What’s in a name? Everything! (2)

When Israel was threatened by the armies of Amalek, God gave them a glorious victory. Realizing that God was fighting the battle for them, Moses built an altar to Jehovah-Nissi: the Lord my banner. Fighting our own battles was never God’s idea. The Bible says, “The Lord is a man of war” (Exodus 15:3). “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:14). “Be not afraid nor dismayed…for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” As human beings, we get exhausted and discouraged because we keep trying to fight in our own strength. We engage in fruitless cycles of repentance, resolution, struggle, defeat, discouragement, and repenting all over again. The only spiritual conflict that’s ever successfully won is the one God fights for us. He doesn’t expect us to win the battle but to let Him win it on our behalf. “But aren’t we supposed to fight too?” you ask. Yes, we’re to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). Ours isn’t a battle of exhausting effort, it’s the battle of believing. “But aren’t we supposed to wrestle like Jacob did?” First of all, Jacob didn’t win by wrestling, he won by being rendered too weak to keep wrestling. Second, his victory lay in surrender to God. Are you worn out from the battle? Are you at the end of your rope? Then you’re just where God wants you! Let go and trust Jehovah-Nissi to prevail for you, because “the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Stand up and declare with Paul, “When I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).