The Battle Belongs to God
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Intro
Have you ever been in a battle that feels unwinnable?
Tell story of mice in vegetable garden last summer
It was all out war, and although I put up a good fight and took at lot of them down, it still felt like we lost .
Many situations in life feel like a battle
Some may not be high stakes in the scheme of things, like our battle with the mice, but others do matter and are of more consequence
Sometimes life can feel like nothing but a constant battle
At work, with the kids, with your health, in your marriage, against sin
And sometimes those battles can feel daunting or even unwinnable
This morning we’re going to read a story in the OT about the children of Israel who were facing a daunting, if not unwinnable, battle
There are a lot of practical takeaways from this story that we can apply to our own lives.
2 Chronicles 20:1
1st & 2nd Chronicles records the history of King David’s royal line
1st Chronicles focuses on the reign of David and the preparations to build the first temple and transition power to his son Solomon, and then 2nd Chronicles goes through Solomon, the division of the nation into Israel to the north and Judah to the south, and then focuses on the line of kings in the southern kingdom of Judah (David’s line)
The author, most likely Ezra, had a focus on God’s covenant faithfulness with His people
Here in 2nd Chronicles, we’ve picked up in the middle of the reign of King Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat reign started nearly 100 years after the end of King David’s, and he was the 4th king of Judah after the nation had split
He reigned for ~ 35 years from 873 to 849 BC
He was considered a godly king, the second of five godly kings during Judah’s history
He got rid of the high places (the places of idol worship) and he sent out priests and Levites to teach the people God’s law (His Word).
He wasn’t perfect by any means, but for the most part his heart was loyal to the Lord.
And as we get into the chapter here, Jehoshaphat and the nation of Judah have a problem - Moab and Ammon have come to attack
Under normal circumstances, this would be a big problem. Not only do you have to go to war, but you’re facing a confederation of nations coming against you
But Jehoshaphat had narrowly escaped death during the last war he faced
He had allied himself with King Ahab of Israel (one of the most wicked kings the northern kingdom ever had) and trusted in himself instead of listening to what God had told him - 2 Chronicles 18 tells us about it
Ahab had asked him to help Israel attack Syria.
Although Jehoshaphat is in this unwise alliance, he at least asks if there was a prophet of God to ask for advice about the battle.
Ahab brings 400 of his prophets (not true prophets who actually spoke for God, but ones that told the king what he wanted to hear), and they tell the two kings that they will win this battle no problem and that God was on their side
Jehoshaphat sees right through it and asks Ahab if there was a true prophet of God to talk to
It’s so funny how the story goes next - Ahab says, “Yes, there is one prophet named Micaiah (mi-ki-huh), but I hate him because he never has anything good to say about me.” in what I imagine is a whiny and pathetic tone
So they get Micaiah and he says, “Attack and be victorious, for the Lord has given this battle into your hands”
Ahab replies, “How many times have I told you to stop being sarcastic with me, tell me the truth!”
Micaiah then responds, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills, like sheep without a shepherd” - a vivid picture of the potentially disastrous result of the war if they carried it out, including the prophecy of Ahab’s death
Nevertheless, both Ahab and Jehoshaphat choose not to listen to God and go to the battle and sure enough, they get their clock cleaned.
Ahab dies, the nation of Israel is soundly defeated, and Jehoshaphat barely escapes with his life
Jehoshaphat is not in a place of strength, coming off a great victory into this battle, he’s coming into it in a place of weakness and fear
A lot of times it feels like we have just barely escaped death in the last battle we faced before another one comes along
Maybe it’s because of choices that we have made too where we ignored what God was telling us to do
2 Chronicles 20:2-4
Here we see Jehoshaphat’s response to this news of the battle - fear
Battles bring fear many times
Especially when we don’t have a track record of winning, or are facing a battle that seems daunting or unwinnable
But the king also does something else right away, he sets himself to seek the Lord.
This word “seek” in the original Hebrew is interesting because it can mean to pursue or search, to ask, but it also means to worship
So in a time of trouble, and time of battle, Jehoshaphat is being intent on searching out God and worshipping Him
And the king’s actions then start to influence the people around him, in fact the whole nation
Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast for Judah and vs. 4 tells us that the whole nation gathers together to seek the Lord as one
Here we see our first lesson for us - people are watching when the battle comes, and our response will not just shape our perspective, but it can influence those around us
Jehoshaphat is the leader of his people, so they are looking to him for answers, looking to him for what they should do
And his example sets the people to seek God for the answer
For us, even though we might be afraid, when we choose to trust and to seek after and worship God in the middle of the battle, those around us (our family, those in the ministry we serve in or lead, even our coworkers or the people we manage at work), they’re going to see our response and it will many times cause them to do the same
2 Chronicles 20:5-9
So the king gathers the people in the courtyard of the temple and starts to pray
There are so many good things we can learn from this prayer
At the very beginning, Jehoshaphat reminds himself how powerful God is
2 Chronicles 20:6
It can be so easy to lose perspective in the battle, to think that the situation is too hard or too difficult to face. We cannot forget how powerful our God is
Second, we see the personal connection Jehoshaphat has to God in vs. 7
“Are You not our God...”
It’s a personal connection, a personal relationship that Jehoshaphat has here
Third, Jehoshaphat starts to remember all of the things that God has done to show His faithfulness over time
God has given each one of us a resume of His faithfulness to look back on and be encouraged in our faith
You may have walked with God a long time, and your resume might be pretty long of times that God showed Himself faithful
You can see time after time after time that God shows up in the battle and God moves and He works, and that can give you confidence that He’s going to do it again as long as you trust in him
But maybe your walk with Him is newer, and your list isn’t very long.
Be encouraged by His word. God has written down stories like this for our benefit to learn from. If Jehoshaphat, a man who did trust God at times, but who also messed up and made mistakes and trusted in himself, if God shows up and delivers him in this situation only because he trusted in the Lord and not because of his own might or strength, that should be an example to us that when we get into the thick of it, God can deliver us too
Jehoshaphat continues his prayer...
2 Chronicles 20:10-12
Jehoshaphat is remembering here the events of the past and showing his knowledge in God’s Word
Back in Deut 2, when the children of Israel had left Egypt and were headed towards the Promised Land, God didn’t allow them to attack these people.
He lays out his request for deliverance because it would be unjust for God to allow them to destroy Judah now
And then in vs 12, he realizes his own limitations
2 Chronicles 20:12
The last time he had a war on his hands, Jehoshaphat was pretty prideful.
He had actually built up this large army and had many mighty warriors in 2 Chronicles 17, right before the war with Syria
So when Ahab, the wicked king of Israel came to him looking for help, he didn’t think twice before agreeing
And even when God told him that they were going to lose, he trusted in himself and in the army he had built up, thinking that he could still fight his way to victory
In stark contrast to that, here Jehoshaphat fully realizes that he was weak and powerless and had limitations, but he was looking to the one who is powerful and has unlimited resources
Humility in the face of trial or a battle is so important
We can get ourselves into such trouble when we bring pride into that battle
Because no matter how strong or tough or solid we think we are, there is always something bigger that can knock us down
We need to approach God in complete humility, “We have no power...”
When we get out of the way, that’s when God can step in and say, “Alright, now I can do something about this”
God is jealous. He won’t give His glory to another
Isaiah 42:8a
8 I am the Lord, that is My name;
And My glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images.
And that includes us. His goal is not to prop us up and make us look amazing. We shouldn’t seek to make ourselves look amazing, but we should seek to point the credit and the glory to God
2 Chronicles 20:13-15
I love this. Jehoshaphat are seeking the Lord on this trial and then the Spirit of the Lord fills up this dude Jahaziel to start prophesying, or speaking forth God’s word
Jahaziel tells them not to fear, the battle isn’t there’s to fight, it is the Lord’s
First off, we see that when we humble ourselves to seek God, He will answer!
James 1:5
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Second, God, through Jahaziel, confirms what we had just been talking about. When we humble ourselves before God in a battle and give it to Him, He will fight it for us!
David, when he was standing in the Valley of Elah before Goliath the giant, with only a slingshot and a few smooth stones against this behemoth of a man, says:
1 Sam 17:47
47 Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
The apostle Paul tells us in the NT:
2 Cor 3:4-5
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
2 Chronicles 20:16-17
God then gives them the specifics of the battle plan
Basically, get out of the way and I’ll do the work
But, there are some interesting things here to see!
God still tells them to go to the battlefield
Over the years, God delivered His people from enemies that were stronger than them in many different ways
Sometimes He’d make them get into the midst of the battle and fight
David fought battles, Moses and the people fought battles as they came from Egypt to conquer the land, Joshua and the people had to fight many battles to take the promised land
Sometimes He’d make them step out in faith and do something they would have never done on their own and trust God
I think of Joshua again in and the people at their first battle in the promised land at Jericho
Or Gideon, where God gets rid of most of the army and makes them blow horns and break pots to win the battle
Not what you’d find in your typical military tactics handbook
Sometimes they wouldn’t have to do a thing and God would just do everything
2 Kings 19 - The Assyrian army comes to Judah many years after this and is ready to wipe them out. King Hezekiah takes it to God, and overnight God sends an angel to wipe out 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, and they didn’t have to do a thing
In this case though, God tells them to go to the battlefield. He’s going to do the work, but they have to go through it
They would have to participate in the battle and exercise their faith
I have this cool note in my Bible on this verse that says, “Sometimes God delivers us from adversity, but other times God delivers us through adversity.”
Don’t get upset when you go through the battle, many times God is using it to for our own good to grow us
And then God reminds them of what they had reminded themselves of, that He is powerful and that salvation is going to come from Him
“The Lord is with you.”
This fact, that God is with us, is probably one of the most amazing promises we have when we are afraid.
We talked about fear earlier, fear can be such a crippling thing.
So many places across scripture when people are afraid, God reminds them that He is there with them
Joshua 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Romans 8:31
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Matt 28:20
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
This is that assurance that He is there when we’re doing something we’re commanded to do but we can be very fearful about - sharing the gospel
2 Chronicles 20:18-19
Their response is worship.
Having that confidence that when we seek God through the midst of a battle that He is going to lead and guide us, and even though it might be hard that He will grow us and has a purpose for it, that should cause us to worship Him.
What a stark contrast to when we put our trust in ourselves during a battle
That can lead to either pride or fear
But humility and seeking the Lord will lead to worship
2 Chronicles 20:20-21
Jehoshaphat and the people obey what God told them to do and they get up the next day and go to battle.
The whole way there, Jehoshaphat is reminding them to trust in the Lord
We need those reminders for ourselves - God is in control, God will fight for us, trust in Him
That’s one reason a body of believers is so important so we can encourage one another the way Jehoshaphat was encouraging the people
2 Peter 1:12
12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
2 Chronicles 20:22-25
We see the result of the trust and the humility, God brings the victory just as He said He would
He caused this coalition of nations to start fighting one another and they wiped each other out
And we see God’s blessing at the end of the battle - they were able to reap the spoils of war in abundance
So much so that it took 3 days to gather it all
I’ve seen so many times that when we are faithful to God through the difficult times, through those battles, that He shows up in a huge way and the blessings that are at the end are greater and more than we could ever even imagine
God just loves to take the desperate and unwinnable situation and turn it around and do an amazing work
Not so that we get any credit or praise, but He does it because of His love and grace towards us
2 Chronicles 20:26-30
The result of this is more praise.
The people head back to Jerusalem joyful and filled with praise because of what God has done
Totally opposite when Jehoshaphat came back from the defeat against Syria with his tail between his legs
Allowing God to fight the battle caused them to come back full of praise
They gave the proper recognition to God for winning the war and didn’t take the credit for themselves
One last thing I want to point out here that’s really cool before we wrap up, so stay with me for a few more minutes
It says in vs. 26 that they named the place of this battle the Valley of Berachah (bra-ka).
The Hebrew name Berachah means “blessing”
Even in hard times/battles, we can find blessings (Berachah) in the Lord
And those blessings are left as a memorial for the rest of your life
“...therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day.”
You can go back to that battle and the victory God gave and all the blessings that came along with it time after time to be reminded of the faithfulness of the Lord
I pray that you have been encouraged this morning by the example of King Jehoshaphat that God wrote down for us
Give your battles to the Lord
Don’t trust in yourself, don’t rely on your own strength
Seek the Lord, worship Him, seek His guidance and direction, be faithful to do what He calls you to do, and stand back and watch as God moves
Pray