When we think of the word ‘battle’, we often have different mental images, formed by the books we’ve read or the films we’ve seen. We may think of Roman battle scenes in the film ‘Gladiator‘:
… or mediaeval battle scenes with bows and arrows, as at the battle of Agincourt in 1415:
We may think of the Battle for Middle Earth in ‘Lord of the Rings’:
… or science-fiction battles such as seen in ‘Independence Day‘:
The Bible tells us of different kinds of battles.
- Sometimes, a battle can be because we have many enemies – the Bible has a lot to say about enemies and people who come against God and His people, and about the ultimate source of conflict and hatred in the world, as well as about the ultimate victory God has over every enemy which sets itself up against Him.
- Sometimes we can, intentionally or unintentionally, antagonise people and cause problems for ourselves. Again, the Bible has a lot to say about that: we see that God is involved in helping us even when we perhaps get ourselves into bother and battles and mess up.
- Sometimes the battle can be within our own family, and these are often the most painful and traumatic kind of battle, because we don’t expect trouble to come from those sources and it’s all the more painful when our friends and family hurt us and let us down. We expect adversaries to cause problems; we don’t expect those we love to cause our wounds, but sometimes that happens. Again, the Bible is very honest about the kinds of battles that can occur within families and gives us reasons and strategies for dealing with these.
- Sometimes the battle can be internal: our own struggle with sin, our own failings and failures, the complexities of our own personalities and our own health struggles, be these physical, mental or emotional. These kinds of battle can be the hardest sometimes, because they are often invisible to others, but they can be wearing, debilitating, draining and downright discouraging! There are many Christians who feel crippled by these kind of battles and who dare not own up to the difficulties they face.
Whatever the sources or form of the battles we face, however, God is the One who brings us the victory. Twice in the psalms, we read the prayer, ‘Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless.’ (Ps 60:11, Ps 108:12) We know ultimately that God is the One who delivers us and brings us victory: ‘But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Cor 15:57)