The battle is not yours

Have you ever been in a situation that is too big, too impossible or too difficult for you to even know where to start?  If so, then you can understand how King Jehoshaphat felt when messengers told him that the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites had declared war on him and were on their way.  He could have assembled his greatest war advisors to start making decisions right away, since the messengers told him that the enemy was close, but instead he refused to do anything until he heard from God.

We like to read the stories in the Bible, but sometimes we don’t see how they apply to our life, so let’s ask God to show us how we can learn from king Jehoshaphat’s response and put it into practice when we face attacks.

“Jehoshaphat was alarmed by this news and sought the Lord for guidance.  He also gave orders that everyone throughout Judah should observe a fast.  So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord.”  (2 Chronicles 20:3-4)

The first thing we can see is that the king was afraid.  I think many times we feel bad because we are afraid when facing problems; we reason that because we are God’s children we should not feel fear, we put pressure on ourselves and quickly guilt starts building up. When threatened, we will feel fear; it is an emotion we experience. We can’t do anything about feeling fear, but we can control our reaction to fear and our actions even while feeling it.  As Joyce Meyer says “do it afraid!” 

We also notice that as soon as the king received the news he prayed to the Lord. He didn’t say a wimpy fearful prayer asking God to make everything ok, no!  He said: “O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven.  You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth.  You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you! … O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us.  We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.” (2 Chronicles 20:6; 12) what a powerful prayer!  And Jehoshaphat didn’t pray alone, he knew the power of praying together; immediately he gathered the whole nation to pray with him. “As all the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives and children, the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there.” (2 Chronicles 20:13-14)  When was the last time your family got together believing God for something big?  Praying together is powerful “For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20) 

God answered His children’s prayers “Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  Tomorrow, march out against them… but you will not even need to fight.  Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory...Do not be afraid or discouraged.” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17)  Don’t you just love this verse?  God is saying this to you and me, right now in whatever situation we are facing.  He knows we are afraid, but He reassures us that He is in charge, but He still tells us to face our challenge. Problems can’t be ignored, we can’t run away from them, we face them knowing God is by our side. He asks us to take our position, whatever He says we need to do, we do it and then we wait… oh! That is the hardest part!  How can we wait in the middle of our problems?  How can we just wait for God to act when it seems that He is not doing anything!  So tempting to act and give God some ideas on what to do and when to do it, but not Jehoshaphat, he obeyed and he organized the people in their positions “the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor.” (2 Chronicles 20:21) This reminds me of the song “Praise Him in advance” by Marvin Sapp which says “praise will confuse the enemy” and how true it is, not only the enemy but also the people around us, what a testimony!  And that is exactly what happened “at the moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.”(2 Chronicles 20:22)

May our powerful God give us the strength and wisdom to wait, hold our positions and praise Him as He fights for us. “The Lord himself will fight for you.  You won’t have to lift a finger in your defense!” (Exodus 14:14)