Surrounded, Yet Still Singing

It was a crazy time to start singing.

Dressed up in battle gear, they were headed out to battle a bunch of enemies who had come together to destroy them. They were outnumbered and no match for the armies coming toward them. Yet they geared up and headed out to meet them—with the singers in front of the soldiers. Picture the awkward seventh-grader with a squeaky voice and lanky body headed out to fight the senior football team. And he is singing.

Then something crazy happens. The enemy hears them singing about how big and great their God is and becomes confused. They start to fight each other.

By the time the small army gets to a break in the trees where they can see down onto the battlefield (they are not there yet), the enemy is dead. They have killed each other. There is no one to fight. That is hard to believe! They head down to check it out, their courage building. They get there and not only find it is true but also spend the next three days gathering treasures from a battle they never had to fight. I think God shares this story in 2 Chronicles 20 to give us a battle plan. When life is hard and we do not know what to do, when one thing right after another seems to hit us and we are ready to give up, when hope and courage are hard to find, when we just want to hide under the covers or eat a quart of mint chocolate chip ice cream or focus on a screen instead of the problems or buy something new or do whatever you do to hide and cope—this story challenges us to turn to God. I’m not saying just pray a quick prayer and then get back to hiding or fighting the “whatever” on our own. I’m saying stay focused on the God who is bigger. Start singing praises. Look the battle in the eye and believe God has a plan. And when we start to sing and trust God instead of hiding or trying to fight it on our own, our enemy will be confused. Our confidence that God has us will make him afraid.

It is not an easy game plan. We tend to want to do something. Fix it. We want to whine and complain and vent, not sing. We would rather run and hide in something that brings comfort instead of facing conflict. But in those moments, cue the singing. Give it a try the next time you feel overwhelmed and defeated. You have nothing to lose but fear and discouragement.

Tamyra Horst