Facing Opposition (2 Chronicles 32:7–8)

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
—2 Chronicles 32:7–8

Are those not great verses? Here are the people of Judah surrounded by an Assyrian army, hundreds of thousands of them. It sure looks like they are outnumbered, and there’s no way they can win this battle. And yet Hezekiah looks at them and says, “Be strong, courageous. Don’t be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that’s with him.” And then listen to this language: “For there are more with us than with him.”

What do you mean there are more with us than with him? Well, here’s what he means. Verse 8: “With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” You can’t help but think about Elisha and his servant, surrounded by an army of soldiers, and Elisha saying, “God, open the eyes of my servant to see that there are more with us than with them.” And God opens the eyes of Elisha’s servant, and the servant sees that there’s an angelic army surrounding them, protecting them.

2 Chronicles 32:7–8 teaches us to find courage in the presence of God.

Think about Elijah when he’s going up against the prophets of Baal. It’s him versus 450 prophets of Baal. Doesn’t seem like there are more with Elijah than with Baal, but the beauty was that the Lord God was with Elijah and Elisha and Hezekiah and the people of Judah here. And that changes everything.

There’s a real sense in which this perspective is the key to strength and courage. You think about it. Everything changed when Hezekiah said to the people, “God is with us. Therefore, we don’t need to be afraid or dismayed because God will help us and fight our battles.” That changes everything. And so the most important thing for any one of us when we are walking through challenges is to remember the Lord is with us and to make sure we are with the Lord, which means we’re walking with him. We’re trusting in him and his Word. We’re obeying him and his Word. And when we’re walking with God, according to his Word, we have nothing to fear in this world.

2 Chronicles 32:7–8 calls us to fear God rather than anything else.

So God, we pray in each of our lives today, you would help us to abide in you. Help us to walk with you. We pray that your Word would abide in us and we in your Word. God, we know this is where courage is found. We think about your words to Joshua when you told him not to be afraid and to be strong and courageous as he meditates on your Word day and night and is careful to do according to all that is written in it.

God, we pray that over our lives today. Help us to walk in obedience to your Word, to be careful to do according to all that’s written in it, and as we do, to live with your strength and your courage, to not be afraid or dismayed of anything. God, we pray that in each of our lives we would fear you alone and, as a result, be free from fear of anything else.

Jesus, we praise you as Emmanuel, God with us. We praise you for putting your Spirit inside of us so that we know at every moment we are never alone, but you alone are with us.

A Prayer for the Yehlmo People

God, we pray for people who don’t know this reality, who’ve never even heard of this reality. Lord, we pray for the Yehlmo people of Nepal, for the small tribal people group in Nepal. God, we pray that the Yehlmo people would be reached with the good news of God with us.

Oh, Lord Jesus, please cause your name to be known among the Yehlmo people of Nepal and every other tribe, language, and people group in the world, that they might know Jesus, God with us, God for us.

Oh, may it be so, even as we pray that you’d help us to live in this reality today. In Jesus’ name we pray, according to 2 Chronicles 32:7–8. Amen.