The Valley Of Blessing

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” – 2 Chronicles 20:12

During our first Sunday streaming service, we sang “God, I look to you / I won’t be overwhelmed,” and I can’t help but think that song could have come straight out of 2 Chronicles 20. In this chapter, Jehoshaphat receives ill tidings of destruction coming from over the sea: the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites are advancing in battle. Jehoshaphat is afraid. He gathers the people and prays: he speaks of God’s power, his past deeds, and his promises. He lays out their trouble, asks God to help, admits their own powerlessness, and ends with this line: “we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

How terrible, how fearful, to be brought as a leader, a person of relative wealth and resources, to the point where one would say those words. Yet here we are, facing an invisible foe capable of murdering thousands and pulverizing dreams all in the span of a season, and none of us really know what to do. None of us know how long this will last. There is no clear end-point, and we are only beginning to comprehend the fall-out. But like Jehoshaphat, the basic response of our hearts can be this simple. And God answers. He speaks through Jahaziel to say, don’t be afraid; this is my battle. Go down to the valley. Find your enemies, stand firm and see God’s salvation.

And so they head towards the valley, but they go in an interesting way. Jehoshaphat and the people decide together to send before their army people singing worship songs, and we even have recorded the lyrics of their song: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.” The moment they begin to sing, God begins to destroy their enemies (verse 22). By the time they actually arrive at the valley, all they see are enemies already dead, and so much spoil that it took them three days to carry it all away. On the fourth day, they assemble in that valley and name it The Valley of Blessing. I imagine what it would have felt like, standing in that place where destruction had been replaced with provision, slaughter with blessing, fear with joy. For that is how they left, “returning to Jerusalem with joy,” and the awe of God came upon all nearby kingdoms such that no more war was made. “The realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.” 

The ending seems almost too good to be true, but these stories are not hopeless fairy tales. They are real things that happened, and the God that Jehoshaphat prayed to is the very same God that we speak to now. May Jehoshaphat's words be ours, and may our battles of fear turn into valleys of joy.