Victory In Every Circumstance – 7/1

Before the October 1973 war, Israel was confident that nothing could penetrate her security and bring death and destruction to her people. A few days before the October war, the ruling Labor party ran large election advertisements in the newspapers declaring, “There is peace on the Suez, our borders are secure, there is prosperity in or land…” 

But the Bible warns: 

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them…  

1 Thessalonians 5:3

In the fateful hours before the war began, the story is told that as the leaders reviewed the intelligence reports telling of the coming attack they said among themselves, “It just won’t happen, it can’t happen, and if it does the enemy will be crushed just like they were in the Six-Day War.” The tragic element overlooked was that the enemy was no longer fighting with the same weapons used in 1967. 

As the highly superior Israeli pilots swept in for the initial kill, they were picked off like a flight of geese. The enemy knew their skill and knew they could not meet them on an equal basis. They met them instead with newly-developed Russian missiles that could not be disarmed and destroyed like those in the past. The School of Experience has a very high tuition. For Israel, it was the lives of twenty-five hundred of their best fighting men, officers, and pilots. 

For months after the war, the nation was torn asunder over placing the blame on someone’s shoulders for the disaster. They won the war, but it still was a disaster that will be written in the pages of Israeli history. All of the facts have not been evaluated concerning the war of 1973, but all indications are that Israel did not feel they needed any divine help to keep their enemies out of Israeli territory.  

This modern-day account is similar to the story of Israel’s defeat at Ai in biblical times. Joshua chapter 7 recounts this dark picture in Israel’s history. It was the one and only defeat suffered by God’s people as they battled to claim their inheritance in Canaan. It occurred because of the sin of a man names Achan, who disobeyed God by taking the spoils of the Battle of Jericho. God had commanded that the people not touch the spoils. They were to be dedicated to the Lord.  

When Achan’s sin was exposed, Joshua dealt with it as God instructed and then Israel returned to battle Ai once again. This time, they were victorious: 

For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 

Joshua 8:26

In the past, like the nation of Israel, you may have suffered resounding defeats at the hands of the enemy. You may have lost spiritual battles for your children, your ministry, your home, or your finances. Now all of that this about to change. During our devotional readings this month, you will learn how to overcome defeat and take back territory Satan has stolen from you. 

Miscalculating the enemy’s power in either the natural or the spiritual world can mean disaster. In the natural world it can mean physical death, but in the spiritual world it results in eternal death. This month we are going to continue our journey to claim our spiritual inheritance as we learn how to overcome defeat. We will learn seven steps to victory that will help us avoid the “Ais” of life. We will learn what to do when we face seemingly innumerable odds as did a man named King Jehoshaphat. In the process, we will learn that God has planned no defeats for us!