Mensa Otabil - Song of Victory

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Yesterday, we looked at the battle that King Jehoshaphat led the people of Judah into. They were fighting three armies from Moab, Ammon, and Seir. They went into this battle with singing.

And so today, we’re going to look at the victory that God gave them in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 22. Now, when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come out against Judah, and they were defeated. King Jehoshaphat went into battle singing. This is a war of songs, a warfare of praise and worship. And that’s just to tell you that singing, praise, and worship is also part of spiritual warfare.

And so they go into this warfare praising the Lord and singing of the goodness of the Lord. And the Bible says that as they were singing and praising the Lord, the Lord set ambushes against the people. An ambush is a favored battle strategy. It was used a lot in the Old Testament days. It’s still used in battle today. Basically, it means to do something unexpected, to do something surprising. So when an army is expecting a certain move, another move comes from an unexpected source—that’s an ambush. And that’s what God did. He did something totally unexpected, so much so that even the people of Judah were not expecting what happened. They had no idea what happened. God set ambushes.

There are two dimensions to what God did. First, there is a spiritual dimension. That means that this ambush had a spiritual force behind it. There was angelic activity here. Now, you wouldn’t see that angelic activity physically. So if you were there watching that battle, you wouldn’t see much; all you would hear later is that God did it. But how did God do it? He sent angels. We didn’t see angels, but there are angels all around doing warfare and battle in the name of the Lord on your behalf. And so, though we don’t see a spiritual ambush, it is being set for you by the Lord. But this supernatural activity had another expression in the natural dimension, and this is what you would have seen.

So there was what God did spiritually and what people saw physically. What they saw was that the people of Moab and Ammon, who were traditional allies anyway, went against the people of Seir. And for some reason—maybe it was a strategy problem, maybe it was a security problem, or insecurity, or suspicion, or mistrust—something went on, and the people of Ammon and Moab ganged up against Seir, fought against them, and destroyed them.

So that’s the first thing: two armies against one. And then, after they were done with Seir, the people of Ammon and Moab— for whatever problem it was, whether it was a problem of leadership or whatever it is, or somebody offended somebody, or somebody reminded somebody of something terrible— they started fighting one another and fought so bitterly to the last man that the Bible says no one escaped. What a war!

This is something that is supposed to bury Judah, but they go burying the enemy. This is something that is supposed to destroy Judah, but they see the enemy destroying themselves right in front of them in the valley. So they end up calling the valley the Valley of Barakah, the valley of God’s blessing, of God’s favor. The place of their burial became the place of their blessing because, as they sang, the Lord set ambushes on their behalf.

There are things that happen in the realm of the spirit that God is doing for you right now that will manifest in the natural. And after the battle, it took Judah three days to collect all the spoils, the booty, the good things, and bring them back home to Jerusalem. God will bring you to the battle, but all you will see is His hand at work, and all you will do is carry spoils home. May the Lord give you victory in every battle you face in Jesus' name.

Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, you work in both the spiritual and natural realms. I praise you for your mighty works in my life. In Jesus' name, Amen and amen.»