Isaiah 31:1-9
Help Not in Egypt but in God
1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!
2 Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster
And does not retract His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers
And against the help of the workers of iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God,
And their horses are flesh and not spirit;
So the Lord will stretch out His hand,
And he who helps will stumble
And he who is helped will fall,
And all of them will come to an end together.
4 For thus says the Lord to me,
“As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,
Against which a band of shepherds is called out,
And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,
So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”
5 Like flying birds so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
He will pass over and rescue it.
6 Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. 7 For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin.
8 And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,
And a sword not of man will devour him.
So he will not escape the sword,
And his young men will become forced laborers.
9 “His rock will pass away because of panic,
And his princes will be terrified at the standard,”
Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Psalms 127:1-2
Prosperity Comes from the Lord.
A Song of Ascents, of Solomon.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
Soldiers Recruited (Judges 7)
How much did Israel suffer because of the Midianites who plundered and stole all of the good things that the Israelites had? A man of God prayed to save the nation. At that time they recruited the Soldiers and 32,000 men came; however God said this is too many. Besides, these men will betray me because they don’t believe in me. They will become arrogant and proud believing that they come to believe in God on their own will; send them back! Of the 32,000 Soldiers recruited 22,000 departed leaving only 10,000 Soldiers to fight against the Midianites. When God said there were too many, the 22,000 Soldiers who left remembered their parents and their wives and children, so they went back.
God Chooses 300
Out of the 10,000 Soldiers remaining God still said there were too many. However, God said I can’t tell them to go back so let’s test them. God said, because they are thirsty let’s take them by the river and let them drink. When they arrived at the river, they all knelt down and began lapping water like a dog however there were 300 men who looked ahead while taking water into their hand to their mouth; God says to Gideon, “Only these men will remain.” These 300 men that God chose killed 120,000 men! Was it the number of Soldiers or weapons that killed this Midianite army? These 300 men did not have a spear or sword but the 120,000 enemies had powerful weapons and chariots, yet the 300 defeated this massive 120,000 man army.
The Battle Does not depend and man and weapons (1 Sam 7:1-47, 58; Prov 21:31)
he Bible proclaims, although a horse is prepared for the day of battle, victory belongs to God (Proverbs 21:31). Beloved saints, how rough and wicked are this world? When there are people in the world like this, how can our nation be well? How can we put our trust in anything as we live? Only when someone in our nation prays, then our country and our nation will be made well and our life can be secure, why? These Philistines, Assyrians, and the Midianites were evil and they would frighten the Israelites. The young prophet Samuel asked the people; “What’s going on?”
The response from the people was; “Our nation is in chaos again, for the enemy is coming to attack us.” Samuel charged Israel to gather at Mizpah and said; “I will pray to God for you.” The moment Samuel began to pray, tens and thousands of people fell and died. Samuel then took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen and called it “Ebenezer” which means “God has helped thus far.” Thus, by the prayer of one man, Samuel, who trusted in God alone, the Israelites were saved. Thus all we have to do is believe in God and pray. Soldiers who handle weapons must be fully alert and patriotic with a heart who wants to defend the forefathers, parents, wives and brethren.
Days of King Joash
In the days of king Joash, the man of God Elisha was very old and about to die. Now the king in the palace heard about this from his servants and was startled and rushed to Elisha’s house. King Joash went to the house of a mere servant who was old and about to die. King Joash, the king of a nation bowed before him and said “my father, my father. The king called this man of God Elisha the weapon of Israel and said, “You must remain alive for the sake of the nation, for you are the national defense of our country.” (2 Kings 30:13-14).
The king Aram was so humiliated by the Israelites and he doubted that there might be a spy amongst his servants because the Israelites will find out everything that the king of Aram would say. One of the servants told the king that there was a prophet a man of God who hears everything that the king says in his bed and of his plans. The king was shocked and asked the whereabouts of Prophet Elisha and senttens of thousands of men to seize Elisha. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha saw this great army camped all around them with the most advanced weapons and was afraid. He went in and told Elisha and right away Elisha told him not to worry and said; “Our number is greater than theirs.” Elisha began to pray for his servant Gehazi and asked God to open his eyes and they were open and Gehazi saw the Army of God standing all around them with horses and chariots of fire. Elisha called out to God and said; “Strike the Aramean Soldiers with blindness and God did according to the word of Elisha. The Aramean Soldiers were then led back to Samaria where their eyes were opened after Elisha prayed again. They come to realize that they had been walking for days without sleep returning to the same location they started from.
Amen.
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