Fighting Battles Against All Odds

 

Battles and breaking points. I know them well. It seems you cannot have one without the other. Whatever tries us also hurls us to our limits. But what if you are pushed past your limits? What then?

Life can oftentimes leave us feeling beyond our ability to endure and overcome. We can feel unable to persevere through what stands before us, what stands against us. In our own sight and calculations, there is just no way out. No way through. Surely no way to win the battle.

Battles come whether we want them or not. No matter how hard we try to avoid them, they come. They are no respecter of age, person or innocence. No respecter of justice. In the end, life is not always fair.

It seems from my earliest memories I have faced battles. Battles from physical trauma, emotional trauma, sexual trauma……leaving me feeling scarred for life. I have some scars that can be seen visibly  that testify to the trauma, but most are unseen, invisible to all but me. But they are there and they run deep. Leaving me feeling insecure and vulnerable, in desperate need for assurance and predictable safety.

But what in this life affords the luxury of security? Battles are a constant reminder of just how unsafe and vulnerable we are. When we are overwhelmed with what we face, we are at our most vulnerable. Battles and breaking points are like two sides of the same coin.

When I read about the battle of Abijah, King of Judah and grandson of King Solomon, I readily sense his desperate circumstances. He faced a battle against all odds in 2 Chronicles 13:1-20. The kingdom had already been split. Most of the kingdom went to Israel, but God left a small remnant to remain in the lineage of King David.

King Abijah faced a battle in which he was vastly outnumbered. He had 400,000 soldiers but King Jeroboam of Israel had double that, 800,000 troops lined and ready for battle. How’s that for ratios? What’s the battle plan for that?! Who wouldn’t want to just go home in surrender facing those kind of odds?

I remember feeling just as overwhelmed and outnumbered in some recent battles we faced as a family. Having experienced the trauma from earlier years, I was poised for some major “needs” as an adult. The need for security was premium in my life, and when some issues raised for two of our children, it set me on edge. What I faced each day was unpredictable. It felt like living life on a roller coaster. Such peaks and valleys and jerks out of nowhere left me unglued. Fragile. Fearful.

I stayed on the verge of tears, completely unable to control or fix our circumstances. To have two trials going on at the same time for years took their toll. I felt helpless against what we faced. Just like King Abijah as he faced odds stacked against him.

What do you do? What are the weapons of war for a battle you are sure to lose? Who would predict victory against overwhelming odds?

As I read his story, it reminds me of my own. Sometimes all you CAN  do is all you SHOULD do. Helpless does not have to equal hopeless.

I recognize the weapons of war that are not hindered by the numbers of soldiers or circumstances out of control. With these weapons, the odds don’t matter. They are irregardless.

Eyes to see are key. To view overwhelming circumstances rocks our sense of sight to the core. What we “see” seems impossible. But as believers in the God Most High, we are not bound by our sight. What we see is not necessarily what we get. He counters ALL reality! The greatest weapon of war that wins battles beyond reason is a faith-filled perspective.

In verse 12, King Abijah implores the opposing King and the men of Israel not to fight against the LORD. He recognizes the sides of the battle; you are either fighting for the Lord or against Him. In essence, this means He is either fighting for you or against you. 

Seeing the sides of the battle is fundamental. It is futile to be on the wrong side against God. When we were going through our battles, I had to continually check my thoughts and actions to make sure they were in keeping with what God required of me. It was so easy to slip into bitterness and anger, despair and discouragement. I had to regularly examine myself and repent, adjusting to His convictions.

Next in verse 13-14, when Judah was being attacked from the front and the rear, it says they cried out to the Lord. By crying out to God, they recognized who bore the responsibility of the battle. The Lord was their leader (verse 12) and because of that they called upon His Name for help. They did not look for other kings or armies for salvation. They did not even rely upon themselves for the sole victory. Because they were God’s through the covenant, they were His responsibility to defend and uphold.

As we faced battles in our family where my sense of security was lost, I had to remember who I belonged to and whose responsibility I was. If I was God’s, then what threatened me was His problem as much as it was mine. When I felt most vulnerable, I ran to Him for refuge. I would literally cry to Him telling all my fears and troubles, dumping them in His lap because I knew…….He had promised to sustain me and I was reminding Him of that.

The same verse 14 where they cry to the Lord also shows they recognized the need in the battle. It was their responsibility to recognize the moments where they needed more than what they could do for themselves. Some people face their breaking point and in anger raise their fist to God. Judah and their King realized the need to call upon God and they took it. They humbled themselves and reaped the reward for doing so. 

Our family learned humility the usual way, when we were weak and needy. Battles make us feel so exposed. As we suffered unmoving circumstances, we were stripped bare of all our own possible resources and answers. Breaking points have a way of humiliation about them. It is humbling to realize your own inability. But in those moments…….through weakness comes power as we cry out to God. We cried out through prayer, through fasting, seeking counsel and support from fellow believers. We knew we did not have what it took to make it through. But through our need, God responded.

Later in verse 15, God routed King Jeroboam and all Israel before King Abijah and Judah. God delivered them into their hands despite such overwhelming odds. Why? Verse 18 says it was because they relied upon the LORD. Simple as that, they faced a mountain of odds stacked against them and they overcame. They rested in their reliance.

In 2016, we have seen unfathomable advances against the battles we faced as a family. Both of the circumstances we were so helpless in have been changed dramatically, all without our knowledge and abilities to receive any of the credit.  The odds were against us and we faced our breaking points multiple times. But we faced them like the army of Judah; recognizing the sides, the responsibility and the need in the battles.

Then, we were able to be like them, to rest in our reliance. This reliance brings peace because you have flung yourself on the mercy of the Almighty Father, who loved enough to sacrifice His only Son. Won’t He also now uphold and sustain?

The weapons of war for Judah work just as well today. We know that as a family and I know that first-hand, as I see God changing a fear-filled woman into a mighty fortress of faith and peace. It took years, but we are seeing the delivering hand of our Father, against all odds…….