“With him [is] an arm of flesh; but with us [is] the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.” (2Ch 32:8 AV)
The ‘him’ is the general of the Assyrian army who came against Judah and Jerusalem. The one speaking is Hezekiah, king of Judah. Assyria had successfully invaded and conquered Israel to the north of Judah. The assertion is that since Israel, who was known to the Gentile world as followers of Jehovah, failed to defend their nation, that Jehovah would not rescue Judah. I can appreciate the fear gripping Judah. Israel, which was far larger than Judah, could not defend against the Assyrians. Now little Judah and Benjamin face the same foe. If their much bigger brother could not resist, what are they to do? Hezekiah shows great faith here. He is able to do so because he does not limit himself to what is seen. Rather, he places far more weight on what cannot be seen. Hezekiah wisely makes a distinction between limited temporal might that does not exist very long with the eternal power of God. In particular, the LORD is there to fight our battles. That is what we wish to grasp this morning.
The faith that Hezekiah shows here is incredible. He sees a human force that dwarfs him. He is the one responsible for encouraging the people. He is the one responsible for ordering a battle plan. If the nation is lost, there will be much suffering. When you look at what he said, you have to be impressed. However, what else can he say? He knows that Judah does not posses the ability to deliver itself. He knows his nation exists at the mercy of stronger forces. He knows that if he resists, they will burn his nation to the ground. But they were going to do that, anyway. The only choice he had was to trust the LORD. What he said was a wonderful statement of faith in the person of God. On the other hand, it was the only thing that could be said. If the battle was to be won, it would be the LORD who would do it. There was no other option. In this lies the foundation of faith. Faith may be the natural conclusion to our frailty. We cannot do what we need to do. We cannot deliver ourselves. Therefore, faith is the only answer. It is yielding to the no-brainer of faith in God that is the hardest part of this process.
The battles we face are, at times, insurmountable. They are way beyond our natural ability to manage or overcome. It is the yielding that we have the most trouble with. It reminds me of times when I had to let go and stop trying to solve or overcome situations in my strength or wisdom. One winter evening, my father and I were traveling during a storm. He had a job interview, and my mother wanted one of us boys to go with him in case something happened. And something did. As we were traveling on snow-covered roads, my father lost control of the truck. We were going a bit slower than normal, but not slow enough. We left the road and started sliding sideways. We were headed right for an enormous oak tree and I was closest to it. If we hit that tree, there were severe injuries or death in my future. What could I do? What could my dad do? The situation was almost completely out of our control. All we could do was hang on and trust the LORD. At the last second, by the hand of God, the truck lurched forward, and we missed the tree by inches. These things have happened more than once. Three times I have had a loaded gun pointed at me. I’ve been in a car accident that could have been fatal, but no one was hurt.
Yielding is the beginning of trusting. Yielding to the only choice available makes complete sense. Yet we fight it. Hezekiah really didn’t have any other option. He trusted the LORD because the LORD was his only choice. But he trusted nonetheless.
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