When three kingdoms gathered their armies in great multitudes against Israel (2 Chronicles 20), “King Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to 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 endures for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against” the triple-threat looming over God’s people.
Thus, to rise above any seeming impossible crisis facing me or my nation, the first requirement is to stand still, with ever-growing awareness of the beauty of holiness. Stand aside and let the Power that creates worlds have the right-of-way.
The Bible then reveals yet another key to achieving final victory over troublesome circumstances:
“And when Judah came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, they looked upon the multitude; and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none that escaped.” (2 Chronicles 20:24, emphasis added.) Praising and contemplating the beauty of holiness ultimately brought the nation to the watch-tower in the wilderness. This wonderful watch-tower is that place in Spirit from which I can at last see as God sees, think as God thinks, know as God knows about anything, any challenge. It is the place of heightened awareness, the secret place of the Most High, that infinite height from which I know that Truth prevails, and error — no matter how great it seems to be — destroys itself. From that watch-tower — right in the midst of what appears to sense as a howling wilderness — I can comprehend “no evil shall befall [me], neither shall any plague come nigh [my] dwelling.” (Ps. 91:10.) .) Only from that watch-tower could the people see clearly the ultimate undoing — indeed the non-existence — of their would-be assailants. From that watch-tower perspective, I pray not for victory, but from victory.
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” (Ps. 24:7-8.) The great visionary and poet, William Blake, wrote: “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.”
How Jehoshaphat overcame also teaches me how to overcome, how to lift up my head (elevate my mentality), stand porter at the door of thought, and let the Lord enter through the gates of consciousness like a flood, let the Lord who is mighty in battle take up residence on the battlefields of life, changing them into abodes of peace, so that the “wilderness shall be glad . . . and the desert blossom as a rose” (Isaiah 35:1).