2 Chronicles 20:22
“And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.”
The story in the verse above is truly an amazing story. Jehoshaphat was king of Judah at the time. Judah was not a large country, but many knew they were a split from Israel. Yet, God was with Jehoshaphat and all that he did.
One day while Jehoshaphat was sitting in his palace, there came a small group of people to inform him that a large army from two countries were coming to take Judah. Fear gripped his heart, and his first response was to go to the sanctuary of the LORD and to beg God for help. After he was done pouring his complaint out to God, the Spirit of God fell upon a young man who was of the tribe of the Levites. God moved this man to tell Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah to not fear, because the LORD was going to fight the battle for them.
The amazing part of the story happens the next day when Jehoshaphat and the army of Judah gathered to go against these two great armies. Jehoshaphat told them not to be afraid as they headed for a part of the wilderness that would enclose them to the attack of the enemy. Before they arrived to the cliff of Ziz, Jehoshaphat organized singers to sing before the army as they marched towards this part of the wilderness where they would be enclosed by three mountains.
As they came close to the mountains that surrounded them and seemingly come to the place of their eminent death, the people began to sing. Can you imagine the two armies hearing the army of Judah singing as they were marching towards their death. But something happened. As they sang, God sent ambushments against these two armies. Many believe these ambushments were armies of angels that fought for Judah. It was the singing of the army of Judah that delivered them from their impending death.
Friend, maybe today you feel like you are surrounded by trials. Maybe today you look at what you face and you see no way out of your trials. You look on one side and you see a trial. You then look to the opposite side and see another trial. You look forwards and backwards and see that your trials have surrounded you and are trying to destroy you. Let me suggest in these times that you sing.
You will notice in the story that they prayed, but that was not the deliverance from their trial. They heard the Levite prophesy, but that was not the deliverance from their trial. They stepped out by faith the next day to go towards the armies to fight, but that did not deliver them. What caused God to step in was when He heard them singing as if none of these things were happening, and their singing was a sign to God that they were content with whatever God wanted for them.
Does this mean that praying in times of heartache does not help? Absolutely not! Does this mean that hearing preaching will not help you get through your trials? Definitely not! Does this mean that stepping out by faith is needless during your trials? Certainly not! These were all part of the story, but the singing of God’s people is what sprung the angels of God to action to fight for them.
Let me encourage you during your time of trial to sing. Singing calms the heart and shows God that you are secure in His will. You will find when you begin to sing that the trials won’t seem so big. You will find that singing has a way of defeating the greatest of trials. Let me encourage you today to let the songs of God become a great part of your daily life. They will calm your heart, make your trials not seem so great and they will spring God’s angels into action to help you face your daily battles.