There’s a cool story in 2 Chronicles 13. The two main players are Abijah and Jeroboam. The Hebrew people had recently split their nation in two. The smaller southern kingdom was called Judah and Abijah was their king. The northern kingdom kept the name Israel and their king was Jeroboam. Jeroboam declared war on Judah, and that’s where this story begins.
Jeroboam was an ungodly king. His people had taken up foreign idols and his entire nation had fallen far away from God. When he decided to go to war with Judah, Jeroboam brought 800,000 troops.
Judah had remained faithful to God and Abijah was a faithful king. His country, being much smaller than the northern kingdom of Israel, Judah could only muster 400,000 troops for the fight. The odds were not good.
Then Abijah stood before both armies and said, “Cant you see the obvious? God is on our side, He’s our leader” (2 Chron 13:12 MSG). While Abijah was speaking, Jeroboam sent 200,000 men around behind the army of Judah to outflank them. Suddenly the odds for Judah were even worse!
During the battle the army of Judah was fighting 600,000 men on one front and 200,000 men on another front, when they cried out to God for help and miraculously won the fight! 500,000 warriors from the northern kingdom of Israel fell that day and Jeroboam was soundly beaten. The smaller, vastly outnumbered army of the south was victorious because of their faith.
So why am I telling you this story today? Because it’s likely that you’re facing a difficult battle. Perhaps you’re a leader and you sense God compelling you to make a tough leadership decision. Maybe you’re an employee who’s tired of seeing a lack of integrity in your company and you believe you need to stand up for what’s right. Maybe you have a friend who is making horrible life-choices and you know you should intervene. Maybe you just sense that you need to take a huge step of faith but are afraid of the outcome.
Whatever you’re facing, be like Abijah; be faithful to God. Trust Him. Say to yourself and your enemy, “Can’t you see the obvious? God is on my side!” Then take your step. God is with you no matter the odds, so flex your faith muscles and do what needs to be done.
Oh, by the way, it seems like maybe the Bible says something else like, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” But I’ll let you look that one up.
