Daily Affirmations - Day 1 - Take Up Your Positions : The Battle is the Lord's
This week's Theme: Take Up Your Positions
Day 1: The Battle is the Lord's
“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:47).
"I won't be able to help you." My relative's voice held firmness and finality. I was crushed. This had been my only hope for a critical document that would determine a major outcome. I stumbled out the door and down the steps, tears in my eyes and despair in my heart. My entire future had just blown up in my face.
Through tears, I related the conversation to my mother. I was not prepared for her calm confidence. To me, the issue was insurmountable, the circumstances impossible; to her, it was a matter of prayer— a matter of faith.
In those days, my own faith meter was near zero. I had wandered away from the Father of love I had known in my early life, and at this point, I was still gazing with fond and foolish longing at feeding troughs reeking of putrid husks and scraps of assorted pig fare (Luke 15:16).
So far was I removed from my senses (Luke 15:17) that my mother's stubborn faith often irritated me. I was impatient at her "simplistic" response to "pray about it"— her practical conviction that "with God nothing is impossible."
How grateful I am now for those prayers, and for a loving God and Father who heard and answered! How grateful I am that while I was still a long way off, He was placing His markers all along the road back home, where He was waiting to waiting to welcome me back to Himself!
And my word, what a marker this one was! After my mother's prayers, a way opened up for help from another source. Not just any source, either—it was one that carried such weight and authority, that a process that normally took months was completed in a matter of hours. So much for impossible.
King Jehoshaphat also faced an even more consequential impossibility when he learned that a vast army was quickly advancing against him (2 Chronicles 20:1-2). As he and the people fasted and prayed, and cried out to the Lord (vs.3-13), the answer came as a surprising directive, "Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you" (2 Chronicles 20:17).
To those with no experience of God, the entire strategy might seem unlikely. But God had a reminder for the king and His people: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15).
God's people knew from experience that He was trustworthy and true. This was not the first time they had been given the reassurance, The battle is the Lord's (1 Samuel 17:47).
So as they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in His prophets and you will be successful” (2 Chronicles 20:20).
My mother too, knew firsthand God's power and His faithfulness and she did not hesitate to take up her position of prayer in the face of any "impossibility. And though her tenacious prayers seemed an "unlikely strategy" to my young, faithless mind, she continued to stand firm.
I am only here today because she did— living proof, that by God's grace, her faith was upheld. I've come a long way from "faithless" but I am still way too easily alarmed.
God, please grant me the unwavering faith and unshakeable trust to take up my position and stand firm amidst the fiery darts, the rattling sabers, and the swords and spears that mock my lack, and taunt my puny strength. Remind me where my power lies:
“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are You not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can withstand You… We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You" (2 Chronicles 20:6,12).
Comments