God’s Battlefield – 2 Chronicles 20:15

“For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15, NLT).

When a vast army from Edom marched against Judah, King Jehoshaphat was frantic and pleaded with God for guidance. Jehoshaphat ordered the people of Judah to fast and pray.

People from all the towns of Judah gathered at the Temple in Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat led them in public prayer. The Spirit of God came upon one of the Levites in the gathering and these are the words he proclaimed to King Jehoshaphat and all the people of Judah.

God told them not to be afraid of the mighty army that was assembling against them because it was God’s battle to fight, not theirs: “But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!” (vs. 17).

When the army of Judah marched out to battle, King Jehoshaphat did something bizarre. He ordered singers to walk ahead of the army of Judah and sing praises about the greatness of God! As they began singing praises to God, the armies of Edom attacked each other and completely destroyed themselves.

When the army of Judah arrived at the battlefield, there were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see and so much plunder that it took them three days to gather it all up! The Jews sardonically named the battlefield the Valley of Blessing!

This story graphically illustrates the fundamental proposition of faith in God: The battle belongs to God!

Your life is a battlefield. Many, if not most, of your battles in life are spiritual battles. And those battles contend for your faith.

If you’re going to be faithful to God, then you have to trust Him to fight life’s battles for you. In fact, you don’t even need to fight! Your role in the battle is to stand behind God and let Him defeat your enemies and then march out into life praising Him for His greatness.

But standing back and waiting for God to lead the charge in life’s battles is often the hardest thing to do. We want to take matters into our own hands. We want to do something! Now!

It’s just not faith when you take matters into your own hands. It’s faith when you stand behind God and let him lead the charge into the battles of your life and let Him defeat the enemies contending for your faith!

When your life becomes God’s battlefield, all that is required of you is to march into battle praising the Lord and then gather up all the blessings that are waiting for you!