2 CHRONICLES 13

 READ: 2 CHRONICLES 13

TEXT FOR REFLECTION:

Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam drew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. 

13 Jeroboam had sent an ambush around to come upon them from behind. Thus his troops were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. 14 And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. And they cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets. 15 Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 

Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 13: 2-3, 13-15. 18

REFLECION

This devotion has been difficult to write. The premise reflected in this story is as stated in v18: "Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord". It is so simple, it seems so simplistic. Just believe? And we can prevail against all odds? Can such a claim really be believed?

In this story, Israel went to war against Judah with twice as many specially chosen mighty men - 800,000 versus 400,000. Israel then divided their warriors into two divisions, one to fight from the front, and the other to ambush from the rear. Thus Judah found themselves attacked from both the front and rear by an army twice as large as theirs. Israel's army was superior to Judah's both in strategy as well as in numbers. The army of Judah had virtually no chance of winning the battle. And then the army of Judah cried to the Lord. Their cry to the Lord beat all the odds and Judah not only stood their ground but routed Israel's army so badly that Israel lost 3 large cities along with their surrounding villages. To add to that, God (not the Judean army) slew Israel's king Jeroboam. The battle was fought, not between two armies, one far superior to the other, but by God. And the victor was the nation that though the much weaker of the two, relied on the Lord. As a story, this account is very satisfying. It is a 'feel good' story with a really good ending. But can the principle espoused in this narrative apply in every situation?

As I surveyed the Bible, I came to the conclusion that God hearing and answering our prayers is the rule, rather than just a rare exception. Throughout the Old Testament, we read instances again and again of individuals or groups or nations crying to the Lord and God hearing them and delivering them. 

The same is true in the New Testament. It is as if the entire Bible was written to convince readers that God is trustworthy and compassionate and does listen to every cry for help from His people.

RELATE

There are exceptions to the rule that God always answers when we call out to Him for help:

1) God has a different timing from us. In many of the Biblical narratives, we read that God's timing differs a lot from our timing. We often want and expect instant help; God gives appropriate help in it's proper time. One rather humorous story occurred during a Bible class in prison. I had asked the group comprising 7 inmates if they could recall instances where their prayers had not been answered. Each of them gave similar answers: they had pleaded with God to cause the judge to give them much lighter sentences than what they eventually received. And God had failed them. Then I asked them what they would have been doing after their release if they had received much shorter sentences. I had expected them to describe how they would have made good of their lives. To a man, each answered, " I probably would be back in jail with a far longer sentence for another similar offence." It suddenly occurred to them that God had planned for them to have longer sentences to give them time to reform, and that their longer sentences was God's mercy in protecting them from another and longer jail term.

2) God withholds help but instead strengthens and emboldens us to face the obstacles. In Psalm 34, the psalmist gives examples of how God helps: to the poor man, God saves him from his troubles; to an army facing their enemy, God's angels camp with those who rely on Him. But to some, God delivers them not from their troubles, but from their fears. Even though their troubles may not be removed, they remain fearless, their faces are radiant, and they are not put to shame. We see examples of these from the list of people of faith in Hebrews 11: 36-38 which highlights people of faith who endured the most cruel forms of torture before being killed.

3) God withholds help where our requests are unreasonable or where God has better plans for us.

4) I suspect however, that the biggest reason remains that we do not ask. A line in the popular hymn What A Friend We Have In Jesus states this truth: "Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." James 4:2 states simply, "You do not have because you do not ask". Simple as that. And that is such a sad thing: we do not ask because we do not believe enough to ask; we do not ask because we forget to ask; we do not ask because we think we can solve the problem ourselves. What is the reason you do not ask?

REST

I am sure it baffles and saddens our heavenly Father that even though He is so close to us and longs to dote on us, and shower his blessings on us, we choose to bear most if not all of our burdens on our own. Let us reflect on the Bible passage for today: Judah had little hope of winning the battle against Israel. In fact their army was surrounded in an ambush. They were done for. And the story's conclusion was simply this: that they prevailed because they relied on God. Hard to believe? We won't know until we try it. The Psalmist says, "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the person who takes refuge in Him" (Psalm 34: 8)

Chiu Ming Li