2 Chronicles 13:10-16

10 “As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. 11 Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him. 12 God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.” 13 Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush was behind them. 14 Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets 15 and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.

Today’s title is “Proclamation Versus Tactics”

Our life is a battle. We face big and small spiritual enemies every day. You maybe are a pacifist. But you can’t help it. Apostle Paul said, “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)”. What Paul said indeed shows what our Christian life should be like. Without fighting a good fight, we can never finish our race. Without finishing our race, we can never keep our faith. Without keeping our faith, we will never have the crown of righteousness. So we have to fight a good fight. But how do we fight? Today’s passage shows a good example of how. Abijah the king of Judah is facing Jeroboam the king of Israel the northern kingdom in a battleground. We can see the clear contrast in their battle strategy. Abijah, who was the godly king of Judah, is proclaiming God and His kingdom against Jeroboam. He proclaims, “We have not forsaken God. You have forsaken Him. We kept His law. You did not. We have worshipped Him right. Your worship was faked one. We worshipped the true God. You worshipped an idol. God is our leader. But who is your leader?” On the contrary, Jeroboam showed very realistic tactics. He sent his troops around to the rear of Judah’s camp so that they could ambush Judah from behind. That was a very savvy and seemingly practical strategy. The plan seemed to work perfectly at the beginning. King Abijah and the army of Judah were surprised and terrified. They cried out to the Lord out of terror. But God routed them at the desperate battle cry of Judah. Having gone through so many spiritual battles in my life, I now know why the battle-hardy warriors like David said that battle belongs to the Lord. No matter what we do, whoever is with the Lord wins, for God is the divine warrior who overpowers and outsmarts any scheme. Have you experienced such power and wisdom of God? Of course, you have, if you ever fought a good fight. So how are you fighting in your daily spiritual battle? Are you fighting it with the winning strategy?