God will FIGHT our BATTLES if we TRUST Him by FAITH!
April 14
Bible Reading: 2 Kings Chapters 1-3
God will FIGHT our BATTLES if we TRUST Him by FAITH!
Then it happened, when the musician played,
that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, "Thus says the Lord:
'Make this valley full of ditches.' For thus says the Lord: 'You shall not see
wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so
that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.' And this is a simple matter
in the sight of the Lord; He will also deliver the Moabites into your
hand." (2 Kings 3:15-18)
The second
book of Kings starts with this simple statement: "Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab" (2
Kings 1:1). Ahab had now died and when his son Jehoram became the king of
Israel, there was a rebellion from a vassal who provided Israel with 100,000
lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams regularly (2 Kings 3:4-5). This was an
enormous blow to Israel’s economy, and so Jehoram mustered the help of
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah and the king of Edom to bring Moab back into
subjection (v. 9a).
However, as
these armies marched on the roundabout way of the Wilderness of Edom for seven days,
they faced a crucial problem – there was no water for the army or for the
animals that followed them (v. 9b). On the natural realm, it appeared that they
would not be able to survive without water and fall into the hands of the enemy
Moab (v. 10). The lack of water reminded
all three kings that God was in control and their combined power meant nothing
without Him!
It was then
that Jehoshaphat suggested that they should go to a prophet of God for help (v.
11), and they located Elisha who was now endowed with the double portion of the
spirit of Elijah (v. 12). Even though Jehoram had done evil in the sight of God
(vv. 2-3), Elisha respected the presence of the godly Jehoshaphat. He called
for a musician and as the musician played, the power of God came upon Elisha and
he predicted that the valley would be full of pools not caused by rain, and
that the Moabites would be defeated. God
would indeed fight their battle on their behalf!
As with many
Old Testament miracles, the prophet’s words carry instructions for human participation
as well (4:3, 4, 41; 6:6) so that the faith of the people and the divine
provision may each have their proper part. In this case, the armies were to dig
trenches throughout the countryside, and God would fill them with water. They
obeyed the word of the prophet and God provided water to the three armies in
abundance (3:13–20). To God this miracle
was so insignificant (a light thing) that He would use this miracle to deliver
the Moabites over to them!
Let us
remember today that God will fight our battles for us if we let Him and trust
Him by faith. It is always better to
trust in God than to put our confidence in people or authorities around us!
