how to change your focal length: part 3

"After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever." - 2 Chronicles 20:21

It was early. The morning sun lit the top of the rocks of Tekoa, and cast long shadows behind the horses. The air was cool and fresh, almost electric with anticipation. This was the moment of battle, of decision. This was the moment in which the words of Jehaziel, the Kohathites, the Korahites, even those of the great King, Jehoshaphat himself, would either come to nothing, or everything.

The king, glittering in armour at the front of the procession halted and raised a banner, fluttering in the dawn.

"Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem!" he cried, "Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld! Have faith in his prophets, and you will be successful!"

A nervous roar went up. The desert shook with feet and the handful of men marched forwards through the shaded rocks, into the sun. There, like a cloud of dust, far away on the other side of the plain were the massed armies of Moab and Ammon: countless thousands across the horizon, swords glinting, a swarm of men, ready to wipe their enemies from the earth.

What would your military strategy be? Hopelessly outnumbered, resting on just a few short lines of nice-sounding-hope from a prophet and a couple of priests, perhaps given heart (but not much else) by the king's speech, as ludicrous as it might have sounded, given the circumstances? What would you do?

If ever you needed to see beyond what you can see, it would be here. In these posts we're looking at how to change our 'focal length' using different aspects of praise: to see further, to re-shift how we see the world beyond our situations and circumstances. And this story, in 2 Chronicles 20 shows us again how 'praise' can help us do that.

Jehoshaphat's strategy is to appoint some singers.

Their job was to go out on the front lines, ahead of the actual armed men, and just 'praise'. You'd be forgiven for thinking that that is mad - it kind of is, especially when you see that the word used here is the word 'yadah'.

Where 'halal' was about boasting and shining, 'yadah' is much more physical. It comes from the idea of 'throwing' or 'casting' and it often indicates the idea of 'raised hands'. It's like literally throwing your hands in the air, like you just don't care. It's wild, exuberant, reckless praise.

Not exactly great against a massive army with lots of arrows, making yourself as obvious as possible. But you can read what happened in the rest of the chapter.

Yadah shows us that praise is also about the physical movement of releasing something to God, making ourselves vulnerable, and throwing, casting, opening our hands towards him. If ever you wondered where that crazy charismatic thing comes from - this'll be it: it's totally scriptural! It's warfare. Another sense of Yadah is used when the Bible talks about shooting arrows, or launching a spear. It's that feeling when every sinew in your arms is stretching towards Heaven.

So here's the Yadah challenge. Next time you're in a situation which feels hopeless, or has you feeling as though you're completely outnumbered, find a way to get moving. Find a space, find a place, find a way to literally throw your arms into the air and 'praise him for his holiness'. I reckon this is another key way to help us change our focus, to remove our eyes from the problem we face (and even the lack of any obvious solution) and to completely focus on God himself. Yadah sharpens the mind and makes it less and less about the here and the now, and more and more about Him. Give it a try!

It takes effort, energy and determination. It also takes vulnerability to do it, to be at the front of the line when the enemy attacks. At first it will feel unnatural, odd, maybe foolish. But have a read of 2 Chronicles 20 and see what happened. Yadah refocuses the eyes to remind us of the message that 'the battle' always 'belongs to the Lord'.