One of the most common searches used when someone is led to my blog is the battle belongs to the Lord. I find that interesting. It speaks to the hearts of situations that people are experiencing all around the world. People are dealing with troubles and trials. We all look for answers. We want to know that someone is in our corner, fighting for what is right. Is that not what we all want?
Trials come our way on a daily basis. Whether big or small, each impact us in different ways. Struggles shape us into the people we become, but we choose which path we will follow and whether we will leave room for the Lord to fight for us.
Over the past couple of years, I have really had to dive deep into this lesson. All throughout scripture, we read about a mighty God who fought for His people and how these people have beaten the odds when the odds were not in their favor because of their faith in God. Faith. That is where it all begins.
As we were getting ready for bed a few nights ago, my husband picked up his bible and began reading a passage to me from 1 Samuel 17,
David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47 And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”
This passage has become quite significant to me over the past few years. It started back in 2007, when I began praying a specific prayer. I had already dealt with many years of pain and abuse and had concluded that the life I was living would be mine until my last breath so as a last resort, I began praying that God give me the faith of Abraham. I prayed that God would teach me in whatever way He could that I could trust Him whole-heartedly in all things. I knew my circumstances were not going to change and so I needed a faith that allowed me to live with my circumstances yet trust God’s goodness. I did not know what I was asking for at the time and truly, I was not prepared for the hard road that was set before me, but God knew. He knew I had spent years praying for a person. Praying for a relationship. Praying for changes. I had spent years of tears and prayers that felt unheard. My faith was being tested. My circumstances began to change.
Over the next few years, God showed me through various means that we are not robots. He gives us free will to choose where we want to go, whom we want to follow and how we choose to treat others. He began to help me in loosening my grip on religion and instead, hold fast to Him.
I began to realize that my prayers had not been ignored. God had heard everyone of them and it was not that He did not want a different outcome for me but because of free will He allowed the other person being prayed for to make their own choices and to choose their own way apart from Him. This is when things crumbled and fell apart. The battle began.
I still spent several years wrestling with God. I could not understand how He could allow the bad things that were happening in my life to happen. Why was He not protecting my children and me? Why were the walls falling down upon us? We were being crushed. Or so I thought.
God’s timing is perfect. His plan is sovereign. He sees the beginning all the way to the end. I wanted to find comfort in those things. I knew God was/is fighting for me. I knew that He wanted His best for my children and me but I was trying to hold on too tightly to my circumstances. I was afraid to let go. My faith was weak and I was scared. I remember reading the words from 1 Samuel back in 2010 and thinking, I want what David had. I want to know that my God has already won the battle so that I can have the confidence to endure the fight. Oh, the prayers we pray. God will most assuredly give us what we ask for but we had better be certain that we know what we are asking for because those answered prayers are not always easy.
It is December 27, 2012 and I have learned that in order for God to have my battle, I have to place it in His hands. I have to trust Him to fight for me. I cannot question my circumstances but instead trust that He is working all things, all events, and all circumstances for His good so that His name will be honored in the end. Ultimately, God will have the victory, but that victory will not come until we turn it all over to Him. All of our troubles and every doubt. Because without that choice of surrender, we will continue wrestling with Him, and the outcome of our story will not end.
I am confident that 2013 is going to be a very different year for my family and me. We have held fast to truth. We have worked toward being what God has called us to be even when others would try to shoot us down. God is up to something incredible in my life and has already begun an amazing work. Now it is time to sit back and know with confidence that…
“You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”
1 Samuel 17:45,47b
Faith Renewed 