“The Battle is On” (Pick a Card Series)
June 17, 2023
Not too long ago my SUV was rear-ended while I was stopped at a red light. After hitting me, the driver of the Dodge Ram that barreled into my car, pulled up alongside of me and said, “It’s okay, there’s no damage done.” I quickly replied, “Please don’t leave, I need to check this out for myself.” Sure enough, the “no damage done” ended up costing $1800 in initial repairs to my vehicle.
Sparing the details, this incident took over a year for the insurance companies to battle out who was at fault because the truck driver’s story was different than my account. My side of the story – I was stopped at a red light and the driver of the truck ran into the cargo area of my SUV. His side of the story – while I was stopped at the light, she rolled backwards into my truck. In the end, my insurance company won the battle, and I was remunerated for the repairs.
That battle was an annoying battle at best, and certainly not the worst battle someone could fight, or that I have ever fought. However, it was an experience of helplessness and waiting while someone else fought the battle on my behalf.
I was reminded of this accident when I randomly picked this week’s scripture card based on Deuteronomy 20:4 – “…for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.” My accident certainly pales in comparison to what was going on for the Israelites in Deuteronomy 20. Israel, a small nation surrounded by enemies with horses and chariots far more numerous than their own, was rarely in a superior position when it came to battles. Even so, God gave a clear command to the Israelites to not fear the greater numbers, technology, and equipment their enemies had. God never denied that Israel’s enemies would usually have greater military prowess, but He did ask them to recognize something greater – “The LORD your God is with you.”
God reminded Israel that He was the One who brought them up from the land of Egypt, and they could trust Him as they went into battle because He had proven Himself faithful before. He had a record that could be trusted. In Exodus 14:14 Moses tells the children of Israel, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” At that moment, they were standing at the edge of the Red Sea, hemmed in by the sea before them and the Egyptian army behind. The Israelites were in an impossible situation. They were incapable of escaping the situation on their own. They needed to wait for God to move on their behalf. The battle that appeared to be between the Egyptians and the Israelites was in reality between the Egyptians and the LORD.
So, too with us. When we are on the verge of battle with our “enemies” or personal “Red Seas” (a bad health diagnosis, financial challenges, relationship fractures, loss, spiritual attacks), we need to be reminded that God is worthy of our trust, and He will fight our battles.
God fighting our battles does not mean we will not anguish, be anxious, or be discouraged when dreadful things happen in our lives. But we must remember that no problem is beyond the scope of God’s sovereign care for His children and when we trust in Him, we can avoid panic, fear, and hopelessness that there is a way around the problem.
My SUV chariot was not superior to the Dodge truck that “rammed” into it. However, while the insurance companies battled out the claim, I silently trusted, not in Allstate or Liberty Mutual, but in the name of the Lord.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. – Psalm 20:7