One Important Thing to Remember When You’re in a Battle Zone

When one of those “unfixables” happens–a relationship strain, health complications stacked on top of a financial drain, an irreversible injustice–it can feel like you’re in a battle zone. You vs. the world. Like the implications of what you can’t do are strapped to your back.

Makes you feel unmoored and helpless. Because you’d change the situation if you could, but it seems there’s no easy path forward, no win-win resolution within reach, no reversing the hurt.

I’m thinking of this–thinking of you–as I read Deuteronomy 1. We’re with the Israelites right outside the Promised Land, and Moses is recounting to a new generation what has unfolded the past 40 years.

This stops me:

So I told you, “Don’t be scared! Don’t be afraid of them! You won’t have to fight this battle yourselves; the Eternal your God, who always goes ahead of you, will fight for you just as He did in Egypt—you saw Him do it!

And here in this wilderness, all along the route you’ve traveled until you reached this place, haven’t you seen the Eternal, your True God, carrying you the way a parent carries a child?

But you still don’t trust the Eternal your God, even though He always goes ahead of you as you travel and finds places for you to camp. In a pillar of fire by night and in a cloud by day, He always shows you the right way to go.”

(vs. 29-33, The Voice)

I imagine there’s a gravely weightiness to Moses’ words. Here is a man who has seen up close how God rescues His people. He stood before Pharaoh, trusting God to make good on His word. (Spoiler alert: God did.) He walked on the dry bed of the Red Sea, through water piled up like hallway walls on either side. (Did that feel as unearthly holy as I envision?) He saw miracle upon miracle, as undeniable as morsels of manna quieting stomach rumbles.

Moses has heard the audible voice of God. He’s been privy to God’s tangible presence. As the recipient of immense trust, Moses chooses to lay down his self-doubt and accept his commission–to lead God’s people out of Egypt and shepherd them in the wilderness.

But Moses has experienced the exact same hardships that cause the Israelites to grumble. His patience has been tested, not just by the desert, but by the people. He’s been exasperated and indignant, overwhelmed and inconvenienced. He knows what it’s like to be questioned, misunderstood, and wrongly accused. He’s felt thirst and hunger and the pressure to know the answers, not only for himself, but for everyone else.

So when Moses says, “You won’t have to fight this battle yourselves; the Eternal your God, who always goes ahead of you, will fight for you just as He did in Egypt”—then tacks on a fatherly reminder, “you saw Him do it!”—his words are leathered with conviction and personal experience (Deut. 1:30, The Voice).

A Blessing for the Battle

Perhaps you need a reminder right about now that you’re not alone in this battle. No matter how dire it appears, or how impossible it sounds, the God who “always goes ahead of you” isn’t worried. He’s not late. Not struggling for the upper hand or taking a blind swing.

He’s a way-making warrior battling on your behalf. 

Just as the Israelites had evidence of God’s presence, protection, and provision, so too do we have tell-tale signs of God’s trustworthiness. But like them, I too quickly forget. So what if we take a moment right now to recount the ways God has made a way in the past?

Pull out a journal, a notebook, or your phone and begin a list.

Where has God gone ahead of you into a tense situation?

When has His presence comforted and reassured you?

How has He carried you with the tenderness of a parent?

That picture Moses paints is the one I want forefront of mind when life feels like a battle. Not only does God join me on the battlefield, He holds me tight to His chest, where I can feel His breath and His heartbeat. That’s how intentional He is. In the moments we most need His comfort, He pulls us into a place where we can feel His warmth.

That’s my prayer for you right now, that you would have awareness of God’s presence in the middle of your battle. That His peace would permeate every piece of you. That His arms would encircle you and the vantage point of being held by Him would lend you perspective.

May your soul be assured that the battle is not yours. God fights for you. He goes before you. He always does. 

I also pray for the friend, family member, neighbor, classmate, or coworker weighing on your heart because she is toe-to-toe with a battle. I ask our trustworthy Lord to take care of her. To battle on her behalf. And yes, even to encourage her through you.

I pray that your list of God making a way will make its way into conversation with her. I pray that your clinging to His faithfulness will help someone else see how she too can trust Him.

I ask for all the grace she needs for the days ahead. God’s ready supply of strength. His comforting presence. His on-time, perfect will to be done.

For all of us, whether the struggle ceases or rages, may we know that the ending is written and God is the winner. Even if we must wait until the other side of heaven to fully understand, He never loses a battle.

May we turn from fear towards Jesus.

May we recount out loud why we trust Him.

May we remember together that God goes before us.

I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

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