“The LORD your God who goes before you will fight for you.”
God Can Handle the Battle
I need God to fight for me.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m strong. I’m capable. (You are too.) But I can’t do it alone. (You can’t either.)
I’ve tried. Haven’t you? I’ve tired to just handle it. While life gets stressful or the worries keep me up at night, I want to handle it myself. I want to pull myself up by my boot straps and just tell myself to BE OKAY. STOP WORRYING. And do whatever I can to make the situation work out.
And then Deuteronomy 1:30 stares back at me from page 237 of my Bible.
God goes before me. God fights for me.
I wrestle hard with this. I know He goes before me, I’ve been taught since I was little that God is timeless, so He is already there. But it’s different thinking of Him purposefully going before me into a battle — choosing to stand between me and the fight. That means a lot to my little warrior heart — the one that loves to fight for what is true and right, but often feels deeply tired.
And He will fight for me? Okay, I hear that. But when I don’t feel better and I don’t immediately see a change in the battle before me, I wonder if He needs my help.
(I’m not being sarcastic here. I genuinely start to ask if there is something I’m supposed to do here — surely the right answer isn’t just for me to sit back, stand still, and just watch?)
“But also, God, I can be a lot of help if you need me. I can go ahead and step in? I’m pretty good at taking care of business, God, if that would be helpful here?”
He never takes me up on my offer. But I often wish He would.
I’m there right now. I’m watching a battle right in front of me and there is so much I could do to help! (I think.) But I hear God whispering to me from the battlefield, “Stand still, Annie. I’ve got this.” So I’m wringing my hands and shuffling my feet, barely able to stay in place. Or. I can choose peace. I can connect my heart to His heart and feel a rush of peace knowing that He has got this. Because He does. He really does.
And now I’m crying because I’m writing for you but I’m writing for me.
His ability to do the miraculous doesn’t mean I’m not capable. It just means He is God and He can handle it. And He can handle me. And He can handle whatever the battle is that I am facing.
Peace, friend. Let us rest in this truth today.
(Have you heard Natalie Grant’s song “King of the World”? I’ve got it on repeat right now, because He’s always been the King of the World, able to handle every battle and always before us.)
Do you have a hard time believing God will actually fight for you? How have you seen God go before you recently? What area of your life or situation do you need to claim the Deuteronomy 1:30 promise over?
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