Deuteronomy Chapter 20 (2)
Among the many chapters in Deuteronomy talking about various laws, Deuteronomy 20 focuses on laws regarding warfare.
We face many battles in our lives today. Be it in school, work, and at home. And as Christian soldiers, we additionally face many spiritual battles as well! We have sins and weaknesses to overcome, friends & family members to preach to, church work to complete.
Interestingly, verses 5 to 7 talks about war-eligible Israelites who were able to avoid going out to battle. For those who have built a new house, have planted a vineyard, have betrothed a woman, or those who are fearful, it seems as though there is some provision for them to not join in the battle.
Similarly for us today, we may avoid preaching to someone because of our fears. We may decline certain church works because we aren’t ready to sacrifice time spent on other things. God understands our weaknesses, and perhaps this won’t cost us our salvation.
But this means we lose the opportunity to witness God fighting our battles.
In Judges 7, we can read of God fighting the battle for Gideon and his three hundred men (who didn’t have any weapons with them). The Lord set every man’s sword against his companion through the enemy camp, and the enemies fled.
2 Chronicles 20 is a touching account of how King Jehoshaphat, when surrounded by a coalition of nations, sought God in prayer. As the Israelites began to sing and praise, the Lord sent ambushes against their enemies and they destroyed one another.
“O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” (2 Chron 20:12)
“Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chron 20:15)
“You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.” (2 Chron 20:17)
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Moses said something similar to the Israelites in Exodus 14:13-14. Amidst all these battles that we need to fight in our lives, God is with us to fight for us. God wants us to fight alongside Him. The battle is not ours, but God’s. All He requires is that we have a willing heart to fight in His army, and we will be able to see His deliverance.
We can spend our lives finding reasons to avoid facing these spiritual battles. Or we can boldly fight alongside our Lord and experience Him working greatly in our lives.
