LET GOD FIGHT FOR YOU

(5-minute read)

Are you fighting something today and feeling so overwhelmed that you do not know how to respond?

Whatever we perceive as a challenge is usually something that potentially exposes a hidden fear or a deeply embedded weakness in our lives. Yet, we are the ones God trusts to advance His Kingdom mission and He has positioned us and our nemeses exactly where He wants us to be in what is now a challenge for us. 

Joshua 10:1-42 recounts, through Joshua’s life, how we can face our battles with God and let Him fight for us, trusting that His power will make up for our inability to fight our challenges alone. Up to that point, Joshua, as Israel’s leader, had ‘totally destroyed’ Ai and Jericho when a 5-king coalition rose up against the nation of Gibeon. To be sure, Israel had not been fighting out of political ambition, but to fulfill God's purpose to bring judgment against His enemies (Joshua 10:13 NLT). The Gibeonites had earlier entered into a peace treaty with Israel under false pretenses and though it was technically non-binding, Joshua responded to their plea for help because he was a righteous person and clearly lived up to his name which meant ‘the Lord is salvation’. Contrary to how it appeared, the coalition that emerged right after a series of military successes for Joshua was not a setback but a setup for next level success in God’s superior masterplan to wipe out His enemies altogether. 

In order to let God fight for us, we must respond in two ways:

LET GOD LEAD THE WAY

For God’s strategy to succeed, Joshua had to lead his armies in the face of improbable victory.  How he kept his composure as a leader, what he told the entire army whose very lives and livelihoods were at stake was no mean feat for Joshua. He probably appeared deluded in some fantasies of victory, he likely faced resistance and criticisms, but he feared God and trusted His leading more than he feared the opinion of man. 

Over and over, the Bible is replete with stories of God taking pains to position His children in the battlefields of moral dilemmas, quandaries arising from conflict of interests, and workplace conundrums. It's not uncommon for us to think that a victorious life is a battle free life. Mistakenly, we do all we can to extricate ourselves from difficult situations, exit all battles and exist in blissful ignorance of the mission abortions we allow in our lives. 

Joshua seemed to know instinctively that it was impossible to please man and God at the same time but he must please God all the time. Indeed, nothing will take us down faster and more forcefully than the fear of man that lies hidden in our lives and relationships (Proverbs 29:25 NLT). It will rear its ugly head every time we find ourselves standing in the juxtaposition between people’s desires and God’s direction.

Joshua was confident that God was bigger than the scale of the battle he faced. He was sure that he could trust God once again. He literally put his life and the lives of his best fighting men on the line in the belief that God loved them enough to fight for them. God does not disappoint those who take risks with Him.

ASK GOD WHAT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO AND DO IT

As Joshua and his armies advanced in battle, God revealed to him nothing but His involvement, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.” (Joshua 10:7-8). 

Yet, Joshua was so sure that God was on his side that he openly prayed “in the presence of Israel” (with all eyes on his audacity in God) that the sun and the moon would freeze in their position till the battle was won as God promised. This would be the physical evidence that God was with them throughout the battle. (Joshua 10:12-14). God, who knows the end from the beginning, will always see us to the end of everything He calls us into. (Isaiah 46:10).

God’s missions are always God-centred so that He Himself takes all the glory, revealing only His mission and character. His plans do not necessarily appeal to human logic or to our need for clarity. He reveals only Himself and we are to trust Him to supply the details and outcomes in His timing, “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” (Isaiah 46:10).

So Joshua and his armies took their positions and advanced in the battleline. God threw the entire enemy forces into confusion and chaos and hurled large hailstones down on them so that more fighters died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. How about that! But Joshua didn’t stop there: in obedience to God who said, ‘I have given them into your hand’, he pursued the five kings till they were captured and executed. Clearly, he did not settle in half-measures!

Joshua also modelled for us to pray prayers that are right-sized to who God is. We may not pray for the moon and the sun to stand still or shift positions unnaturally, but we all have enough faith to pray for something to move in alignment with God. 

We can pray for God to right-size our understanding of Him and the situation at hand.

We can ask God to give us faith to face situations and relationships that expose our deepest fears because they hinder our ability to love in healthy ways.

We can ask God to downsize our fears and anxieties in relation to His Word and who He is.

Often, when we think that we have prayed something repeatedly for far too long, we are really far from hitting the mark because we have fallen into the habit of sticking to prayers that are ritualistic and risk-free. Our prayers have been safe, straddling the fence, and sitting on the middle ground type that keeps God’s involvement minimal. This is because we are not sure if God loves us enough or if we are worthy of Him. 

Jesus reminded us in John 16:23-24, “Until now you have not asked for anything in My Name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Until now, have we truly let God lead the way in our battles, and have asked Him for the right thing to do and do it in obedience to Him.

This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 26 October 2024.