The Valley of Blessing
Intro: It was Easter morning, 1799, and the people of Feldkirch, Austria, were terrified. They believed this Easter would likely be the very worst day of their lives. Outside the gates stood the army of Napoleon, and he wanted in. The citizens were ready to raise the white flag of surrender.
But the bishop of the church had another agenda. In a voice trembling with emotion, he said to the townspeople, "This is Easter Day. This is the day of our King’s resurrection. We must have one moment of triumph. Let us at least ring all the bells of Easter." Fearfully, the people agreed. Soon the sound of church bells pealing out a celebration of victory filled the air.
Napoleon’s army was astounded. What could it mean? It didn’t take long for the generals to conclude that only one possible explanation could account for such celebration: the Austrian army had arrived during the night to help defend the town. The bells had not yet stopped ringing when the French army broke ranks and fled.
-We will be looking at 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 today, where a similar situation takes place. God’s people find themselves in an impossible situation and do not know what to do. They know they do not have the strength to help themselves. However, they follow their King’s lead and cry out to God, and God comes through to deliver them and give them an amazing victory.
-Sometimes we face situations that leave us filled with fear and uncertainty. We don’t know how to respond because our situation seems impossible. But God works in ways we cannot see and if we will do life with Him, our growing trust in Him will compel us to call out to Him for help. And He will answer us and help us.
-Let’s look at this story and see if we can learn how to respond to the impossible situations that come our way.
1. The Threat of the Enemy (1-2)
1 After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. 2 Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea. They are already at Hazazon-tamar." (This was another name for En-gedi.)
-The enemy was already in the land of Judah and they were getting closer to the stronghold of Jerusalem where King Jehoshaphat was living. They were on a mission to destroy Jerusalem and the people of Judah. The threat was real. War had been declared and the troops were already marching. Hazazon-tamar or En-gedi was a town in the wilderness of Judah on the western shore of the Dead Sea. It was close to 30 miles away, so the likelihood of attack was only a day away.
-Let’s apply this setting to the people of God today. The enemy is in our land and is closing in everyday it seems. He has wrecked families and faith! He has attacked our relationships, our health, our finances. He has assaulted our confidence, leaving us feeling weak and ineffective, too timid or terrified to even use the weapons we have. He has messed with our unity and commitment, trying to get us to turn on one another instead of fighting against him. He has thrown every distraction possible at us so we will not have a chance to stop and realize who we really are in Christ! In many ways he has gotten well past the outlying areas, unlike the enemy in this reading. He has played on our greed making us think we need to accumulate a bunch of stuff to be happy. That in turn has made us slaves to our jobs or to any endeavor that will get us more money. On top of all this, he has infiltrated our culture to such an extent that wrong seems right to many and right seems extreme or completely out of touch.
-This is no small campaign! He is using every weapon and enticement he can come up with to throw the people of God into panic, confusion, or complacency.
-Now even if this assessment seems somewhat distant from your situation, let me assure you that you do have an enemy who is on the march toward you and your family! Maybe you are under attack right now! He doesn’t want to just give you a little trouble or make you have a bad day. He wants to take you out! John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
-So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to try and fight him yourself? How are your resources? Should you surrender? Or maybe just hope that he goes away. After all, what did you ever do to him? Leave him alone, maybe he’ll leave you alone?
-Now look how the king responded when he heard the enemy was coming after him.
2. The Response to the Threat (3-12)
3 Jehoshaphat was alarmed by this news and sought the LORD for guidance. He also gave orders that everyone throughout Judah should observe a fast. 4 So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the LORD. 5 Jehoshaphat stood before the people of Judah and Jerusalem in front of the new courtyard at the Temple of the LORD. 6 He prayed, "O LORD, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you! 7 O our God, did you not drive out those who lived in this land when your people arrived? And did you not give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? 8 Your people settled here and built this Temple for you. 9 They said, 'Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, disease, or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is honored. We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue us.' 10 "And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You would not let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so they went around them and did not destroy them. 11 Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land, which you gave us as an inheritance. 12 O our God, won't you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help."
-J-phat’s first response might be the same as ours. He was alarmed. He was afraid of the harm the enemy might bring to him and the people he was called to lead. But he did not allow fear to immobilize him for long. He did the right thing when he sought the Lord for guidance. But he did not act alone. He called everyone to seek the Lord and to fast. Fasting seems to be out of style these days. Yet there were numerous times when people fasted before the Lord throughout the Bible. I wouldn’t call it leverage, because we are not trying to manipulate God into helping us. But something about fasting shows that we recognize we need God’s help more than we need another square meal. Be smart about it, but be Biblical and ask God to show you the best way to seek Him.
-J-phat’s prayer started with praise, then promise. He rehearsed God’s promise to be with them and help them and give them the land they were on. Then he confessed his own weakness and inability to defeat the enemy. He confessed that he did not know what to do, but was looking to God for help.
-Someone said that in this prayer J-phat reminded himself and the people who God was, and then he reminded God who they were (His people, but powerless w/o Him).
-Have you ever been there? I feel like I’m there everyday of my life. Lord, I don’t know what to do. Please help me! There are times of crisis when we really have no idea what to do and know that if God doesn’t help us that something really bad will happen.
-The Bible says that when we call on the Lord, He will answer. And that is what He did for J-phat. Now look at how he used a willing person to speak His word to His people.
3. The Word of the Lord (13-17)
13 As all the men of Judah stood before the LORD with their little ones, wives, and children, 14 the Spirit of the LORD came upon one of the men standing there. His name was Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite who was a descendant of Asaph. 15 He said, "Listen, King Jehoshaphat! Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD's victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out there tomorrow, for the LORD is with you!"
-First of all, don’t be afraid to let God use you to speak His truth through you by using you in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecy, a word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and so on. Remember, prophecy is not always foretelling something about the future. Often it involves forth telling, simply declaring the word of the Lord. God could have thundered his answer from heaven or spoke it in private directly to J-phat. Instead, he spoke through one of his people, Jahaziel. God still does this today, and you can read all about it in 1 Corinthians 12-14.
-The first thing of importance is that we hear the word of the Lord. Listen to what God says. Understand that you are in relationship with Him and that He is for you not against you! Equally important is what we do with the word of the Lord once we hear it.
-When we hear a word spoken by a human that comes across as a word from the Lord, be sure that it lines up with the principles of the Bible.
-So God’s word to Judah was Don’t be afraid! This is God’s battle, not yours! March out against them. Take your position, then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory! He is with you! Go get ‘em! Let’s look at the response to God’s word.
4. The Response to the Word of the Lord (18-21)
18 Then King Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the LORD. 19 Then the Levites from the clans of Kohath and Korah stood to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout. 20 Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, "Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed." 21 After consulting the leaders of the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: "Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever!"
-God is a really really big God! The sooner we realize that and live accordingly, the better off we will be. The King himself bowed down with his face to the ground. The people followed suit and they worshiped God in response to His word to them. That should be our first response when God speaks! Reverent worship helps us remember how big God is and how small we are. It reminds us how privileged we are for the awesome Creator of the universe to communicate with us.
-Then they began to praise the Lord with a loud shout. Shouting praise was often done in the battle setting. I don’t really understand it, but it may be something like a battle cry, rallying the troops and bolstering faith. But I also think there is something that happens on a spiritual level when we shout praise to God. Here, it was as if they were already celebrating the victory because God had promised it! It was as good as done!
-As they marched out the next morning, King J-phat called the people to believe God! If you believe God you will be able to stand your ground and succeed in defeating the enemy. Then he put singers in the front of the army who sang praises to God: "Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever!"
-You might be familiar with Darlene Zschech - the internationally known worship leader and author of such choruses as "Shout to the Lord," but her life wasn’t always as together as we see it now. As newlyweds, Mark and Darlene struggled financially. Darlene earned small change singing commercial jingles for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Diet Coke and McDonald’s. Mark struggled to keep their motorcycle parts business afloat to support Darlene and their two young children. It was then that Darlene decided to praise God through the struggle. "I learned we’ll never find hope looking at our circumstances," she says. "It’s only found by fixing our eyes on Jesus who doesn’t change and who’s always faithful."(Darlene Zschech, "The Power of Worship on CBN.org)
-So, instead of letting fear control us, our response to the threat of the enemy is to seek God and pray. And when we have heard from God, then our response is to worship Him reverently, then praise Him with all we’ve got! Believe Him! Believe the word He speaks to our hearts by His Holy Spirit, His Word, and His people. Test every word you hear by the Bible. Well, what happened when they did these things?
5. Victory! (22-25)
22 At the moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. 23 The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had finished off the army of Seir, they turned on each other. 24 So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, there were dead bodies lying on the ground for as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped. 25 King Jehoshaphat and his men went out to gather the plunder. They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing, and other valuables-- more than they could carry. There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all!
-Remember what God’s word was? “You will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD's victory. He is with you….”
-We can expect victory when we call on the Lord and then do things His way! If we think that we can do it on our own we are mistaken. If we think that we have a better idea than God, then we will miss His blessing because of our own arrogance.
-Judah did not claim the credit for the victory, but they again worshiped, praised, and thanked the Lord, as we can see in this last point.
6. Celebration! (26-30)
26 On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing (Beracah), which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the LORD there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today. 27 Then they returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, full of joy that the LORD had given them victory over their enemies. 28 They marched into Jerusalem to the music of harps, lyres, and trumpets and proceeded to the Temple of the LORD. 29 When the surrounding kingdoms heard that the LORD himself had fought against the enemies of Israel, the fear of God came over them. 30 So Jehoshaphat's kingdom was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.
-Every valley of trial and hardship the Lord brings you through can become a Valley of Blessing. Not only can you be blessed in that valley, but it is only proper that we bless God as well. God is blessed by our prayers, our worship, our faith and trust, our obedience, our lifestyle, our praise!
-Note how v.26 takes the time to explain that the Valley of Blessing got its name not from all of the plunder or even the victory they were blessed with, but it was named Blessing because they praised and thanked the Lord there.
-Listen, God can turn your pit of despair into a valley of blessing, if you will trust in Him and do life His way! It may seem like you are in the valley of the shadow of death, but if you will trust God with your life, He will bring you the victory that He knows you need!
Conclusion: As we close, we can see that if we will become people of praise, people who worship God for who He is and who cry out to Him when we need help, He will respond to us and give us His word to go on. Then, as we continue to worship, praise, trust, and stand our ground, we will see the Lord fight the battles that we could never win on our own! Relationships can be healed! Bondages and addictions can be broken! Families can be re-united! Wounds from the past can be healed!
-When the Enemy Advances, We Pray. When the Lord Speaks, We Obey. When the Lord Fights, We Praise and thank Him for who He is and what He has done!
-What does your valley look like? Is it scary? Is it filled with the threats of the enemy? Today, if you will look to God and call on Him, He will respond to you and come close to you. He will show you who He is and who you are. He will help you if you come to Him with a humble heart, asking Him for help and being willing to do life His way.
-I would encourage you to take some tangible step today to turn your dark valley into a valley of blessing! Maybe you need to pray. Prayer brings us close to God. Seek God until you find Him. Worship Him. Begin to praise Him even before the battle begins. Let praise be your front line as you face the battle. God will fight for you. Take a stand for God and don’t back down! Then, be sure and thank God and praise Him for victory!
