God Will Fight Our Battles
“With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
The dreaded Assyrian army had overrun the Middle East and had taken the northern kingdom of Israel captive. Now King Sennacherib was threatening Judah and Jerusalem itself.
Hezekiah prepared his country physically (2 Chronicles 32:2-6), but even more he sought to prepare them spiritually. He encouraged the people to look at things from God’s perspective. He told them, “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him” (verse 7).
This is reminiscent of what Elisha told his servant when they were surrounded by the Syrian army. Then Elisha prayed and the young man was able to see God’s spirit army, which outnumbered the enemy (2 Kings 6:16-17).
God did protect Hezekiah and Jerusalem. “Then the LORD sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria” (2 Chronicles 32:21).
Human, fleshly arms are no match for God. God wants us to have faith and confidence in Him. When He fights for us, as He did for Elisha and Hezekiah, we are safe.
For more about the faith God wants us to have, see the section on “Faith: Believing and Pleasing God.”
