Yehovah will bring us into struggles and battles plain and simple, no doubt about it. Why does he do this and how should we handle them? The simple answer is he is trying to teach us something. Spiritual warfare is an unpleasant business for sure, but that’s the way he does things. For example, in Judges 3.1-2 it says, “Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan, only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those that had not experienced it formerly.” You see, the Lord left some of the nations intact in Canaan because he is the Lord of Hosts, or “Yehovah Tzava’ot” meaning Lord of the armies and all nations are under his military command. He wanted the inexperienced to learn about him through warfare. He does the same thing today. He will purposely bring us into spiritual battles and struggles so that we learn how to fight and what it takes to win a battle. The problem is too many resist it and turn from the battle to rub. If we don’t face our enemy and resist, the Lord will continue to place us in situations and battles until we finally stand up and get strong in the Lord. That’s why some people keep going through the same struggles again and again. God wants to work out something in our lives and we are going to have to stand and fight sometime, so we might as well get it over with. Israel today is making that same mistake. Sooner or later they will have to realize who they are and who the Lord is and fight his battles in his name. But they are trying to be political and they are afraid of the world’s opinions and certainly listen too much to the United States because of the financial and military support this country gives them. Someday they are going to have all that stripped away, all their defenses will be of no use and they will be forced to turn to the God of their fathers for help, and he will respond in a way they will understand. It’s the same with us. He will strip away our defenses until we acknowledge him and turn to him. so it is better to enter the battle right away and learn what the Lord is trying to do.
But, there is a way to go to battle and a way not to. First, we are to be obedient to him before the battle begins. Num 4.3 says that they were to take a census from the sons of Kohath “from 30 years and upward, even to 50 years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting.” The word for “service” there is the word for warfare in Hebrew. In other words, as the Levites are serving the Lord as he commanded in the Torah, it is a type of spiritual warfare. The best spiritual warfare we can do is to obey the Lord and keep his commandments. Then he will be a shield and a buckler to us and drive out our enemies. What is taught today in many circles as “spiritual warfare” is not the biblical example
So, we will need to believe in the Lord and keep his commandments by incorporating into our lives the commandments and staying true to the blueprint God has given, by doing certain things, in certain places, by certain people at certain times. That’s what “keep” means. When we have done that and a battle comes, there are several Scriptures we can use. The first one is found in 1 Sam 24.12. David had a conflict with Saul and he says, “May the Lord judge between you and me, and the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand shall not be against you.” David left it all in God’s hand and did not seek his own justice or revenge, he left it to Yehovah.
The second one deals with a battle between Israel and the sons of Ammon found in 1 Chr 19.10-15. Ammon had an issue with Israel and they hired Syrian mercenaries to fight with them against Israel, and they surrounded Israel’s forces. Joab the commander of the Jewish forces takes his elite forces and positions them against the hireling Syrian forces. Abishai is Joab’s brother, and he takes his forces and positions them against the sons of Ammon. Then Joab says that if Abishai needs help, he will come to help him, and if I need help, you come to me. After all is said and done all he can do in the natural is say this, “Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in his own sight.” In other words, they have done all they can do in the natural to take on the enemies of the Lord, but what happens in the battle is up to the Lord.
Well, the hireling Syrians took one look at the elite Israeli forces they have heard about and they had no heart for the battle because they were hirelings, and they turned and ran. When Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they lost courage and ran also. The battle was over before it was over it was ever fought, and Israel won a victory without a fight. That’s how we should approach our battles. Be obedient to the Lord, do what needs to be done in the natural, and leave the rest up to the Lord. Having done all we can do, stand and be ready to fight, and no matter what happens, leave it to the Lord.
There is so much more to the concept of Biblical Spiritual Warfare, and if you want more information on this concept, see our studies called, “The Spiritual Warrior” and “The Spiritual Sniper” on this website.
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