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The Battle is Not Yours

Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s…You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17 ESV)

What a scene. Dads and moms holding children in their arms listening to king Jehoshaphat pray while the soldiers’ chants and horses’ stampede roar in the background.

Then God speaks. What God said to Judah is his message to you today. God gave two resounding negative commands:

Do not be afraid. Twice God tells his people not to be afraid. The word afraid here means to be in awe of, to revere, to respect. God is telling them not to give the enemy too much credit. This great horde is not so great after all. How can God’s people do this? For the battle is not yours but God’s. In other words, give God more credit than you give your enemy. Whatever you’re facing isn’t bigger than God!

Do not be dismayed. To be dismayed means to be broken, shattered, devastated. Dismay is fear gone viral, fear run amuck. Dismay is panic on steroids. Dismay happens when your mind devises the worst possible scenario for the challenge you’re facing.

Notice God’s message to his people: You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf. God’s answer for their fear and dismay is his power.  Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you. God’s answer for their fear and dismay is his presence.

Why are you fighting a cosmic battle with human weapons. Your predicaments do not threaten God’s power nor thwart His presence.

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The Deception of Disillusionment

And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. (Luke 24:17-20 ESV)

Jesus approached these two forlorn disciples on a long road back from what they thought was a failed mission. Their fearless leader had succumbed to the Jewish religious hierarchy and the cruel Roman torture called crucifixion. When Jesus found them, they stood still, looking sad. You can hear the biting sarcasm in Cleopas’ statement: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

He played ignorant. Jesus played ignorant! “What things?” he asked. Their answer to his question revealed the source of their disillusionment. Dictionary.com defines disillusionment as: disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be. They answered, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people…”

They were disillusioned because they expected too little, not too much! They thought of Jesus as a prophet, not the Prophet; as one who prophesied before God not as God. They were deceived by their low, incomplete view of Jesus.

What are your expectations of Jesus? Is it possible that His greatest accomplishment has fallen to the bottom of your list of expectations of him? Are you disappointed because the healing didn’t come you prayed for, someone else got the job you prayed for, the relationship you prayed for ended in an ugly breakup? I am not trying to diminish your suffering. I only encourage you to see Jesus for who He is, not who He isn’t. Paul had this in mind when he wrote:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32 ESV)

God is for you…even when He doesn’t make sense.

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The Groan and the Glory

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8:18-22 ESV)

 …if indeed we suffer with Him

There is a Greek construction here that you cannot see in the English language. A common conjunction in Greek takes the prefix sun and combines it with other words. Sun means “with.” They are sungkleeronomos, sunpascho, sundoxastho. These are the three “withs” of Romans 8:17.

  • We are heirs with Christ
  • We suffer with Christ
  • We will be glorified with Christ.

Suffering was the way of life for Jesus.   Jesus had been brutally murdered on the cross. Three days had passed and he had come forth from the tomb. He wass walking on the Emmaus road, having a conversation with some guys who have no idea who He is. They were followers of Jesus but they didn’t recognize him. And they were distraught that Jesus had to suffer. In Luke 24:26, we have Jesus’s response to their question. And notice that Jesus’s response is a question: “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter His glory?”

The groan always comes before the glory. Suffering is a real part of our human existence.

Suffering takes many forms.

The man and woman who struggle to get along with each other. They don’t love each other like they used to. Their respect for one another is failing. The suffering: knowing how they should relate to one another—and the reality of how they do relate to each other.

The woman dominated by depression. She knows there’s more to life than she sees. Yet she wonders how she’s going to make it through another day. The groan is the desire to live life to the fullest. The suffering is wondering how to get there.

The pain of death—especially during the holidays. A sister. Your mom. A dad.  A son. A brother. Death hurts so badly. You feel alone, abandoned, cheated. This is real suffering. Tears flow down your cheeks in the middle of the night when no one else notices.

Don’t miss the 3 “withs.” You are an heir with Christ. You now suffer with Christ. You will be glorified with Him. One day the you God really intended will become clear. Free from sin and suffering, you will be resplendent in all of the glory God created you to exude. Until then, we groan…and anticipate.

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If the Holy Spirit Raised Jesus, You’re No Challenge for Him!

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9-11 ESV)

Your body is dead—that old thing that caused you the sin problem is dead! Why are you serving a dead body? Why are you enslaved to a lifeless existence? Romans 8:5-8 is a description of your life before Christ. Look at it!

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 ESV)

Did you know that Jesus did not even raise Himself from the grave! The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the grave! If Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit to raise Him from the grave, then you and I must depend on the Holy Spirit to raise us up to live an entirely new life!

Chuck Swindoll states,

We have been sold a bill of goods. The enemy has made us as a body, so conscious of sin that we are inoperative as a body of believers righteous before God, ready and equipped to move on.

We focus way too much on our lives before Christ–rather than focusing on the fact that we have been raised with Him. We need to live under the awesome power of God! The  result of that kind of living: So then brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. We have an obligation, not to the flesh, but to the Spirit. We choose moment by moment whether or not we will respond to the Spirit or to the flesh.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:13 ESV)

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5 ESV)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24 ESV)

Your response to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to put to death the sinful deeds of the body. It is a relationship of incredible balance—where the Holy Spirit constantly works to rid us of sin in our lives. Through His work, we are empowered to say “No” when sin presents itself. Notice also the outcome. You will either live or die. You cannot ride the fence, here. You will either live according to your old desires before you came to Christ–and die. Or you will live by the power of the Spirit who indwells you–and live.

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Be Thou My Vision

As a college student I lived on the edge of the dangerous cliff of pleasing men and pleasing God. I wanted others to like me, yet knew I wanted God to like me too. I wanted to do God’s will and peoples’ will too. I was part of a men’s college choir with a remarkable director who brought out the best in us. We wore crisp tuxedos, traveled to mostly Methodist churches and performed. My hypocrisy wasn’t so obvious…it was internal. The hypocrisy of others was very obvious. They would get drunk the night before, show up the next morning and sing hungover.

Ironically a song I learned for the very first time as a member of Wofford’s Glee Club was Be Thou My Vision. I knew better than living the double life I was living…many of my fellow Glee Club members didn’t. Thankfully God didn’t give up on me. Naomi knew better than to be bitter over what happened to her–but she was bitter anyway. Be Thou My Vision should have been the song she sang on the long road back from Moab to Bethlehem. Maybe it needs to be your song today. Pray these words to God today:

  1. Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
    Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
    Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
    Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
  2. Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
    I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
    Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
    Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
  3. Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
    Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
    Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:
    Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.
  4. Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
    Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
    Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
    High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
  5. High King of Heaven, my victory won,
    May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
    Heart of my own heart, whate’er befall,
    Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

If you have four minutes, Fernando Ortega sings it beautifully: 

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When God Proves You Wrong

He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” (Ruth 4:15 ESV)

“He shall be to you” are words of hope. Naomi came back to Bethlehem looking in the rearview mirror. And all she saw was heartache, disappointment and a judgmental God. Don’t forget Naomi’s words to the women when she came back to Bethlehem:

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:19-21 ESV)

This “angry God” never gave up on Naomi. Don’t miss that. Sometimes you and I are prone to give up on the untouchables, the unreachables, the incorrigibles. God doesn’t. He had a plan for Naomi’s life and it included a boy who would love her and tend her land…who would nourish her in her old age.

Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet once said,

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Naomi mistakenly thought her past dictated her future. God proved her wrong…thankfully.

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God Will Supply All Your Needs

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! (Ruth 4:13-14 ESV)

The Lord gave her conception. We’re not sure why the author of Ruth pointed out God gave her conception. One wonders if it was a stretch because of Boaz’s age for him to father a child. Whatever the challenge, it is clear that Ruth had a child because God wanted her to have one. The second miracle is that the child was a boy. A boy was necessary in order to preserve Naomi’s line and tend her land. Naomi needed a boy and God gave her a boy through Ruth’s marriage to Boaz.

But the surprising turn of events in the story is that this boy ultimately became the redeemer. No one saw this coming! Up until this point Boaz has been the hero of the story…the man who reached out to a Moabite stranger gleaning in his field and directed his field workers to leave her extra food. He is the man who waited at the city gate anxiously looking for a redeemer who was closer kin to Naomi.

But Boaz, with all of his heroic acts, was upstaged by a baby boy. Who would have thought that a baby boy would burst onto the scene and redeem Naomi! What Boaz couldn’t do, the boy would do. What Boaz couldn’t feel for Naomi, her grandson, Obed, would. Through Obed, God promised to meet every need Noami had.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 ESV)

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God’s Reward for Unrequited Faithfulness

Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.” (Ruth 4:11-12 ESV)

What Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion could not do (because they were dead!), God did. The people invoked His blessing on Ruth and Boaz.  “Make Ruth like Rachel and Leah!” they declared. Rachel and Leah were the matriarchs of the Israelite people. This was quite a blessing to pronounce over a foreigner named Moabite.  The blessing was qualified by the designation that Rachel and Leah “together built up the house of Israel.”

Then the people turn their attention to Boaz. Remember this is Boaz who had practiced unrequited faithfulness. He did something knowing he would get nothing in return. The elders of the town speak: May you act worthily…and be renowned. Boaz, may you make a name for yourself. Here’s what is interesting: we never know the name of the other kinsman-redeemer, the one who was more closely related to Naomi. He goes through history unnamed–Boaz’s name went down in the annals of history and is known today in Christian circles all around the world. God reward unrequited faithfulness.

The elders made it clear that God was about to give Boaz a gift: his name would be Obed, a baby boy who would come screaming into the world of Boaz and Ruth. Obed would grow up and have a son named Jesse who would himself have a ruddy teenager called David whom God would choose to be king of Israel!

God rewards unrequited faithfulness.

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And Behold!

Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. (Ruth 4:1 ESV)

And behold. Boaz went up to the gate to look for the closest of kin so that he could seek a redeemer for Ruth and Naomi. The climactic scene of the night before where Ruth proposed to him had succumbed to anxious anticipation. Would he find the redeemer? What would the redeemer say? Boaz promised Ruth he would step in if the closest redeemer didn’t step up. So he went to the gate and sat down there. His efforts seem so nondescript, so low-key.

What we soon discover is that nothing with God is nondescript. God is completely in control. And behold. What is a “and behold” moment to us is a planned event from God’s point of view. What catches us by surprise is no surprise to God. R.C. Sproul said,

“If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled.”

Boaz knew he had no control of this situation. There were too many variables, too many unknowns. Our sense of control is an illusion. On days where we think we are in control, we are only fooling ourselves. Every day of our lives is riddled with the unknown, showered with uncertain circumstances. The God who controls the universe sent the redeemer through the city gate that day.

Do you really believe He is in control?