Battle, Ready or Not—2 Chronicles 29-32

Deuteronomy 20:1 starts: When you go up to battle... There's an important lesson right there. Battle is not optional. We may choose not to go, we may choose not to fight, we may believe that others will fight for us, we may even believe those who would teach us that the battle is already won! (The best lies are hidden in great truths!) Or we may believe that since we're in God's will, He'll protect us. But battle is coming, no matter what. Reread scripture with your eyes open to it, even in the New Testament where Paul, Peter, and Jesus are all in agreement that the enemy is alive and well, that we need to armor up and keep watch and fight diligently, even now. 

Sometimes, we just can't see what's really going on. There's a fascinating passage in 2 Kings chapter 6, verse 8: Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.” and then v. 14: So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city. Battle, uninvited. What happens next is what is 'eye-opening'. When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”  He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. We are blind to what's really going on around us. In this case, the servant could see the enemy, but couldn't see the LORD's army of warriors ready to fight for Israel. More often, we can't even see the enemy! The gal at the office that the enemy is using to get into our heads. Our kids' rebellion set to destroy our family peace. Financial setbacks designed to steal our joy. Marital discord that comes seemingly from nowhere that makes us begin to doubt everything! The addiction that calls out to us again for the first time in ages. We are opposed, and we need to see it. The passage headlined in this message tells the story, so let's move to 2 Chron. 29-31, which set the stage, and then 32.

Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. . . And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites. . . and it goes on through chapter 31 all the good things King Hezekiah did to restore the country, the people, the temple, and the priesthood, so that they could properly worship the God who had brought them and bought them. Hezekiah is doing all the right things. And if we stopped here, you'd expect the next chapter to begin: And the LORD mightily blessed Hezekiah all the days of his life. Isn't that the "Christian formula" of today? Do well, God blesses? You do x and God does y. Right? I've come to realize that God is not a big fan of equations that obligate Him. God is the freest agent of all! And He is free and chooses to operate in ways that confound us, and often annoy us because we don't understand.

So how does chapter 32 actually begin? After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. (ESV) When does the attack come? When things are going well, and Hezekiah is doing things right. Note that. When battle comes to you, it may not be because you're on the wrong track. Think about real battle. When do bullets fly? When you're heading in the right direction. When we are doing the very things that God has called us to do, the enemy is not happy! He becomes bent on destroying our good work and discouraging us from continuing on! We must stand firm, and as verse 7 reminds us: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” We are never alone in this. Never. Our Father, the warrior, first created a barracks, Heaven, and then filled it with Very Special Forces ready to fight. (Side note, when you realize that that is His first creation, what sort of story does it tell you that we've fallen into? (To quote Frodo) This isn't some fairly tale with pretty flowers and princesses and kittens. This is a war story.)

Don't miss this next section in chapter 32, where we get to listen in to the words of the enemy, who tries to convince the king and the people that they are doomed and hopeless, that no other people has yet survived them, that no other god has rescued his people. Those are the same lies whispered into our ears today. Too often, we believe them, and we seek a truce with the enemy. The enemy who always breaks his truces, always lies, always attacks again, always seeks our complete destruction. This is one of those trust moments, "Will we trust God in the midst of battle?" Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven.  And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. The accompanying passage in Isaiah, told from the prophet's point of view says, that "because you prayed..." Don't miss that. Because they prayed for help, God came through, and in this case, rather than doing it Himself, He sends an angel who had an opening that day....Isaiah also mentions that that one angel killed 177,000 Assyrians that day, the baddest warriors on the planet. One angel. Let me ask you, how powerful is God Himself when an ordinary angel can slay 177,000 of the toughest warriors in one night? How many angels do you need for your problems?Ask for one. Because you ask, you might just get some help. Keep doing good. As it says here and in Deut 20:3-4 'today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them,  for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’ The battle is coming, ready or not.