Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 214 · August 2
Singers Before the Army
“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Perhaps someone told you, at the worst moment of your life, to praise your way through it. It may have felt like being told to smile while everything fell apart. This verse is often where that advice comes from, so it is worth reading the whole chapter behind it.
The objection deserves to be heard in full. If you read this verse as a technique, it becomes cruel. It turns worship into a lever for getting what you want, and it makes the outcome depend on how well you sing. It also hands a frightened person one more thing to fail at.
The order of events in the chapter answers that. First, "Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." Then comes his prayer, which ends with a king telling God, in front of the whole country, that he has nothing: "we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee."
Then the Spirit of the LORD comes on a Levite named Jahaziel, and he brings God's word for that day: "the battle is not yours, but God's." He tells them where the enemy will come up, and he gives them a promise: "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle." Only after that does anyone appoint singers. The music followed God's promise, and it was never offered as a way to get one.
The chapter also refuses to make Jehoshaphat a hero. "Howbeit the high places were not taken away." Later he joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, "who did very wickedly," and the ships they built together were broken. He was a frightened king who once prayed a very good prayer.
What lasts is the line they were given to sing, because it is about God and not about the battle: "Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever." That sentence was old before Jehoshaphat was born, and it was true on the mornings when nothing was rescued. So pray it in the same order he did.
God, we are afraid. We have no might, and we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You. We are not singing to make anything happen. We sing because Your mercy endures for ever, and it did long before we knew about this trouble. Amen.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 214 is Here I Am (Isaiah 58:9).