This morning’s sermon (unrecorded because of technical difficulties) continued the ‘Battles and Blessings’ series and looked at two battles won through the power of praise. In Josh 6:2-11, we see how Jericho is won by a very unconventional battle strategy using three strange weapons: people’s feet (as the Israelites marched around the city), trumpets made from rams’ horns (which the priests blew) and a loud shout on the seventh day. In 2 Chron 20:15-26, we see another battle won with the singers leading the way praising God for the splendour of His holiness and proclaiming ‘His love endures for ever.’ On both occasions, God demonstrated His power and ability to bring victory in ways that confound logic or reasoning (see 1 Cor 1:25).
Praise is a spiritual weapon (see Ps 149:6-9) with divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor 10:5). Spiritual battles can only be won with spiritual weapons, and praise is the ‘foolproof’ method God has given His people of lifting our eyes beyond our circumstances and trial and seeing God as He really is: high and lifted up, sovereign over all, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sustainer of heaven and earth, the one true God who is all-powerful and all-loving. When we magnify or glorify God (Ps 34:3), we are not making Him any bigger than He really is, but we are enabling our eyes to see Him as He truly is! Praise is a powerful weapon because it turns our eyes away from ourselves, with all our inadequacies and limitations, and turns our eyes onto God who is limitless in power and for whom nothing is impossible.
In both these battles, God’s people saw amazing things. They saw the walls of Jericho, seemingly so impregnable, crumble and fall. They saw dead bodies scattered everywhere and gathered so much plunder it took 3 days to carry it all away! Yet their part in these victories was relatively simple. They simply praised God through shouting and singing. May we learn to do the same.
