The Battle Belongs to the Lord
In this difficult time, the Lord’s intentions are for our good. He is refining our character and teaching us important truths. As Christians writers, our desire is to learn, to cooperate, and to seek out what He’s trying to get across to us. May we be quick to learn.
In the 800s B.C., the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites drew up in battle against King Jehoshaphat. Ammon and Moab were long-time enemies, descended from Lot and his daughters after Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction, and thus, carrying their broken relational baggage into every interaction. These had united with the Arabic Meunites into a vicious horde.
When Jehoshaphat was informed that an enormous enemy army would soon attack, he was afraid, and so, he sought the Lord and called upon Judah to fast and to pray. All of Judah gathered together, entire families. A lament was offered by Jehoshaphat as he stood among this assembly in the house of the Lord. Praying the history of a problem is powerful.
- The king PRAISED GOD for His majestic qualities and the sovereignty of His nature.
- Jehoshaphat “REMINDED” THE LORD that He had driven out the past inhabitants and had given the land to Abraham’s descendants. These had built a sanctuary for Him, saying, “Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save” (2 Chronicles 20:9).
- The king COMPLAINED TO THE LORD about extenuating circumstances previously superintended by God Himself—the hordes who had come to invade Judah were groups whom Israel had spared at God’s direction when they had entered the Promised Land.
- WITH GREAT HUMILITY, Jehoshaphat ASKED THE LORD: “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on You” (2 Chronicles 20:12).
The next day, when they sang songs of praise to God, the Lord gave the victory.
Like them, we need not fear this great horde of hardship, for just as the battle was not theirs, so also the battle is not ours. The battle belongs to the Lord. “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on You” is likewise our cry.
We obey in all that we have been called to do, as Jehoshaphat did. We strive for what is right and good, but whether our candidate wins or loses, whether goodness or calamity prevails during this pandemic, whether social justice comes to pass, the battle is the Lord’s.
In the justice that is due our friends and neighbors—fellow human beings, we speak, we protest, we pray, but the battle belongs to the Lord (Micah 6:6-8). We give this to God in prayer. He is the One who softens hardened hearts and changes unseeing minds.
In the defeat of COVID19, for which the Lord has now supplied not one, but two, vaccines engineered with groundbreaking technology. The battle is the Lord’s (2 Chronicles 20:9). He inspires scientists. He opens doors we never thought would open.
What is required of us as Christian writers?
- We cry to the Lord in faith, praising Him for who He is and for what He does, and then we write to encourage others.
- We write the promises and the instructions of God’s Word clearly and precisely, for they are applicable, and the battle is the Lord’s.
- We often don’t know what to do or what to write, but we keep our eyes upon Him.
Do not be afraid. The battle is the Lord’s.
We need not fear this hardship, for the battle belongs to the Lord. “Lord, we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on You” (2 Chron. 20:12). #SeriouslyWrite #Faith #WritingCommunity via @MelindaVInman
What is required? That we cry to the Lord in faith and then write to encourage others. Write God’s promises clearly and precisely, for the battle is the Lord’s. #SeriouslyWrite #WritingCommunity via @MelindaVInman
The Shadows Come
Sequel to No Longer Alone
(WW1 Based on a True Story)
Germany threatens all of Europe. Millions have died. President Woodrow Wilson makes the declaration that the United States must enter the Great War to rescue our allies. Congress approves. Our story begins. In America’s heartland, everyone hunkers down to provide food for the world and resources for the war effort. A draft is necessary, and all young men must register. One by one, these are called to war. With this threat looming, Prentis and Avery raise the necessary horsepower, cultivate the needed crops, and contribute their labors to the Red Cross.
But crises at home, an insidious busybody, and one after another called up to fight in Europe bring the greatest dangers they’ve ever faced together. Then there’s the influenza pandemic. Will they survive the war abroad and the war being waged at home, threatening their love and their lives? Will their loved ones make it home again?
Germany threatens all of Europe. Millions have died. President Woodrow Wilson makes the declaration that the United States must enter the Great War to rescue our allies. Congress approves. Our story begins. In America’s heartland, everyone hunkers down to provide food for the world and resources for the war effort. A draft is necessary, and all young men must register. One by one, these are called to war. With this threat looming, Prentis and Avery raise the necessary horsepower, cultivate the needed crops, and contribute their labors to the Red Cross.
But crises at home, an insidious busybody, and one after another called up to fight in Europe bring the greatest dangers they’ve ever faced together. Then there’s the influenza pandemic. Will they survive the war abroad and the war being waged at home, threatening their love and their lives? Will their loved ones make it home again?
Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the South. Her fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives.
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