It’s the Christmas season. Normally in these weeks leading up to the big day, people are out and about, cheered by the thoughts of a little time off work, gatherings of family and friends at holiday parties, and uplifted by the music and decorations all around. This year is different. When I look past people’s masks into their eyes I often see a sense of battle-weariness, sadness, defeat, anxiety, and hopelessness. The strife of 2020 has taken its toll on everyone and the battles continue to rage.

Deuteronomy 20:1-4 reveals a method for dealing with times when we are tired of fighting the battle and the odds continue to look stacked against us. Verse one reads “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” If you have been staying close to the Lord this year, you have likely heard this many times – “Don’t be afraid, God is with you.” The people of Israel knew this to be true as well, yet when facing a battle that looms large that fact can quickly be forgotten.

Standing in the face of battle, these people needed a pep talk. In military history, it would usually fall to a general or commanding officer to go forth and rally the troops to keep up morale and use their rhetorical skills to invoke a sense of resilience against what lay ahead. However, in God’s army (as verses 2-4 attest) it was the priest that was to come and speak to the people. More than just being prepared outwardly for the battle, God knew that these individuals needed to have their inner man strengthened to face the foe and continue on. The priest was to convey three main ideas (from verse four) to offer a means to that end.

1. God Goes WITH YOU – “The LORD your God is he that goeth with you…” In other words, you are not alone. God is with you in this and will not leave you out there in the midst of battle by yourself.


2. God Fights FOR YOU – “…to fight for you against your enemies…” In other words – this isn’t your battle, it is the Lord’s. Don’t get so wrapped up in how you are going to fight this thing that you forget it is a spiritual warfare you are fighting. Remember Ephesians 6:12… “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”


3. God will SAVE YOU – “… to save you” You can be sure that when God is with you and fighting for you, He is going to save you. He will never fail.

I know these thoughts were for the army of Israel that was facing a physical battle in a time and place long ago. Yet, the truth is still there for us in our spiritual battles of today. Be inspired to rise above the fray of battle, to fight with vigor, to identify more deeply with the cause you are fighting for, and most importantly to rest in the Lord’s work on your behalf. God’s people are never to depend on their own strength – they are to depend on God’s. The reason they were to “let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified” was because God was with them. God was on their side (or perhaps more aptly put – they were on God’s side) and He would be sure to save them. How often do we view the battles of life as our own cause (and try to fight them with our meager human abilities)? Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. If we are on the Lord’s side, we don’t need to fear because it is His cause – not ours.