Are You Afraid?

He said: “Pay attention, all you people of Judah, residents of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Don’t be afraid and don’t panic because of this huge army! For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 

2 Chronicles 20:15 

Have you ever felt like you were being hammered with issues and problems and frustrations and irritations?  Have you ever felt as though you were in a boxing match and you were on the receiving end of the beating?  Have you ever felt like you are losing ground in this life?  When facing life's challenges, we can often feel overwhelmed!

 

The back story of today's passage is that King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah looked over the walls and saw what appeared to be an army so large they had no idea how they would survive.  Sound familiar?  Look at your bills and wonder how they will ever get paid; look at your refrigerator and wonder how you will ever find food to put in it; see someone needing help or caring (warning: cops are among the most prickly porcupine people ever, and aren't prone to let others get close to them) and you wonder how you can reach out to that person? 

 

I love the key part of verse 15: FOR THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS, BUT GOD'S.  When we try on our own, we will fail over and over, but let God fight the battles and we will see victory after victory.  Our enemy likes to stay in our face so we are too distracted to look to God, but when we are wise to his tricks, we are able to step aside and let God do His job!