Valley of Blessing

As we conclude our series entitled Trouble Is Coming, we focused on how God accomplished an amazing miracle for King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. As a recap, Jehoshaphat was a godly king who tried to lead his people into a period of spiritual restoration. While doing what was right, he faced a tremendous crisis. Three kings aligned their armies for the sole purpose of annihilating Judah. You see, living for Christ does not automatically grant us immunity from struggles. Even though he was terrified, Jehoshaphat began to seek God (2 Chronicles 20:3). We discovered the first of three over-arching principles at this point: Because it is God's heart to have an intimate, personal relationship with us, He orchestrates the events of our lives to cause us to seek Him.


God told Jehoshaphat that He was going to fight this battle for the people of Israel (verse 15, 17). But He did command Jehoshaphat to lead the army of Israel into a face-to-face confrontation with the approaching enemies. He informed Jehoshaphat to position himself against His enemies. We discovered that the singers of Judah led the soldiers into battle. The second over-arching principle from this story is that if we want to God to fight our battles, we much get ourself into the right position...a position of praise and worship.


Today, we discover that "At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped." (2 Chronicles 20:22-24). 


The armies of Judah began to plunder the riches of these three conquered armies. It took them three days to collect their prize. Then we read in verse 26: "On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the Lord there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today."  


Do you see it? The third over-arching principle of this story: The very place that the enemy is waiting to conquer us, can become the place of our greatest blessing. God told Jehoshaphat to position himself face-to-face with the invading armies. The armies thought they were gathering in this valley to eradicate the people of Judah. But this place that was intended to be the Valley of Judah's destruction became the Valley of Judah's blessing.

Whatever is causing you the greatest amount of stress right now, whether it is a financial problem, a relational problem, a physical problem, an emotional problem, or a spiritual problem; that thing that the enemy has designed to be your valley of destruction will become the source of your greatest blessing, if you seek God, fill your heart with praise and worship, and believe His promise to deliver you. Your valley of destruction can become your valley of blessing!