“The Israelites were subdued at that time. The Judahites succeeded because they depended on the Lord, the God of their ancestors” (2 Chronicles 13:18, HCSB).

We spend a lot of time and effort trying to understand what God is saying to us through His Word, the Bible. Sometimes the Bible actually makes it real easy for us to understand what it is saying and how to apply it to our lives.

That’s certainly the case with this verse.

The context of this verse is that Israel had split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, and they were at war with  each other. Judah was the smaller of the two and maintained an army about half the size of Israel’s army.

The kingdom of Israel had fallen into apostasy and formed it’s own idolatrous religion. But Judah’s king, Abijah, was King David’s great grandson and the heir of God’s covenant with David. When the armies faced one another in battle, Abijah stood on a mountaintop and proclaimed these facts for everyone to hear (vs. 4-12).

Yet, Judah’s army was effectively trapped by Israel’s army. Nevertheless, Judah’s army started to attack the army of Israel. When they blew the trumpets and raised a battle cry, God routed Israel’s army and they were decidedly defeated by Judah.

According to the parallel account in 1 Kings 15, Abijah, the king of Judah, was an idolater who, heretofore, cared little for God or His laws. But now Abijah relied on God in this time of great need. And God helped Judah miraculously defeat Israel.

God made Abijah successful because Abijah depended on Him. Abijah, who had been unfaithful to God, now relied on God and God caused him to succeed!

So that’s some straight talk coming straight from the Bible. It’s simple and easy to understand…and apply to our lives.

When you depend on God, He will make you successful in what you are doing for Him!

“So then it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.” (Romans 9:16, HCSB)