(This post has been updated since its original publication.)
You know that feeling you get, in the moment when you realize a battle is eminent?
Your enemy wages war against you, and the news punches you right in the stomach. Is it fear? Shock? Uncertainty of where to go, or what to do next?
For me, when the report comes and I realize an attack is on its way, I immediately switch to defense mode. Sure, I pray. I ask God for help. I claim to trust God with my words, but my actions tell a different story.
Because there’s nothing quite so frazzling as that instant when you say to yourself, “This is real,” but you feel like it’s a bad dream. You wonder if God hears you at all. And in a desperate attempt to be strong and courageous, you start fighting the battle yourself.
We’ve all been there, on the front lines of impending battle. In that frightening place, it’s easy to see the magnitude of what we are facing and forget one important detail.
There’s a big difference between the way we see the battle, and how God sees it.
King Jehoshaphat knew this.
When Jehoram, King of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, to join him and go to battle against Moab, Jehoshaphat agreed. The king of Edom also joined with them. But after marching seven days with no water for their men or animals, Jehoram lost faith.
But Jehoshaphat wasn’t ready to give up so easily. He called for a prophet, so they could see what God had to say about it. God’s words to these three kings revealed a powerful truth that still applies to our battles today.
What we see as our most difficult struggles are the simplest matters to God.
God spoke through the prophet Elisha, telling them He planned to fill every dry stream bed with water, so they would have plenty to drink. That was His first promise. Then He also added another minor detail.
By the way, I will also take care of this one other simple thing. I will deliver your enemy into your hands.
You see, God had a plan all along. King Jehoram couldn’t see it. All he could see was three armies of exhausted, worn out, thirsty men without water to drink. How would they ever be able to fight?
I hear you, Jehoram. I’ve been in that place of doubt. We all have. We look around at our circumstances, and our human minds can’t possibly foresee a good outcome. Yet it’s in those moments God calls us into a deeper level of trust.
“And when they rose early the next morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.” (v. 22) They thought the kings had turned on each other, so they went after the spoil. But when they came to the camp, the Israelites rose up and took them down.
God used the water to confuse the Moabites and win the victory even before the battle began.
Just like Jehoshaphat, when we trust God with our biggest struggles, He will bring us to a place of victory in the most remarkable ways.
Are you facing a battle that seems insurmountable? Are you ambushed by feelings of fear, shock, or uncertainty? Instead of taking matters into our own hands, let’s take our trust to a new level today. Our biggest battles are God’s simplest matters.
Blessings,
Kristine