When You Did Nothing to Deserve the Battle

When You Did Nothing to Deserve the Battle

2 Chronicles 20:10 to 12 - "See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance." 2 Chronicles 20:11

There is a part of Jehoshaphat's prayer that is easy to miss. He reminded God that when Israel came out of Egypt, they had not been permitted to invade the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir. Israel had turned away from them.

Now descendants of those very peoples were coming against Judah.

You can hear the bewilderment in Jehoshaphat's prayer. In simple terms, he was saying, "Lord, we left them alone. Why are they now doing this to us?"

There is a particular kind of pain that comes when you cannot connect the battle you are facing with anything you did to cause it.

Some consequences in life are connected to our own choices, and wisdom requires us to admit that. There are times when we need to repent, apologise, change direction or accept that a difficult harvest grew from seeds we planted ourselves.

But not every battle is punishment.

Not every difficult season is evidence that you missed God.

You can treat somebody well and still be betrayed. You can work faithfully and still be overlooked. You can pray and still receive difficult news. You can love your children deeply and still walk through seasons with them that break your heart. You can obey God and still find yourself standing somewhere that requires more faith than you thought you had.

When trouble comes, we sometimes add another burden to the one we are already carrying.

"What did I do wrong?"

There are occasions when that is an important question. Ask God. Let Him search you.

But there are other times when we torture ourselves looking for an explanation that simply has not been given.

Jehoshaphat did something better.

He brought his confusion to God.

He did not pretend the situation made sense. He did not edit the unfairness out of his prayer because he thought honest questions might offend God.

There are things you can say to God that you may not know how to say anywhere else.

"Lord, I do not understand this."

"I tried to do the right thing."

"Why did this happen?"

"Why now?"

The Psalms are full of questions like these. Biblical faith has always had room for lament. Honest confusion is not necessarily unbelief. Sometimes continuing to speak to God when you do not understand what He is doing is itself an expression of trust.

Then Jehoshaphat says something extraordinary for a king standing before his people.

"We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us."

He admits it.

No performance.

No attempt to reassure everybody with strength he does not possess.

He simply tells the truth.

"We cannot handle this."

There is something strangely freeing about reaching that sentence.

Not because helplessness feels good, but because pretending to be strong when you are exhausted is its own kind of prison.

Perhaps everyone is used to you sorting things out. You are the one who finds the solution, keeps everybody calm, pays the bill, makes the call, carries the family and figures out what happens next.

But who told you that you must always know?

There comes a time when faith sounds less like "I can handle this" and more like "God, I cannot handle this without You."

Is there a battle in your life that you have secretly interpreted as evidence that God is disappointed with you?

Ask yourself whether Scripture has actually given you a reason to believe that, or whether you have created an explanation because uncertainty is uncomfortable.

Then consider what you would say to God about this situation if you were not trying to sound strong.

Say that.

Prayer

Father, there are things in my life I do not understand. There are situations I have examined from every direction and still cannot explain. Where I have genuinely done wrong, give me humility to see it, repent and change. But where I am carrying guilt for a battle I did not create, release me from it. I bring You my unanswered questions. I bring You the parts that feel unfair. I bring You the things I wish had happened differently. And I admit that there are things I cannot fix. I need You. Meet me in the place where my strength ends. In Jesus' name, Amen.