God who is ordering out your day!

Questions:

1. How do you think Jehoshaphat’s demonstration of humble worship impacted his people?

2. What do you think was going on in the minds of the enemy soldiers as they heard these shouts?

3. What can you do to change how you handle your problems after reading this?