April, 1942
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NES S
126
When God Fights Our Battles rA Meditation on 2 Chronicles 20
By ROBERT HALL GLOVER* Germantown/ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
B S A NEW WAR breaks out with terrific fury over the Pacific L Ocean, engulfing almost all the nations not already involved in the European conflict, and with the gravest bearings upon missionary work in China and the entire Far East, my heart has turned for comfort and reassurance to the Word of God. How unspeakably precious is that Word to His children in times of distress such as the present! And my thoughts have been directed—I believe by the Holy Spirit—to this long-familiar record of God’s signal deliverance of Jehosha- phat and Judah from the assault of their strong and vindictive enemies. Unquestionably this «incident, as chbsen by God for a place in holy writ, was designed by Him to convey spiritual lessons to His people in later times (Rom. 15:4). All through the Old Testament we have impressive in stances of the Lord’s dealings not only with individuals but with nations also, on. the basis of their attitude to- *Home Director for North America, China Inland Mission.
ward Him and His revealed will and purposes. Times have changed, but God has not changed, nor have His principles of d e a l i n g s with men changed but are eternally the same. He is still the God of nations, whether recognized as such or not. As Jehosha- phat phrased it, “Art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to with- s t a n d thee?” Let us then approach this divinely inspired r e c o r d with minds and hearts open “to.see what he will say unto me [us]” (Hab. 2:1) through this portion of His Word. The Enemy’s Assault “There cometh a great multitude against ■thee from beyond the sea.” Here was a ruthless attack, unpro voked and unjustifiable, by aggressor nations bent on conquest. And it was \yith armed forces far superior to. those of the nation attacked, and therefore destined, humanly speaking, to over throw and subjugate that nation.
Judah’s Reaction “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and pro claimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves to gether, to ask help of the Lord.” Now Jehoshaphat was no coward or weak ling, but .a true soldier with a. fine military record behind him. But in this national emergency his first re course is to God, and he leads his people in a humble and whole-hearted appeal for divine help.
In his prayer, after ascribing sov ereignty and power to the Lord, as already noted above, he goes on to recall God’s covenant relation and gracious p r o m i s e s to the nation through Abraham, and His past mer cies and deliverances. And then his prayer climaxes with a most touching acknowledgment of the utter inad equacy of either their own strength or their own wisdom, and a casting of himself and his people upon the Lord as their only hope. “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have • 66 The battle is not yours , but God 9 s " (2 Chron. 20:15)
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