Things were going as expected.
When you punch above your weight you get destroyed.
When you battle an army twice your size, you get annihilated.
Israel, or let’s say two and a half tribes of Israel, had put their foot in it [1].
Counting on the age-old promise of God going before them, they had taken on an enemy that outnumbered them two to one and they were losing.
How do I know that?
They cried out to God in the middle of the battle.
You don’t cry out when you’re winning. You don’t ask for help unless you need it.
Things were taking a natural course until an unnatural action sparked divine intervention.
There are times that scripture isn’t particularly clear on cause and effect. Here we are left with no doubts as to why Israel ended up victorious.
God handed the Hagrites and all their allies over to them because they cried out to Him during the battle [2].
It sounds like an obvious strategy but in reality it’s not.
Few things will strip away your prayer as quickly as battle fatigue.
When we’re on the losing end of a struggle, our natural tendency is to blame, retreat, pack it in, or all three.
Prayer has never been a natural act, but then again God has never been a natural God.
It isn’t often that I find encouragement in the gory act of war, but God uses this as a reference for our 21st century walk with him.
Our battles are different but they are no less overwhelming.
There will be days when the headlines make you want to stay inside.
Times when your reality is like a cinder block on your soul.
Moments when the light in the tunnel is an oncoming train, and like Israel, we will have the choice to call for help or face certain defeat.
God gives us prayer for these battles.
He gives us a chance to express our trust in Him by asking for His help.
Help He’s made available to us through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.
Note that it doesn’t say God chastised them for not planning or not praying before the battle.
He also didn’t ask them to justify their need for Him amidst their desperation.
That’s a lesson I desperately need.
Prayer was never intended to be complicated.
Distilled down, it’s an expression of faith. Faith that any challenge we may face on this perilous road called life, is subject to the will of the Almighty.
Prayer wasn’t supposed to be fancy. In a crises we scream for help. No one cares about how pretty our words are especially God.
He is more concerned with the fact that we trust enough to ask than the quality of words that we use in our hard- pressed moments.
You don’t have to be perfectly positioned to pray. In fact you can do it right now, wherever you are.
It’s not about how long or how fancy. It could be as short and as unassuming as “Help Me Lord”
What matters is what God sees.
Hearts that trust in Him in spite of… is what counts.
Battle cries have come in different forms for different cultures over different generations.
God has left a battle cry for His people and that includes you.
Use it.
[1] 1st Chronicles 5 v 18 – 19
[2] 1st Chronicles 5 v 20