God is on our Side

Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 32:1-8

Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! He may have a great army, but they are just men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us! (2 Ch. 32:7-8 NLT)

If there were ever a day when believers in Jesus Christ need to heed the words of King Hezekiah, it is today. Christians are being hunted down and murdered like a pack of wolves on a scent, and the world leaders, including those in so-called “evangelical churches” don’t care. Hundreds and thousands have been killed by Islamic extremists and those with the liberal mainstream media don’t raise an outcry against it, as if to say, “it deserves them right.”

     What is alarming in our present day culture is the increasing antagonism against Christianity. Elwood McQuaid in his book “Persecuted” (Harvest House 2003, p62) says, “In major areas of the American Culture orthodox religion and evangelical Christians are identified as a pox on the life of the people of the United States.”

     According to Mr. McQuaid, we are living in a society where every “religion, cult, jungle paganist, and God-denying element is equally credible and acceptable in their own right.”

     What does the future hold for Christians who believe and follow the dictates of the Great Commission to evangelize the world? Will missions cease to exist? Will the land be purged of believers? Will persecution become open and rampant in America? Will “zero tolerance” laws be enacted?

     American Christians have been spared for centuries the kind of persecution we are seeing in other parts of the world. We have come to believe that the freedom, peace, and security we have enjoyed for centuries is a guaranteed permanent possession. But as people in other lands have learned, much to their dismay, it can be taken away.

     That is exactly what King Sennacherib was trying to do the inhabitants of Judah. He threatened them with annihilation, but King Hezekiah encouraged the people by saying, “Don’t be afraid of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side!”

     If and when dark threatening clouds appear over America and the Christian community, let us hold fast to this Biblical truth, “we have a greater power on our side! He is the God of heaven who will fight our battles for us.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, strengthen our faith so that we might be able to stand when the going gets tough. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.