The Lord Jesus taught us to be confident in God when He said that not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of the Father. God’s sovereignty is not concerned with generalities—for example, He does not look at a battle from a middle distance, determining only the large issues, such as which side will win. No, the sovereignty of God extends into all the particulars. This means that God has decreed every stroke, every counter-stroke, every drop of sweat on every warrior’s forehead, every molecule of blood that stains every blade of grass. Chance governs nothing.
If there is one thing we must remember in all our controversies, clinging to it in faith, it is this one thing. God remains God, whatever the circumstances. To unsettle Christ on His throne would require from our adversaries much more than zoning complaints, or the filing of papers at the university. Can you imagine heaven thrown into consternation over such things? “Oh, no!” an angel exclaims. “Those kids are under age!”
But in the pandemonium of battle, it is easy to forget that God is completely, totally, absolutely sovereign over ever single thing. Every single thing. This includes the Philistines, taunting us from across the way. It includes the traitors who have gone over to the other side, and the sneaks who have not. It includes the timid cowards on our side, who have somehow come to believe that whenever an army fights, it ruins their testimony. It includes the blustering idiots on our side, who do not know what spirit they are of. It includes those who, like David’s brothers, would rather quarrel with him about his motives for being there than they cared about fighting with the enemy.
God has determined it all. God is in it all, and through it all. God governs everything. We are on the eve of a great battle, and we serve the God of battles. We are worshipping Him now. Because He is the God of battles, nothing can happen—on the eve of battle or within it—that is not occurring completely and totally in the palm of His hand. Are you dealing with fellow Christians who do not understand this, who do not understand the nature of the moment we are in? What of it? God understands them, and that is the only thing that matters.
God’s people do not fight for Him. Rather, He fights through them, and with them, and in them. God shall arise and by His might put all His enemies to flight.