Not Your Fight

I’m going to tell you about Jehosephat. (2 Chronicles 20:1-30) To be quite accurate, however, this is not Jehosephat’s story; its God’s story all around. I’m going to have to dissect this passage in a series of essays because God is uncovering convicting truths every single day.

Installment #1: An Overview from Type-A Perspective

This Scripture resonates hard because I am a stubborn, obsessive-compulsive, hyper-sensitive, and worrisome control freak. I’ve always been this way and have always accepted it as the blessing and curse that got me through high school and college with flying colors. I have a goal - I achieve it. Something needs to get done – I get it done. Before I became a teacher I was responsible for my own success alone, but that’s no longer the case. Welcome to adulthood, Mandy. My job forces me into a position of leadership from 9-4 on weekdays and on most Saturdays. I have to be watching, guiding, monitoring, coaching, and thinking at least three steps ahead of 12-30 equally selfish people at any given time.

So when God says to me, as He did to Jehosephat, “Hey, you don’t have to be in control of this!” it should come as a welcome release. But quite honestly it is not. I like feeling in control. In high school I was the kid that did the whole group project by myself because I didn’t trust anyone well enough to delegate responsibility.

I know that I can get things done well and on a respectable timetable. It’s not that God can’t – but will He get it done my way with my time table, according to my standards? Will God get an “A” at orchestrating my life? Will His plan really solve for more harms and have a greater net benefit than mine? (sorry, debate jargon) Why do I have more faith in myself than in the Creator? Why do I have more faith in my limited abilities, which are only manifested through the power of the Spirit in the first place? Of course, we all know that I make bad decisions and say the wrong thing ALL the time, but yet I’m still fighting God for control of my life.

And the resounding words that encapsulate this entire Scripture ring so true: “for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (vs15) And again, God says “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.” (vs17) Do you KNOW how hard it is to stand still!!!! It’s harder for me to sit on the couch on a beautiful Saturday morning than to go out and run five miles. How does one learn to stand still and rely solely on the Lord?

But if Jehosephat, the leader of Judah can learn to stand still then surely we can as well. When Jehosephat learned of impending attack he responded in four ways. He feared. He sought the Lord. He proclaimed a fast. He recruited an army of worshipers to sing praise. This would have gone so much differently had he acted according to his more earthy instincts. It could read: “He feared. He drafted all the young men into the army. The young men of Judah died in a violent siege against the Ammonites.” Had he gone into battle, Jehosephat may have been successful against the Ammonites and Moabites, he may have driven them out in the end, but he never could have done it with the resounding flair that God did. We would not have seen Judah’s army looking on while the warring tribes turned upon each other and defeated themselves.

God does not always take the battle completely out of our hands. In many cases there are tasks that we must accomplish in the “fight.” The Old Testament is filled with depictions of God-ordained warfare between His people and the outsiders. In fact, the Israelites got themselves into trouble for the rest of human history because they were slackers (another idea for another day).

But Jehosephat was not a slacker. I’m convinced that Jehosephat was a type-A overachiever. God needed to teach Jehosephat how to trust. Jehosephat ultimately delighted in the spoils, but could not take the glory. The victory was unquestionably God’s.

When God says “stand still and let me fight this battle” it takes a relentless amount of self-control on my part. It’s a daily process. You wake up to fear or worry. You seek God in prayer. You rein in your mind and heart through spiritual disciplines. You play some worship music in the car and sing His praise. That’s what Jehosephat did and that’s what I’m going to do with this day. By God’s grace that’s what I’m going to do with tomorrow. Nothing less. Nothing more.