Is it God or the enemy opposing me?

Have you ever had opposition in something you were doing and wondered if it was God or the enemy trying to stop you.?
 I was reading 2 Chronicles 16-18 today and I am not a person that is pro war but here in these pages we see that every person that has position or authority such as a king was always at battle or preparing for battle. This serves as a reminder to us that we truly are in a spiritual battle and just like the kings of old we must enquire to get a word from the Lord in every situation to properly align ourselves. How we respond to God or His word will determine the outcome of our situation.

In the old testament the word came through prophets and seers. For king Asa he received a word of correction from the seer in regards to his actions. What powerful words in 16:9 “ For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him”. Again God is looking at the heart of man and this allows Him to move on their behalf. Our heart response and actions speak of our position in God. .Asa did not like the words of the seer which were the words of God and his response was anger and even rage- but this was planted before the word of the Lord came, when he began to not position himself with God but instead began to rely on the power of men. God declared that from now on he would have wars. This struggle would become the battle he would lose and ultimately cause his death. For instead of seeking the Lord in his illness, again he relied on physicians.

In Chapter 17 we see the opposite happening, here king Jehoshaphat seeks the Lord, he walk in His commandments, his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. After he removed the places of pagan worship and destroyed the idols, he sent the leaders and priests out with the Book of the Law of the Lord to teach the people.

In return we see that the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, God established the kingdom in his hands, he had riches and honour in abundance, he became increasingly powerful, even his enemies blessed him. And he gained territory, fortified his cities and had many mighty men of valour serving him. The great part about all of this is that the fear of the Lord fell on all of the kingdoms around Judah and no one made war with Jehoshaphat!

Chapter 18 is great because here we see what happens when a man who relies on God aligns himself with one who doesn’t. Jehoshaphat became an ally to King Ahab by marriage. Due to this alliance he agrees to go to war with King Ahab. In verse 4 we see that Jehoshaphat has not changed and he seeks to get a word from the Lord about the battle. King Ahab on the other hand does not like getting a word that is contrary to what he wants to do. He has surrounded himself with prophets that will agree with him and he has hatred in his heart towards the prophet that speaks a word from God that is “evil” and not good towards him. Here again we see the heart issue that causes a king not to follow the words of the Lord but to listen to lying spirits. He too will lose his life in battle.

But God will rescue a man who cries out to him when he is in a battle and the enemy is upon him , He will show himself strong to those who have kept their hearts loyal to Him. I am encouraged today that the battle belongs to the Lord and that my responsibility is to seek the Lord, to get a word from Him about every battle that I will encounter and to align my heart with His heart for His purposes. Then I will know if the opposition is from God or from the enemy.

Charmaine Hinds