Rev. Don Campbell
2 Chronicles 19-23
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, June 30, 2019
“THE BATTLE IS NOT OURS, BUT GOD’S”
Jehoshaphat was one of the better kings of Judah with the Scriptures giving this testimony: “He walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. The high places, however, were not taken away; the people had not yet set their hearts upon the God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 20:32-33). We will look at two statements he made: One in a payer to God and the other in his exhortation of Judah.
The Moabites, the Ammonites, and some Meunites were massing to come upon against Judah. Jehoshaphat declared a fast throughout all the cities of Judah and then turned his voice to God in prayer. He concludes the prayer with these words: “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12).
Jehoshaphat spoke to Judah: “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed” (2 Chronicles 20:20).
The battle was not theirs but God’s (2 Chronicles 20:15), and Judah did not have to shoot a single arrow or raise a single sword. What specifically happened, we don’t know, but after the enemy had destroyed the inhabitants of Seir, they destroyed one another, leaving piles of spoil for the people of Judah to collect (2 Chronicles 20:23-25).
When we fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and believe his promises, the battle is his, and he has never lost one yet. Read Paul’s very familiar message from a not-so-familiar source:
“In face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that did not hesitate to spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with him, everything else that we can need? Who would dare to accuse us, whom God has chosen?
The judge himself has declared us free from sin. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us! Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? Indeed some of us know the truth of the ancient text: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’. No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory through him who has proved his love for us. I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 8:31-39, J.B. Phillips New Testament).
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
CONNECTIONS
1. Paul exhorts us to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” When we forget that the battle is not ours but God’s, what kind of useless weapons do often take up to, in our minds, “protect the word of God”? (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
2. Would it be a fair statement to say that the Scriptures don’t need our protection; they need our obedience?
