THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS

After the scholars were gone, God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill him.”

Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother under cover of darkness. They were out of town and well on their way by daylight. They lived in Egypt until Herod’s death. This Egyptian exile fulfilled what Hosea had preached: “I called my son out of Egypt.” Matthew 2:13-15 (Message)

The excerpt above is taken from the account of Jesus’ birth and Herod’s reaction. A quick recap. Jesus was born and the Wise Men were going to greet the new arrival. For whatever reason, they stopped by Herod’s palace to inform him of the birth of the child of prophecy. The child that is to be the king of Israel.

Herod was like, “y’all mean one child is coming to dethrone me? What effrontery!” The man got angry and ordered that the child be found and brought to him. Of course, not so he could give him scholarship or royal shelter. He just wanted to get rid of what looked like a threat to him.

Innocent baby Jesus was in danger and so was his parents, presumably. Because Jesus is divine, the son of the living God, his heavenly father, who has all powers under His control could have pulled stunts. He could have dealt with Herod like He did Pharaoh, maybe. And all would probably have acknowledged sooner that Jesus is the messiah and the son of the living God.

That's probably what we all expect to happen at every point a challenge stares us in the face. We want God to show up in all his majesty and defend us like His children that we are. We want to be able to brag before our enemies and friends and say 'God's always got my back!' Hopefully so that they would see and know how awesome our God is.

But sorry to burst your bubble, God pulls no stunt. He is not in any competition or contest with any of His own creation.  So God simply sent a message to Joseph, telling him to protect the child and his mother in a way that he readily could; flee to Egypt! Guess what? Joseph didn’t argue with Him, he just immediately set out on his fleeing to Egypt with the child and his mother.

Were they safe in Egypt? Yes. Did Herod leave the scene? Yes, when his time was up. Did Jesus eventually become all that he was meant to be? Yes. Did fleeing at that time reduce him from divinity a bit? No. Does fleeing make Joseph less of a father? No.

What’s the point here? I’ll tell you. In life, we would never be lacking of battles. The word of God affirms it in John 16.33, that in this world, we will face tribulations but our victory is that Jesus has overcome the world. But do we fight all battles? Well, I’d say fight the ones you know you can win but if we are still in this faith business, where we should always seek the mind of God all the time, then we should hand over the wheel.

His ways are not usually our preferred ways and Bible tells us that we have great tendency to take the wisdom of God for foolishness. Why? Because our limited minds cannot comprehend his ways. So in the midst of the storm, the Lord appears to be taking a nap when we thought he should be all worked up trying to not allow us sink. Should we then take the sail? No! We are not the sailor, He is and all we need do is trust Him enough, not to get us to safety, but that with him is our safety.

So also when issues of life arise, we do not always have to fire back. Sometimes all we need do is back down or change position or just keep quiet. These may not sometimes make sense to do but because we know we cannot on our own win these battles that come our way, we need to listen when God says to stop, to keep quiet or to do nothing. Even if He says to run, better not look back because these daily or periodic battles that we fight, we cannot win with our human strength.

So let’s face it, this battle is not yours, the battle is the Lord’s.

If you have not made Jesus Christ your Lord and saviour, you cannot take advantage of what God had prepared for you. We urge you, don’t wait another moment. Make up your mind and say this prayer:

“Dear God, I ask you to forgive me all my sins and make me anew. I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised him up on the third day, I confess that He is Lord now and forever. I accept your son, Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.”

Congratulations! Now that you are born again, look for a bible believing church to attend that you might know what he has provided for you.