Christian, do you feel surrounded? You are of course—“the Lord surrounds His people” (Ps 125:2).
It wasn’t that Abijah didn’t warn Jeroboam about the secret weapons in his arsenal. Listen! “The priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties. And they burn to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the showbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening” (2 Chron 13:10-11). He had revealed to the enemy the power source for their army. The fuel? Sacrifices, sweet incense, showbread, and olive oil. This was the dynamo, the contact point between heaven and earth. And, added the king, we have an early warning system, “His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you” (v 12). But Jeroboam scoffed at all this. While Abijah talked, he surreptitiously moved some of his troops to the rear of Judah’s army so they were surrounded! “And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and…it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel” (vv 14-15). Christian, is that familiar? A cry! A trumpet blast! A shout! It sounds like 1 Thessalonians 4:16! Today God’s people are surrounded by “the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12, NASB). Still we carry on with our morning and evening sacrifices and sweet incense, fellowshipping at His table, trimming our lamps to shine in the darkness. Is it making any difference? He thinks so. One of these days, even though we’re outnumbered and surrounded, the Lord Himself will come to our rescue, “And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:17).