I Know, but…

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Graeme Wilson in Freedom Fighters

“With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.” ~2nd Chronicles 32:8

It’s a well-known verse by many but one that is hard to follow, Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”. It’s a verse that leaves us with two options, trust God or trust flesh. Whenever I’m confronted with a Biblical truth concerning my circumstances I have a choice to make, and when my faith is weak, my excuse is, “I know, but”.

Knowing and doing are two different things, we know what we ought to do but sometimes what’s fleshly overcomes what’s spiritual. In the account of 2nd Chronicles 32, we see a good example of why we sometimes are persuaded to add the “but” as an excuse. The children of Israel are on the heels of a great spiritual victory, they have torn down all the idols of their foreign gods and repented of their sins. There is a great revival and the people are being led by King Hezekiah, “And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done”.

The problem arises when the enemy comes in to counter the ways of God and tries to cast fear that would overcome faith. It seems there is a pattern that we see which can help us when we are tempted to add the “I know, but” to a crossroad in our own lives. The King of Assyria uses circumstantial precedence of what is seen verses what is unseen. The Assyrian King gives the people statistics that are in his favor concerning the nations that tried to withstand him.

Hezekiah responds with an answer we should all memorize, “With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles”. “Our Battles” are the things that seem to war against the very thing we all desire, to have the peace and joy of the Lord. It seems that as soon as we begin to rest in the comfort of experiencing the presence of God in our lives there’s a battle around the corner to try and bring us back into captivity. Let’s face it, life is filled with peaks and valleys, the question is how long are we willing to stay in the valley? Valleys are a necessary experience which every one of us must encounter, but we were never meant to live in them. What determines our stay in the valley is when our attitude of knowing God’s plan removes the “but”. Then, like the people of Israel who “were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah”, we too can return to the mountaintop.

Let’s end our resolve with “I know” and trust the ways of the Lord, Amen!

Written by Rob Russomano: Rob Russomano is married to Terri and serves with her on full-time staff. He is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is also available as a speaker of the grace of God with a message of Hope for church events. You can contact him at rrussomano@americaskeswick.org.

The Daily Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 5-8 | You can download our 2018 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

Want to get away & have dedicated time to read & learn God’s Word?

Consider a retreat at America’s Keswick retreat center.

LEARN MORE

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories