We so often want to pick a fight when we have no business ever picking anything up in the first place. We want to take matters into our own hands when it was never a matter that was ours to begin with. There are so many battles that are not ours, that will never be ours, that were never meant to be ours, but sometimes we feel the need to play God and fight for things we are better off laying at His feet and letting the Lord do the fighting.
The battle belongs to the Lord
“...For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15 b
Several years ago my husband found himself being yanked into situation that ended up making national headlines. Yes, I did say national! And while you will never find his name associated with any of the news national news reports, his good name was drug through the mud in so many ways it was ridiculous! Actually, it was beyond mud. Tar and feathers was probably a little more of an appropriate picture of the mess that was being hurled at him on the daily. You see, with mud you can clean that off yourself, but with tar and feathers you need some professional help to clean that mess up. My husband had been blamed for all kinds of things that he never should have been blamed for. We watched people turn their backs on him who in the past, had supported him and it was disheartening to say the least. But through it all my husband remained silent to the finger pointing and accusations that he was being bombarded with. He knew that if he opened his mouth to speak that his words would inevitably be twisted and thrown right back in his face. So, instead of fighting back, like he so desperately wanted to, He laid his heart before the Lord daily!
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord.” Romans 12:19
God has can sometimes have a funny way of working things out to bring justice to a situation and yet restore a man’s name to an even better standing than it was before the whole thing got started. My husband was not only justified, but praised for standing up for what was right in the midst of extreme pressure. He faced the tar and feather flinging with more integrity and dignity then I had ever seen from anyone. Did he have moments of doubt? Yes! Was he scared? Yes! Did he worry? Absolutely! Who wouldn’t be when your good name is being ruined? But when things got really bad, all he could do was set aside the doubt, worry and the fears and cry out to the Lord.
“The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10
All we could do in the midst of the chaos to was run to the Lord because we knew that there was protection there! The Lord never backs down on His promises. My husband and I remain grateful that the promises of the Lord do not return void! I know that if my husband had tried to fight his own battle it would only have tainted his reputation more than it already been tainted. In the end we found that the Lord did not forsake. The Lord had gone before him and brought to light the injustice that my husband had seen from the beginning. The Lord used someone else to bring into light the truth. This was what brought the restoration of his good name.
Call to action
Is there a situation in your life that you are fighting with that really should be laid at the feet of Jesus? The battle belongs in the hands of Christ. I want to encourage you to hand over your weapons that you have been fighting with to the Lord and wait to see what He will do with the situation. Stop fighting and start running. Start running into the protection of the Lord. You just might be surprised with how the situation turns out.
Lord, thank you for going before us in battle. Thank you that you are willing to fight for us. Help us to remember that there are times when we should lay down our weapons and let you take over our battles for us. Help us to run to you in our times of need rather than running head first into a fight we should not be fighting. Thank you for going before us, protecting us and keeping us. We put our trust in you today knowing that you are more than able to bring victory to our biggest battles. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.
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