Finding Rest in our Battles

UV 731/10,000 Finding Rest in Our Battles With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. 2 Chronicles 32 v 8 The powerful king of Assyria had besieged the kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah bolstered the faith of the people by saying that the king of Assyria relied only upon his own power but that they relied upon the Lord God. Scripture says that the one who depends upon man’s strength and his own power is cursed or doomed to failure. No wonder Napoleon wrote at the end of his life: “ Alexander, Charlemagne and I, myself have founded great empires upon our genius. Upon what were our empires founded? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love and to this day, thousands are prepared to die for Him.” These words agree with the Word of God that declares us who believe and trust God as “ more than conquerors.” Hezekiah and his people rested on the love of God, the knowledge of His Word and were fearless as they faced the enemy forces. Hezekiah and the people of Judah affirmed their faith that the Lord God would help them and fight their battles. As a result, the people put their fears to rest upon the faith confession of Hezekiah. The Lord God promises to help us and to fight our battles. Often, even without our knowledge, He is fighting our battles for us. We have battle lines drawn up at different fronts: personal, professional, familial, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. The Lord helps us fight all these battles and enables us to wrest victory. We depend not on mortal flesh but on the Spirit of God. We depend not on the steel of a sword or a weapon but upon the sharp edge of the Word that cuts to the innermost point of a man’s heart. We base our strength not on horses and chariots as the kings of yore did, but upon the chariots of fire that the Lord has promised to send to our aid. Often, these might be invisible to our own eyes but our enemies will be able to perceive it. Every battle we face is an opportunity to turn to the Lord to pray and to seek help. It eventually turns into an occasion to praise and worship Him with all sincerity and complete dependence on Him. It makes our testimony more interesting as we have a story to leave behind. The arm of God is never too short to do that which He has promised. The army of God is never short of forces. Our inner faith and our faith confession along with prayer, praise and worship sets in motion the legions of Heaven on our behalf as Pharaoh discovered to his chagrin when his army that pursued the seemingly hapless Israelites was drowned, both horses and men. The opposition against us will be dispersed as they plan to attack us or drowned while in hot pursuit. We need to rest upon the Word of God. To rest implies that we should relax, depend, enjoy and to be assured of victory. Prateep V Philip