Battle Strategies

It was four hundred thousand versus eight hundred thousand. The army of Abijah versus the army of Jeroboam. I'm no expert on war, but I know that's a pretty significant disadvantage for Abijah if the opponent's army is twice the size of yours. 

"And when they looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them." (2 Chronicles 13:14) The army of Abijah is already outnumbered, and now they are surrounded on all sides. 

The Old Testament is full of battle stories like this: a bleak situation, an impossible task where the odds are not in the favor of the army of the Lord. 

So that's when the battle strategy kicks in. 

I am no expert on battle strategies either, but I would think that you would gather your best men, strongest horses, and fastest chariots in a situation like this. You would select your best war counselors and come up with the sleekest strategy. 

Yet when you read the battle stories of the Old Testament, you will find that that is rarely the case. God seems to have a whole different set of battle strategies. He hardly ever calls out the finest, strongest troops, but rather uses the weakest armies to accomplish the greatest victories. And they normally do something crazy like light torches and break jars or walk around walls for seven days and shout until they fall down. 

So in 2 Chronicles 13, the army of Judah led by Abijah was surround behind and before by an army twice their size. What did they do? 

First, king Abijah made a proclamation against the opponent. He called out the sins of Jeroboam, pointing out that he had forsaken the Lord by making idols and appointing his own priests. "But as for us," Abijah said, "the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him." (v. 10) Abijah led his country according to the laws of the Lord, in obedience to all the required sacrifices. "Behold, God is with us at our head," Abijah concluded with confidence as he went into battle, knowing that no army can defeat the Almighty God. 

Then, "they cried to the Lord, and the priests blew their trumpets. Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam before Abijah." (v. 14-15)

In a seemingly hopeless situation, God broke through and brought a great victory...all because his people obeyed him and then cried out to him in their trouble. 

I think we have a lot to learn by God’s battle strategies in the Old Testament. Some people are bothered by all the war and destruction described in the Old Testament, which I really do understand. But the truth is that even now we are in a war, a war between two spiritual forces: the army of the Lord that is fighting for the kingdom of God, and the army of our enemy, Satan, and all his forces that are fighting against us. Even in our day to day lives, we get a piece of this spiritual war in our own personal battles. The same battle strategies of the God of War in the Old Testament can be used today. 

So how are we to fight our battles? As I have been reading through the historical books of the Old Testament, I have been writing down battle strategies to apply in my life, and by reading the story of Abijah in 2 Chronicles 13, I have learned that one of the best strategies is to live a life of obedience that gives us confidence that God is fighting for us at our head. Then, when we are surrounded behind and before by an army that is twice our size, we can cry out to the Lord and know that he will command victory for us. 

"The men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers." (v. 18)

And so we prevail when we live in obedience and rely on the Lord.