When the Battle Rages This Instant!

“Are you kidding me?”

You speak these words not in any sort of hopeful, excited kind of way, but rather in the dumbstruck, genuine kind of way you do when you question reality. You’re baffled, incredulous, and not at all pleased.

Day after day, something new unfolds and soon you have A Situation on your hands. With each new hit, you find a different sentiment to express the same feeling. You utter words like, “Unbelievable.” “No way.” “How is this even happening right now?” and “Somebody wake me from this nightmare.”

When this happens—when you progress from a single hit to a series of hits with no end in sight—it’s safe to say you’re no longer facing A Situation. You’re in the middle of an all-out battle.

Have you been there?

I’m not going to suggest what types of situations qualify as battle worthy. It doesn’t matter. You know a battle when you’re in one. And it’s all you can do to face each day.

When weight after weight is heaped on your shoulders, despite your best efforts to maintain decent posture, you slump. You can even slump to the point of mush. Like a mud puddle in the middle of a battlefield, you can find yourself getting trampled on, with the noise of injury and dying too loud for anyone to hear your cries for mercy.

But what if—what if!—this battle that feels like it belongs to you because, well, you are caught in it, wasn’t actually your battle?

Imagine for a moment…

Though the attacks are coming at you from every side, and you feel like a wimpy soldier without an ounce of armor, what if you’re not actually needed on the field?

What if every morning…when you rise from the safety of slumber and have no choice but to face reality…what if all you had to do is show up to the battlefield?

The battle’s not going away. And the protective cave of slumber isn’t an option until tonight. So, to avoid morphing into mush in the daylight hours, could you simply show up?

Does it sound a little too simple to just put one foot in front of the other?

I thought so too. Until I found myself stuck between a rock and a hard place, and God, in His unmistakable way, told me exactly what He did King Jehosphaphat:

"'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them… You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you… Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you’” (2 Chronicles 2:15-17).

All He said was: “Show up.”

I tried that for some time. It was liberating. I experienced relief. And while nothing was changing, I believed God would eventually move if this was, indeed, His battle.

But then I realized I hadn’t finished reading 2 Chronicles 20. So I went back for more. Here’s what I found:

“Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.’ As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. …This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah (praise) to this day” (2 Chronicles 2: 21-22, 26).

Just like that, I realized my “showing up” was shy of one critical component: praise. Since all I had to do was show up to a battle that was not mine, I found I did have spare energy (since I wasn’t using it to fight). And with that slim bit of energy, the most productive thing I could do was praise the Lord.

This is when things started happening. Things so far outside of my control, I found myself uttering—this time in a hopeful, excited, awe-struck kind of way—“Are you kidding me?” “Unbelievable.” And “No way.”

God was moving.

It’s not that “show up and praise” is a formula for victory. It’s not. I can’t tell you the outcome of the battle you’re facing. “Show up and praise” is simply an approach for attending a battle that’s not yours. It’s a way to keep perspective, to keep your head up, and to give praise where it’s due.

After all, the Lord knows you’d rather step over that mushy puddle in the battlefield than become one yourself.

Read it: 2 Chronicles 20

Rest in it: "When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—Because I am GOD, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you." – Isaiah 43:1-4 (Message)