February 1, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Thursday, February 1.
Welcome to a new month! Welcome to February, typically our most wintry month here in East Texas. We'll see about that. February, of course, is also the month we celebrate Valentine's Day, a day that celebrates the power of love.
Today, however, we focus on the power of music. Have you heard about the battle that was won... with singing? This amazing story is found in 2 Chronicles Chapter 20. As we read it, we find that Israel is besieged by not one, not two, but three invading armies. Their prospects look hopeless. The day before the big battle, King Jehoshaphat calls his people together.
The King proceeds to pray an amazing prayer and then - in verse 18 - he bows "with his face to the ground", and all his kingdom bows with him. What a beautiful picture of a leader trusting God for the future and leading his followers to do the same. And, as the prayer ends, the Levites slowly begin to rise and they begin to sing. They sing a song of praise, a song praising God for the victory - and the battle hasn't even happened yet!
The next morning, Jehoshaphat leads his army out to this battle, followed by the Levites, and once again they begin to loudly sing a song of praise. As they approach the battlefield, the three enemy armies start to turn on each other, and when God's people arrive, they see a valley full of dead soldiers, they see that God has already won the victory!
The power of music! The power of praise! The victorious, life changing power of our God! Some Bible scholars think that Jehoshaphat's army was singing the song we find in Psalm 47:6-7. "Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth, sing to Him a psalm of praise."
Sing a song of praise today. It can be a powerful thing.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
