Sing Too: He Will Fight For You

One of my favorite aspects of the Bible is learning about God (and ourselves) through the genre of stories.  There are so many excellent stories gracing the pages of God’s redemptive Story. One character that has always been a favorite of mine is King Jehoshaphat, the leader over Judah.  Opening to 2 Chronicles 20 we have a front row seat of God at work.

Jehoshaphat hears of a vast army that is coming against them.  A situation that would prompt most to fear and rapid action. But how he responds is so encouraging.  He doesn’t immediately start military strategizing. He doesn’t enlist a draft to get more men ready to fight.  He proclaims a fast for the whole land to seek rescue from the Lord. And the end of his heartfelt prayer to God contains these famous words, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”  An expectant and prayerful trust and hope in the Lord.

As he learns of how the enemy will move towards them and where the conflict will occur, Jehoshaphat also learns that the battle is the Lord’s and that the Lord will give them deliverance from their foes.  He is told multiple times to not be afraid or discouraged.

So here we pick up in verse 18 and see the King lead his people into a posture of worship.  They bow to the ground and notice there’s no mention of any music or voice yet. The emphasis is on the message of the song, not so much the melody.  Then in verse 19 the praise follows and they’re not bashful about it. The next morning they go out and Jehoshaphat encourages all the people to have faith in the Lord.  He appoints people to worship the Lord and praise him “for the splendor of his holiness”. To go before the Army and declare joyfully, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”  

So while they sing and praise, the Lord fights for them and their enemies are defeated.  There is utter chaos and they destroyed one another. Then the people of Judah come upon the scene and see the totality of their God at work.  The response to this victory is not self reliance or pride but an assembly in a valley to praise the Lord.

Following this, they return joyfully to Jerusalem.  Their rejoicing over their enemies was fully credited to the Lord.  So they came home in triumph and went to the temple of the Lord armed with not their weapons of war but ones of worship!  Harps, lutes, and trumpets. A joyful noise for sure. Then the fear of God comes on all the countries around and Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was at peace.  God had given them rest on all fronts.

We can learn much from this story!  When we experience the Lord’s favor and working, a response of worship and gratitude is only fitting.  Jehoshaphat is facing a really tough situation and instead of leaning on his own strength and abilities, he looks to God.  And every step of the way his posture, his interacting with his people, his heart towards God; every bit of it is worship! They asked for rescue and their God rescued them.  Too often I find myself facing a challenge and my instinctive response is to widen my stance and try and bear the load myself. Without altering my course and looking to God to work, this always leaves me worn out and depleted.  But I am so thankful for a Savior that gives me cause to rejoice every day and invites me to look to him in all my battles! In the face of trials, may we like Jehoshaphat be quick to turn to God and lead ourselves and those around us into praise.  May we give thanks to the Lord, whose love endures forever!

Sing Too: We Will Sing

We will sing. It amazes me how different we are when it comes to music. What causes one person’s heart to rejoice causes another to shutter. However, the common thread that we all can relate to is that music does something to us. It may be different styles, cadence, rhythms, or genre, but there is likely some type of music that causes your heart to leap.  The reality is that it is hardwired in our DNA to sing.  Now, I am not suggesting that our singing will always sound good to the ear, but we will sing. It may be a hum, a sign, a clap, a leap, a sway or many other forms, but we will sing.  

Singing is an expression of a joyful heart that overflows into some form of rhythmic celebration.  God put that inside of us. From the youngest to the oldest, we sing.  Yet, there is a rebellious side we all possess that has taken what should be joyous and turned it into something dreadful.  This happens when we focus too much on the melody and too little on the message.  Don’t get me wrong! I love a good beat, hook, and rhythmic cadence. Nothing like bobbing to a ferocious beat or cadence. However, we all can think of songs that had a killer beat, but the message was horrible. It wasn’t until we had been singing along for 90 seconds or several minutes until we recognized the lyrical tragedy flowing from our mouth.  We must be intentional in making sure the message is just as beautiful as the melody. At times you may have to choose which one and I believe the melody must take a back seat to the message.  The message we sing is more important than the melody which we sing. 

The first song recorded in the Bible is found in Exodus 15. It is the song of Moses. God had just delivered Israel from the wrath of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. He brought them across the Red Sea on dry ground while using the same path to destroy the Egyptians. After watching God perform this miracle, Moses and the children of Israel began to sing. I am not sure of the melody and my Western experience of music makes it hard to follow the tune of this song. It does not match the poetic syncopations I am used to hearing. However, it does match the prophetic singing I am used to declaring.  This first song is about a Great God that deliverers. It is about a God that can do the impossible and saves those that call out to Him. It is about His might and strength. It is about His power and sufficiency. When it comes to congregational singing, this gives us a template of what it should entail. It should remind us of the Greatness of our God and that all of our hope should rest in Him.  Singing awakens us to our joy found in the Lord. 

This week you will sing.  I pray that some of the songs you sing, will remind you that your God is big and your problems are small against the backdrop of this big God.  May you sing fervently throughout the week so that when Sunday comes and you join with the congregation, your natural response will be to sing loudly unto this Great God. 

Sabbath...Part 2

One of the things that I have found in my journey with Christ is that reading scripture and what others have to say on it ultimately brings me to a deeper understanding of God and my relationship with Him. It is with that in mind that I write these words, while borrowing some ideas from a devotion I completed as we prepare to talk about rest as a church family.

Often I think we struggle with the tensions God has placed in our lives, mostly because it pushes us to discomfort. Ideas such as God’s sovereignty versus free will, grace and works, Jesus being fully human and fully divine, and God being all-powerful and all-loving are all concepts that are seemingly at odds. Yet, they are necessary to fully understand the character of God.  Much like the strings of an instrument, it is the tension that creates the sound. One of these uncomfortable tensions centers around trust, hustle, and rest.

God knew that our own successes would make us readily praise ourselves, so He reminds us over and over again in the Bible that He produces the results, not us.  He is solely responsible for the outcomes, which demands our trust in Him.

• 1 Chronicles 29:12 “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things.”

• Deuteronomy 8:17-18 “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”

• Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.”

That verse in Proverbs is so important because it sets the tone for our work: we need to TRUST FIRST. Then we hustle while trusting the results to Him. We don’t trust in Him and then “wait on the Lord” as an excuse for laziness or procrastination. Once we have a calling and have trusted that work to the Lord, He wants us to hustle.  It is often through our hustle that He chooses to produce results.

Growing up, I played (or tried to play) every sport that I was exposed to.  One of the things I learned early on was that hustle was rewarded. In the context of sports, it means giving your all and trying hard regardless of the outcome. You might run hard for a loose ball, and although you may not have gotten to it first, you hear the coach say, “great hustle out there!” Now, I hear hustle in different ways, especially with work.  It is almost like everyone I know has their hustle and their side-hustle. And there is nothing wrong with working hard. In fact, we see in scripture that we are to “work with all our hearts as working for the Lord” (Col 3:23). But without the tension of trusting the Lord for the results, hustle alone becomes nothing more than a worthless idol. Proverbs 16:9 highlights that tension: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”  We recognize that it is the Lord forming our steps, but it is also good and right for us to plan our course, to work in our gifting and calling. We have to remember that work existed before sin entered the world and is inherently good and designed by God to reveal His character. Our drive and ambition for work can be a good thing, but needs to be accompanied by trust.

Finally, in addition to balancing trust with hard work, we also need rest. It is pretty easy to see in our lives that we are a restless people. We all talk about craving rest, working for the “weekend”, but even once we are home, we never can truly physically or mentally disconnect from our constant demands. We check emails, social media, calendars and more.  We are constantly doing. And even in those moments when we finally relax, it is for physical sleep. St. Augustine wrote, “Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.” Without God the Father, we won’t find the rest we so desire. It is with this balance of working hard and completely trusting in the Lord for the results that we can rest. This rest begins with our submission to the God-designed practice of the Sabbath.  Tim Keller wrote, “We are to think of the Sabbath as an act of trust. God appointed the Sabbath to remind us that He is working and resting. To practice the Sabbath is a disciplined and faithful way to remember that you are not the one who keeps the world running, who provides for your family, not even the one who keeps your work projects moving forward.” When we practice Sabbath rest, it serves as a powerful reminder of who God is, and a tangible example of trusting in Him.