“He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will
be victorious.” –Chinese philosopher and military strategist Sun Tzu
A couple of months ago I told God, “I’m tired of
fighting.” For 15 years I fought for Mom’s health. Then I fought for Dad’s
deliverance. And I battled for my healing. At times, grief has wrestled me to
the ground and the enemy has tried to steal my faith. There have been many
other battles and now I have found I am weary of fighting. So, when my
exhausted spirit poured out its complaint to the Lord one night, He replied
with Deuteronomy 3:22: “. . . the LORD
your God himself will fight for you.” The triple emphasis in the verse caught
my attention: the Lord your God Himself. I need not rely on anyone else’s faith
or relationship with the Lord, for He is my God. I can call on Him and He will
be faithful. Using the reflexive pronoun “himself” underscores the importance
that God has assured me He will intervene. He is not a distant deity who simply
watches from heaven. He will insert Himself into my circumstances and will not
only fight for me, on my behalf, but will engage the enemy and fight him in my
place, instead of me.
The passage’s two nouns and one pronoun referring to God
indicate His triune person so the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, His only
Son, my atoning sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit, my comforter and counselor plan
to do battle for me just as they did for the children of Israel. New challenges
have arisen this summer and over the last two weeks, three times more the Lord
has brought this verse to me: in a sermon, on a blog, and in a novel. So for
now, I will rest and allow the Lord of hosts to wage war on my behalf until He
decides I need to rejoin the battle.
