September 2

Each of us and all of us have a very important choice to make. Either we will live our lives without God or live our lives with God. Jesus clearly articulated what life without God is like when he said, “without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Even as a branch will die if it is not connected to the vine or the trunk, so a person without God simply cannot experience life as our Creator intended it to be experienced (John 15:1-8; 10:10). Everything holds together because of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:17). Everything finds it’s meaning in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul recognized this and wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him” (II Chronicles 16:9). God wants to bless people. God searches the earth for people He can bless. We see example after example of God doing that when people chose to put their confidence in Him rather than in themselves. There were 44,760 “skilled warriors” in the armies of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The Bible says, “they were all skilled in combat and armed with shields, swords, and bows” (I Chronicles 5:18&19). When they waged war against their enemies, they were victorious, but not because they were such skilled warriors. “They cried out to God during the battle, and He answered their prayer because they trusted in Him” (5:20). The enemy was defeated “because God was fighting against them” (5:22).
On another occasion, King Asa of Judah had an army of “300,000 warriors from the tribe of Judah, armed with large shields and spears. He also had an army of 280,000 warriors from the tribe of Benjamin, armed with small shields and bows. Both armies were composed of courageous fighting men” (II Chronicles 14:8). But, when Asa was forced to wage war, he did not do so based solely on the strength, the skills, and the courage of his armies. Asa prayed to God, “O Lord, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O Lord, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!” (14:11). They didn’t. Asa and his army experienced a resounding victory because they trusted in God.
We have battles going on in our lives everyday. Battles within our family, battles over our finances, battles with people at work or school, battles over our time limitations, etc. We can choose to engage those battles with our own strength, or with God’s strength. May the lessons and experiences of others throughout history be sufficient for us to make the right choice.