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And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.’”
2 Chronicles 20:15

Recommended reading: 2 Chronicles 20, a great chapter showing believers what steps we should take when faced with various battles.

At the beginning of 2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat is afraid because of an incoming battle. What Jehoshaphat does next is key. He takes his fear and goes to God. He seeks the Lord through prayer and fasting. In his own power, he is powerless to defeat the people. He isn’t sure what to do, but in Verse 12, he chooses to keep his eyes on God and gives the situation to Him. In Verse 15, God speaks through the prophet Jahaziel and tells the people not to fear because the battle is God’s. The verse goes on to say the Lord will be with them as they fight the battle.

In our lives, we will face various battles. Regardless of the size of the battle, we should do what Jehoshaphat did. Take our fears, anxieties, doubts, thoughts, everything to the Lord in prayer, and lay them at His feet, asking God for help. When we don’t know what to do, we need to trust God does. He is the one who will fight the battle for us, using His strength and power. We will still walk through the battle, but God will be with us, and He will be the one fighting the battle. All we have to do is go to Him, trust Him through it all, and let Him do the rest.

Devotion

Recently, I was going through a battle as a momma.

My youngest had been struggling with epileptic seizures since May, and we had been trying to find a medicine to keep her seizures at bay. We thought we had found one that worked well. It was our third one to try; she had very few issues with the medicine and tolerated it well. However, we found out a few months later the medicine no longer worked for her; it started causing constant diarrhea.

I was devastated. All I wanted was the medicine to work and for us to lead a regular life. Instead, yet another medicine wasn’t working for my daughter. Since the medicine caused issues, we began the process of weaning it down while adding the new medicine. We were sure the diarrhea would stop once the dose was lowered, but that wasn’t the case. Two and a half weeks into switching medicines, she was still suffering through. She was only receiving a very small dose of the medicine, but it was still causing her problems. At that point, her neurologist decided to no longer wean down the medicine but to stop it completely. This would place her at a higher risk of having seizures since it wouldn’t be full coverage, but the diarrhea had to stop.

When faced with this scenario, I was scared. I was worried if and when she would have seizures. Would the seizures require emergency medicine and a trip to the hospital? Would she be OK? But then 2 Chronicles came to mind. I was reminded God had my daughter in the palm of His hand and this battle of seizure medicine and seizures wasn’t mine. It was His, and He was handling it. I needed to give God all my worry and fear about the situation and trust He would fight this battle and walk with me through it all. And God did. We are now at the full dose of her new medicine, and in the scary process she only had one seizure and was OK. When situations come, let’s remember 2 Chronicles 20 and what Jehoshaphat did. Let’s do the same. Let God fight the battle as He walks with us.

Pray

Jesus, thank you for this example of Jehoshaphat to follow in our lives. Help us remember this story when we are faced with battles and remind us to turn them over to you. Help us lay all our fears and worries at your feet and trust you will fight the battle for us. Help us trust you are walking with us in the midst of what is going on. Thank you for fighting our battles for us. Thank you for not wanting us to fight them on our own. Amen