Let God Fight

“It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle… And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? … And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee… Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation; And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s… Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto 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 endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten” (From II Chron. 20).

Here we have a classic example of God fighting his people’s battles for them. This is a basic element of the faith, and yet many never really learn to employee this tried and proven reality. And then again one can let the Lord fight their battles in some arenas, and then forget to do so in others. Nevertheless if you want to win every battle, you had better let the Lord fight them for you, because he has NEVER LOST ONE! I would like to point out here from our text passage some of the key elements of HOW it is that we let God fight for us. It takes more than just saying or thinking were letting him fight for us. We do have our part to do, it’s just that our part is not to get involved with the fight, whatever it may be, after a worldly manner. Our battle is with the spiritual forces of darkness that WANT US to get involved in the warfare after a worldly manner (Eph. 6:12). First of all, when these armies came against Jehoshaphat and Judah, the king got really serious with God, and saw to it that the rest of the people got equally as serious. He “set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah,” as we are told. That brings to mind the tried and proven exhortation of the apostle Peter: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (I Pet. 5:6,7). Next we see that Jehoshaphat came before the Lord with the congregation and reminded God of his power and greatness, and of their great neediness and dependency on him. That reminds me of the simplistic but powerful declaration of Jesus: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 5:3). After these steps were taken we see that the answer came from the Lord, in this case through a prophet of the Lord, who straightly told them: “BE NOT AFRAID nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is NOT YOURS, but God’s.” Amen! That brings two scriptures to mind that confirm this ever present truth: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Tim. 1:7). And then there’s this famous quote that God spoke to Joshua when he sent him to lead his people into Canaan’s land: “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life… I WILL NOT fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage” (Josh. 1:5,6). And the final element of how God won this great battle for Jehoshaphat and Judah, is that the people sang the praises of their God, which is what triggered the Lord’s intervention in the matter; and their enemies were subsequently vanquished. To that the apostle Paul instructed us; “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philip. 4:4). So the moral of the story is that if we obey and trust God, and follow the principles that we see in our text passage; and we faithfully commit our causes to the Lord with perseverance and honesty, no man or obstacle of any kind will be able to stand before us all the days of our lives either, regardless of how insurmountable it or they may seem to be. Amen.