Thought from today’s Bible reading from 1 Kings 20-21.
When Ben-hadad and thirty-two other kings besieged Samaria, they were defeated by a force which they greatly outnumbered. They had a theory as to why they were beaten so badly.
“Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, ‘Their gods are gods of the mountains, therefore they were stronger than we; but rather let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. Do this thing: remove the kings, each from his place, and put captains in their place, and muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they.’ And he listened to their voice and did so” (1 Kings 20:23-25).
These servants of Ben-hadad were partially correct. The Israelites were victorious because of divine intervention (though not from “gods,” but from the one, true, living God). But their theory that His power was limited to the mountains proved disastrous for them. Despite fighting in the plain with a massive army that vastly outnumbered the Israelites, Ben-hadad and his allies were soundly defeated again.
“The sons of Israel were mustered and were provisioned and went to meet them; and the sons of Israel camped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the country. Then a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is a god of the mountains, but He is not a god of the valleys,’ therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”’ So they camped one over against the other seven days. And on the seventh day the battle was joined, and the sons of Israel killed of the Arameans 100,000 foot soldiers in one day. But the rest fled to Aphek into the city, and the wall fell on 27,000 men who were left” (1 Kings 20:27-30).
It would not matter where the battle was fought; if God was fighting for the Israelites, they would be victorious.
“For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne” (Psalm 47:7-8).
The power and authority of God is not limited to a certain place, nation, or time. We all need to fear Him and serve Him because He is God over us today.
Tomorrow’s reading: 1 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 18
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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