What do you do when the battle is too big? It is easy to look at our life circumstances and our difficulties and think that the battle is too big for us. Depression and discouragement are not reserved for those who do not have a relationship with God. Even God’s people can grow weary and discouraged because of the obstacles they face in their lives. So what should you do when the battle is too big? Please open your copies of God’s word to 2 Chronicles 13 and we are going to look at a historical account about a king who faced a battle that was far too big for him and his people.
Overwhelmed (2 Chronicles 13:1-9)
Abijah, the son of Rehoboam is now reigning over Judah, which is the southern nation after the kingdom of Israel divided. Jeroboam is still reigning over the northern nation. We are told in 2 Chronicles 13:2 that there was war between the two nations during their reigns. So Abijah went into the battle with an army of 400,000. This is a massive army. However, there is a problem. Jeroboam drew up his battle formation with an army of 800,000. The numbers are certainly not with Abijah for this battle. So what will Abijah do because the battle is too big?
In verse 4 King Abijah takes his stand on Mount Zemaraim in Ephraim. This mountain is likely around border between the two countries. Abijah has a proclamation for King Jeroboam of Israel and all the people. He begins by reminding the people that they ought to know that the Lord gave kingship to David and his sons forever by a covenant of salt. We see salt being used with covenants to indicate the permanent nature of the covenant made by God (cf. Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19). God would require salt in the offering to make sure the people remembered the permanence of the covenant. Abijah is highlighting this here. This covenant that God made was not a covenant made on something temporary and fleeting. This covenant of David and his descendants being kings over Israel was made with a covenant of salt. However, Jeroboam rebelled, gathered wicked men with him, and defied Rehoboam’s rule (2 Chronicles 13:6-7).
But now you continue to resist the kingdom of the Lord which is in the hands of the sons of David (13:8). You have brought up this great multitude against us and you have brought your golden calves with you that you have made to be your gods. You drove out the true priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and made your own priests like the people of the other nations do. You let anyone become a priest of the things that are not gods (13:9).
What is Abijah doing in the face of this overwhelming army that stands against him? I want us to see that he is drawing strength from understanding that his enemy is defying the will of God. Jeroboam does not represent God. They are defying God. They have rebelled against God’s covenant. They have expelled the true priests. They are worshiping golden calves. They have priests for things that are not gods at all. You may be bigger and stronger. But you are not on God’s side.
As For Us… (2 Chronicles 13:10-12)
Notice what Abijah says in verses 10-12. He begins with the words, “As for us…” You are standing against the Lord and his plans. But as for us, the Lord is our God. We have not abandoned the Lord. We have the sons of Aaron ministering as priests. We have the Levites doing the work of the Lord. Every morning and every evening they are performing the tasks that God has commanded. They keep the showbread on the table in the temple. They light the lamps every evening in the temple. Listen to the words at the end of verse 11. “We are carrying out the requirements of the Lord, while you have abandoned him” (CSB). What is Abijah’s point? Abijah recognizes that his enemies are defying the Lord but that they are observing the requirements of the Lord. Look at verse 12. “God is with us; he is our leader.” God is not with you. God is with us. You are defying him. We are seeking to obey him. God’s priests are with us ready to sound the battle cry. Abijah says all of this to make this point in verse 12: “O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.” You are fighting against God. You cannot win when you fight against the Lord. You will fail when you fight against the Lord.
The Outcome of Faith (2 Chronicles 13:13-22)
Jeroboam is completely unfazed by Abijah’s proclamation. Jeroboam thinks he has the upper hand. Not only does Jeroboam have an army twice the size of Abijah’s, but Jeroboam has prepared an ambush (2 Chronicles 13:13). Now Abijah and his men are surrounded. When the people of Judah saw that they were surrounded in the fight and it looked like all hope would be lost, they cried out to the Lord (2 Chronicles 13:14). Notice that God does not stop the battle. Rather, Abijah and his men are going to have their faith put to the test. They are surrounded. It looks like they will be utterly defeated. But they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets and the battle cry was sounded. Please carefully look at the words of verse 15. “God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.” Why did Abijah win when the battle was too big? God did the work. God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel. Verse 16 wants to make sure we understand this point. “God gave them into their hand.” Now God wants to make sure that we really understand this in verse 18.
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 13:18 ESV)
Abijah and his people were victorious that day, though outnumbered and surrounded, because they relied on the Lord that day. But we cannot leave this as our point. We must dig deeper. Why did Abijah rely on the Lord? What gave Abijah the strength to depend on the Lord when the battle was clearly too big for his people? His strength came from knowing that what his enemies were doing was wrong and that what they were doing was right. Abijah would not have been able to say what he said and have the hope that he had if he was doing the same wrong things that Jeroboam was doing. What could Abijah have possibly said to Jeroboam that day? You are defying the Lord and so are we? God will be with us but not with you even though we are committing the same sins as you are? The courage for the battle was knowing that what he was doing was serving the Lord and what they were doing was rebelling against the Lord. But this hope would not exist if he was not trying to keep the requirements of the Lord. Abijah rightly proclaims that when you are resisting the Lord, you cannot be victorious (2 Chronicles 13:12). We can quickly make this point to others. But do we apply this to ourselves? Why do we think that the Lord will be with us and give us strength for the victory when we are resisting what the Lord has told us to do?
When The Battle Is Too Big
Friends, this is not a message that is stuck in the past of the pages of the Old Testament. Turn to Acts 4. In Acts 4 we read about two apostles, Peter and John. They were preaching in the temple and were arrested for doing so (cf. Acts 4:1-3). The conclusion of this trial is that Peter and John are directly ordered to not speak or teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). They are threatened even further (Acts 4:21). Once Peter and John were released, they return to the Christians and they gather for prayer. I want you to carefully notice how they pray in Acts 4:24-30. Please consider that the nature of the prayer is similar to what Abijah proclaimed to Jeroboam. The nations and rulers are all standing against the Lord and his Anointed. This is what God said would happen in Psalm 2, which they quote in Acts 4:25-26. Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel in the city of Jerusalem all conspired against Jesus and God’s salvation plan. Notice the point is that they were all resisting the Lord. But then think about how the prayer turns. The prayer does not continue by asking God to make their resistance stop. The prayer is not that God would make things easier. The prayer they offer is for boldness to keep doing the work God had given them to do. When the battle was too big, they took hope in knowing that the enemies are resisting God and but we are obeying God. Then they pray for the strength to keep obeying God. Give us the boldness to keep doing what you want us to do.
Sometimes we can miss that the problem may be that we are on the wrong side of the battle. We want to always assume that we are on the right side and that everyone else is the enemy. We want to always assume that what we are doing is always right and what everyone else is doing is always wrong. But consider for a moment that we may be on the wrong side of the battle. We might think we are right with God but we are not being honest about our walk. The problems in our life can be that we are the ones who are doing wrong. The reason we are not seeing victory and the reason the battle is consuming us is that we are not actually following the requirements of the Lord. We actually are defying what God has said. We are defying what God has said in our marriages. We are defying what God has said in our family life. We are resisting what God has said to do in our jobs, careers, and education. We are going against God when it comes to how we live our lives. We cannot expect God to give us the victory if we are not truly relying on him. So we need to be honest and consider if we really are on the Lord’s side or not.
We need to change our ways to show that we really are relying on the Lord. We are not relying on the Lord if we are defying what God has commanded in his word. We need to change our lives so that we can truly say that we are on the Lord’s side. Then, once we can see that we are on the Lord’s side, walking with him rather than resisting him, then we have our hope when the battle gets too big. Our hope is that the battle is never too big for God. If we are with God, then we know we will succeed. If we are not resisting God but relying on him, then we know that God will be victorious and he will carry us through any struggle, any difficulty, and any hardship.