June 8

Morning

and many others fell slain, because the battle belonged to God. And they occupied the land until the exile. — 1 Chr 5:22 BSB

Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, take this verse to heart with holy joy. As it was in the days of old, so it is today: if the war is God’s, the victory is certain. The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh could barely muster forty-five thousand soldiers, yet in their battle against the Hagrites, they killed “a hundred thousand men,” because “they cried out to God in the battle, and He answered them, because they trusted in Him.”

The Lord doesn’t need many to bring about victory, nor does He need a few. Our duty is to go forward in the name of the Lord Almighty, even if we are just a small band of believers, for the Lord Himself is our Captain. These men didn’t neglect their shields, swords, and bows, nor should we disregard using proper means. But their trust wasn’t in their weapons—it was in the Lord, who is both the sword and shield of His people.

Their remarkable success lay in the fact that "God was fighting for them." Beloved, in your battles against sin within and without, against false doctrine and evil practices, against spiritual forces of wickedness high and low—you are fighting the Lord’s war. And unless He Himself can be defeated, you have no reason to fear defeat. Don’t be intimidated by large numbers, don’t be discouraged by difficulties or impossibilities, and don’t be afraid of wounds or death. Strike with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and your enemies will fall in heaps. The battle is the Lord’s, and He will deliver His enemies into your hands. Stand firm, fight with courage, and with flaming zeal—rush into the battle, and the forces of evil will scatter like chaff before the wind.

"Stand up! Stand up for Jesus!
The strife will not be long;
This day, the noise of battle,
The next, the victor’s song—"

To those who overcome,
A crown of life shall be;
And with the King of glory,
They shall reign eternally.

Evening

The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.” — Num 11:23 BSB

God made a clear promise to Moses that for an entire month He would provide meat for the vast multitude in the wilderness. But Moses, overtaken by doubt, looked at the limited means available and couldn’t see how the promise could possibly be fulfilled. He focused on the creature instead of the Creator. But does God expect the creature to fulfill His promises? No! The One who makes the promise always fulfills it by His own almighty power. When He speaks, it is done—done by Himself. His promises never rely on the frail strength of man for their fulfillment.

We can easily see Moses’ mistake. And yet, how often do we make the same one! God promises to supply our needs, but we look to human means to accomplish what God has promised. When we see how weak those means are, we fall into doubt. But why do we look to those means at all? Would you search the frozen north for fruit ripened in the sun? If you did, you would be no more foolish than when you look to weak and feeble creatures to do the work of the Creator.

Let us put this matter in its proper place. The foundation of our faith is not in the sufficiency of visible means, but in the all-sufficiency of the invisible God, who will surely do what He has promised. If, after realizing this, we still allow ourselves to doubt, God’s question comes powerfully to us: “Has the Lord’s arm grown short?” And with that question, may we also be reminded of His promise: “You will now see whether or not My Word will come true for you.”