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Context No. 1944 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 14:8-15: in context

8Asa had an army of three hundred thousand out of Judah who bore bucklers and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor. 9Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 10Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11Asa cried to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, LORD our God; for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. LORD, you are our God. Don’t let man prevail against you.” 12So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians fell that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the LORD and before his army. Judah’s army carried away very much booty. 14They struck all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD came on them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. 15They also struck the tents of those who had livestock, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, then returned to Jerusalem.

King Asa faces an overwhelming enemy: a vast army marching against his smaller forces. Rather than trust his own strength, Asa cries out to God: LORD, there is no one besides you to help, between the strong and the one who has no power. Help us, LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you. And God strikes the enemy, who flee before Asa and Judah.

Asa's prayer, offered in the face of an overwhelming enemy, is a model of dependence on God when we are outmatched. He does not pretend his forces are adequate; he knows they are not. Instead he casts himself wholly on God: there is no one besides you to help, between the strong and the one who has no power. He recognizes that only God can help the weak against the strong, that the outcome does not rest on the size of his army but on God, and he relies on that. We rely on you, he prays, and in your name we have come against this multitude. There is instruction here for our own moments of being outmatched, when we face something far larger than our strength, an obstacle, an enemy, a challenge beyond our resources. The temptation is either to despair, seeing that we cannot prevail, or to strain in our own inadequate strength. Asa did neither; he brought his helplessness to God and relied on him, praying honestly that only God could help the weak against the strong, and going forward not in his own strength but in God's name. This is the prayer of dependence: not pretending we are adequate when we are not, but casting ourselves on the God who can help the powerless against the mighty. And notice how Asa frames it: do not let man prevail against you. He makes the battle God's concern, not merely his own; it is God's honor at stake, God's name in which they come. This lifts the burden from ourselves and places it where it belongs, on God. When we face something too big for us, we can pray as Asa prayed: acknowledging honestly that we have no power to prevail, relying wholly on God who alone can help the weak against the strong, going forward in his name rather than our own strength, and making the matter his concern. Asa was outmatched, and he cried out to God and relied on him, and God delivered; and the same dependence, honest about our helplessness and cast wholly on God, is the way to face what is too big for us.

When I face something far larger than my strength, an obstacle or challenge beyond my resources, do I despair or strain in my own inadequate strength, or can I pray as Asa prayed, acknowledging honestly that I have no power to prevail, relying wholly on the God who alone can help the weak against the strong, and going forward in his name rather than my own?

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