God's Manhunt — James Jennings

God's Manhunt in 2 Chronicles 16

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 16. I want to speak this morning on God's manhunt. God's manhunt. We see that in verse 9. Hanani the seer, he says to Asa, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.

God's looking to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless, is whole toward Him. Let's start in verse 7 here. Asa has just had a victory in some sense, but it wasn't a good victory. It wasn't a good victory.

He relied on the king of Syria. Verse 7, at that time, after this had happened, Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria, who's your enemy, they've now escaped you because you made this covenant with them and relied on them.

Verse 8, he says, we're not the Ethiopians. He's looking in the past for Asa. He's reminding him. We're not the Ethiopians. And the Libyans, a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen. Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He gave them into your hand.

Four, because He did this, because the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards Him. You, Asa, have done foolishly in this, in this reliance upon the king of Syria, for from now on, you will have wars.

And then we see Asa's response to this reproof. Then Asa was angry with the seer. And they didn't just dismiss him. He put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

God's manhunt. God is looking to give strong support to people whose hearts are holy towards Him. Let's pray. Father, thank You that, Lord, even just that thought there. You're a God. You're the one true God and You are our God.

And something that characterizes You is that You're looking to give strong support. Lord, thank You. Because we need that support. Lord, we need that. And so, Lord, thank You. We thank You. We praise You for who You are.

And Lord, I just ask that You would make this real for all of us this morning. And Lord, that we would be people who do rely on You and do experience the wonderful, precious encouragement of having You strongly support us in the midst of trials, in the midst of our battle against sin, in the midst of our fears.

Lord, we need You. And so, Lord, we praise You today for who You are. Open this up, I ask. Lord, help right now. Give me more of Your Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen. So, I want to ask three questions. One, why did the Syrian army escape?

Why the Syrian Army Escaped

Let's start there. Why did the Syrian army escape? Let's make sure we get this. Verse 7. Hanani is coming to reprove and correct Asa. And he says, because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord, the army of the king of Assyria has escaped you.

So why did the king of Assyria escape him? He did not rely on the Lord. He relied on the king of Syria. What's it mean to rely? What's a synonym? Trust? Yeah, when you rely on something, you're putting your full confidence in whatever that thing is or whatever that person is.

You're depending upon it. When I rely, I'm depending. I'm depending on this factor for there to be a victory here. My complete trust is in this person. I'm leaning fully upon this wall. This thing. If it doesn't hold me up, I'm in trouble.

Now, where did this relying on the king of Syria happen? Look at chapter 16. Go to verse 1. In the 36th year of the reign of Asa. Has Asa been ruling for a while now? He has. 36th year. This person Asa, he's nearing the end.

He's not at the beginning of the race. He's nearing the end. Let's not forget that. In the 36th year of Asa, Basha, king of Israel, went up against Judah. So Judah, Israel, their kingdom is split at this point in history.

And he built Ramah. That he might permit no one to go out or to come to Asa, king of Judah. You could say, well, what's happening there? Look at 2 Chronicles 15. He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who were residing with them for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel.

So a lot of people were deserting and coming over here to Asa's side. Basha didn't like this, so he's building a city to keep these deserters from getting there and to keep his own people from coming out and people from coming in.

So here Asa is facing this problem just like we face trials. And what does he do? Verse 2, then Asa... just stop. Then James. Then Craig. Then you put your name there. Trial is before you. Then you do what?

Then I trust in the Lord? No. Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord. So it's not just he's not trusting in the Lord here, he's taking resources from the house of the Lord and the king's house, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, there's a covenant between me and you as there was between my father and your father.

Behold, I'm sending to you silver and gold. You go break your covenant with Basha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me. And Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel.

They conquered those cities and all the store cities of Naphtali. And when Basha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and he let his work cease.". So Asa got what he wanted to happen. The city's work stopped.

Verse 6, Then King Asa took all of Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Basha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah. So Asa got what he wanted.

The city is removed. But he did it with the wrong means. It doesn't matter if you get the result if the means was wrong. And that's the time, verse 7, at that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa to reprove him.

Isn't that how it is often with us? We take a step not relying on God and God in love sends someone at that time to have a word of correction for us. As we already saw, Asa did not receive the rebuke.

He did not let it be oil for his head as David prayed. He refused it. So Asa relied not on the Lord. So that's why the Syrian army escaped. That's what Hanani says right here to him. Next question. Why did the huge army of the Ethiopians and Libyans get destroyed?

Victory Through Reliance on the Lord

Why did they get destroyed? 2 Chronicles 16, verse 8, here Hanani reminds him of something that's happened. Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a huge army? Okay, how many people did they have? Look back.

2 Chronicles 14, 9. How many people did they have? A million. A million. Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots. Now, 300 chariots is not a lot compared to a million men, but chariots could pack a punch.

And came as far as Midrashah. Okay, so this is a big army. So let's ask again, why did the huge army of the Ethiopians and Libyans get destroyed? Verse 8, 2 Chronicles 16, Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a huge army?

A million men? With very many chariots and horsemen. And why did he have victory? Because, yet, even though that was a big army, because you relied on the Lord, He gave them into your hand. So why did he have victory?

His full confidence was on God. Victory. Why did he not have victory? His full confidence was not on the Lord. And then Asa gives verse 9. He says why you had victory when you relied on the Lord, and that's because the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards Him.

You had victory against a million men because you have a God who's willing and wants to give strong support, and you look to Him, and He gave that support, and the enemy was defeated. Let's look at what this even looked like.

Go to 2 Chronicles 14. Back to verse 9. Because here he's saying this is a time you relied on the Lord. What does that look like for you to rely on the Lord? Because whatever it looks like to rely on the Lord is what verse 9 when it says at the end, whose heart is blameless towards Him.

Well, let's look at a time when Asa's heart was blameless towards the Lord and what that looked like. What does that look like? Because he says that here, he's going to help those whose heart is blameless towards Him, who rely on Him.

What does that look like? 2 Chronicles 14. We can start in verse 10. And Asa went out to meet Him. And they drew up their lines of battle in the valley of Zephathah at Moreshah. And Asa cried to the Lord his God, O Lord, there is none like You to help.

Between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on You. That word we rely on You in the King James. It's we rest on Thee. That's where that one sister wrote that song. We rest on Thee.

And in Your name, we have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God. Let not man prevail against You. Verse 12, So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah. And the Ethiopians fled.

Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar. And the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive. A million men dead. None remained alive. For they were broken before the Lord and His army.

The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. None remained alive. They had victory. Okay? You see Asa there. He's praying. Lord, there's none like You. Is Asa giving? Is he just using God as like padding?

Well, Lord, if this other thing doesn't come true, then I'm going to have You as a backup plan. Does the Lord sound like Asa's backup plan in chapter 14? No. It sounds like the Lord is Asa's what? Only plan.

He's not looking at His options. He sees I've got one option here. Lord, there's none like You to help. Again, we've got a God who actually wants to help. That's incredible. So, the Syrians escaped because He did not rely on the Lord.

The Ethiopians did not escape because He did rely on the Lord. Look at the dedication. 2 Chronicles 15 -12. Different things had happened after they had this victory. There was different reform going on.

Becoming more and more zealous to follow the Lord. In v. 12, it says, they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart, with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought Him with their whole desire.

And He was found by them. You see, all in. Full confidence. All desire. Lord, You're the only option. And He was found by them. Okay, sure, but what's this look like? Look at v. 16. It looks like Asa forsaking his family for the cause of God's glory.

Even Macha, his mother, King Asa, removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image. So Asa, he's all out. Lord, You just had this one victory.

We're wanting to be more consecrated. We're wanting to be more holy. We're wanting to follow You more, more, more. Even forsakes his own mother. Yet, we already read, you know where this ends up. It ends up with Asa being a proud king who did not listen to the reproof of Hanani the seer.

Asa's Decline and the Need to Endure

A third question. What does this say about Asa? That he went from relying on the Lord to relying upon man. What does that say? That should make us pause. We should look at his biography and when you see the end of it compared to the beginning of it, it should make you pause.

It should make you say, wait, what happened here? What's going on? Over time, does Asa's reliance on God increase or decrease? Decreases. Lessons. We see here in Asa, as in many other people in the Old Testament, the need to endure.

Jesus Christ said, it's the one who endures to the end who will be saved. True Christianity isn't just starting out relying on God. It's continuing that all the way to the end. How did Asa respond to reproof?

It said there he got in a rage in v. 10. He was angry at the reproof. It makes you think of Ecclesiastes 4 .13. It reads this, better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take rebuke, advice, or instruction.

Can you take rebuke? Think of the last time someone sought to correct you. Did you listen or dismiss it? We kind of tend to think, well, of course I can take rebuke. But when someone comes to rebuke you, that's kind of the test, can you take rebuke or not?

Why didn't Asa take rebuke? Why don't we receive pride? Our thoughts of ourselves are inflated. Our thoughts of God, again, are decreasing. They're getting smaller. Look at 2 Chronicles 16 .12. In the 36th year was when what we read happened.

Now look at the 39th year. So three years are going by. In the 39th year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet. And his disease became severe. But look what it says next. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.

Meaning, he relied on man. So three years. Here a three year period where this king, he's not looking to the Lord. Yet the history is he was relying on God. He even forsook his mother from being the queen mother and destroyed her idols.

He had a radical season in his life. He prayed that prayer we read in chapter 14. Oh Lord, there's none like You to help. So he was someone praying good prayers in the prayer meeting. He was someone being radical.

But did he make it to the end? Will you? Will I? Will we persevere? Here, we have to finish the race. How someone is in the last years of their life, that's very telling. Hebrews 3 .12 says, we must take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God.

You see, unbelief creeps in. You start to not believe that you need God completely. And you start to rely on your own powers. You start to rely on all these other things. And all of a sudden, you have an evil, unbelieving heart where you're not supremely looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You're not supremely looking to God. You're relying on other things. So, the three questions we asked. Why did the Syrian army escape? He relied on man. Why did the Ethiopian army get destroyed? He relied on God.

What does this say about Atha? He went from relying on the Lord to relying on man. He's not enduring in his confidence and his trust in the Lord. Fourth question, what does this text say about our Lord?

God's Strong Support and Omnipresence

What does this text say about the Lord? First, it says God promises. Promises to give strong support to you if you fully look to Him. He promises to do that. And again, look at v. 8. This is Hanani the seer reproving Him and he says, we're not the Ethiopians, the huge army.

You relied on the Lord. He gave them into your hand. V. 9 is his reason why He gave them into your hand. This is the reason you had victory. That's what he's trying to say to Asa. And the reason you had victory has nothing to do ultimately with you.

Yes, you need to look to the Lord, but it has to do with who the Lord is. V. 9, you have a God whose eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards Him.

That's why you had victory, Asa, because you have a God who wants, is looking for opportunities to give strong support to those who will look for Him. Do you hear that? God is looking for opportunities to give you a strong support, believer.

Your battles against sin, you may not be facing a million Ethiopians, but you know what? We're facing millions of lustful images in this crooked and perverted generation. We face thousands of proud thoughts that try to get in and get a foothold in our mind.

We'll face areas of unbelief when things don't seem to be going the way we anticipated. Am I going to rely on God and look for His strong support in the midst of that trial? God is on a manhunt looking for people.

His eyes are looking. Now, v. 9 uses what we would call anthropomorphic language. That is, God is relating to us in human terms. Here, eyes are attributed to God, the Father, who elsewhere it says has no form.

The point is that the Lord is fully aware of everything. And this language is used to make that point. I thought about Hebrews 4 .13. It says, "...no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.".

Right now, the Lord is observing everything. He sees everything. He's omnipresent. In other words, God goes beyond any spatial limitation. He's immediately present in every part of His creation. Everything is immediately in God's presence.

When the Bible speaks of the Lord coming and going, ascending and descending, this doesn't mean God was not there. It means when He ascended, it means He's all the more uniquely manifesting Himself there.

He didn't leave one location and go to another location. His eyes don't come right here, and then they're somewhere else and He's not seeing us here. That's not what the point is. The Lord is everywhere.

He's omnipresent. But, for those who rely on Him, His strong support is uniquely manifested to them in the midst of that situation. The lost. What do the lost think about the Lord and Him being everywhere?

When I was a kid, I was more afraid of what my parents saw me doing than what God saw me doing. God's in the room. He sees what I'm doing. But when my parents are coming in the room, that's when I'm really afraid.

You see, I didn't really believe God was omnipresent. Job 24, verse 15, it says this, the eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight. Why would he wait for the twilight? Saying, no one will see me.

Guess what? God sees you. You're naked and exposed before Him to whom you will give an account. Psalm 94, verse 7, the lost say this, the Lord does not see, the God of Jacob does not perceive. Wrong. God does see.

He sees. Everything is before His eyes. Proverbs 5, verse 21, a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all His paths. Proverbs 15, verse 3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on all the evil and all the good.

Children, there are things that you have done or thought that your parents don't know about, but God does know about it. That should put fear in you where you should ask yourself, if I've got things that bother my conscience that I'm ashamed of, who can save me from those sins?

And there's only one person who can, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, verse 9 speaks of a manhunt that's taking place right now. God is actively doing this right now. He's looking even right now to those whose hearts are fully towards Him to give them strong support.

He doesn't do it for 22 hours a day and then take two hours off. What's going on 24 -7? The Lord is looking for those who will rely, trust, depend upon Him wholly, and He will uniquely manifest Himself and show them strong support.

I use that term manhunt. When you think of a manhunt, you tend to think of something negative, right? The United States of America, we had a manhunt for Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. The troops were seeking to arrest or kill them.

God is seeking to show you strong support. When you think about the Lord's help, is it minor assistance when God shows you strong support? Does it say He's going to give you support or strong support?

Strong. Answer this question. Who would you rather have support from? The Lord or anyone else? Can you think of anyone that you would rather have support from than the Lord? No! I hope not. There's no one like our God.

That's what Asa said. Oh, Lord, there's none like You to help. When he was relying on the Lord, that was his view. He realized there's none like God. He's the only one. He's the only way. A couple chapters earlier in 2 Chronicles 13, someone has said, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.

Our enemies cannot succeed against God. We have every reason to trust Him, to have full confidence in the Lord. Now, I was thinking about this issue of assistance and getting support and having assistance.

And I was thinking about the cave in Thailand. Some of you maybe recently saw this on the news. But in Thailand weeks ago, a boys' soccer team went exploring in a cave in Thailand. While in the massive cave, a flash flood happened.

The water rose. They were trapped. After nine days of searching, some divers found the soccer team. You know, with the Lord, it doesn't take nine days. After nine days of searching, some divers found the soccer team.

And with amazement, they were all alive and the massive rescue operation began. Well, now when you have a rescue operation, you're thinking, who do we rely upon? Whose assistance, whose support will be strong enough for these circumstances we're facing?

Someone with a whole lot of resources. A billionaire. The founder of Tesla, Elon Musk. He offered his support. He even flew over there. He even went in the cave himself. He tried to think of a way to help rescue the boys' soccer team.

He sent a mini-sub they designed and the hope was they would send the sub in, put a boy in, and they would be able to take the sub out. Did this billionaire with all of his resources, did his assistance, was it the turning point?

It wasn't. You know what they said? The mini-sub was impractical for the situation that they were facing. Is God's support ever impractical? Uh-uh. Is there ever this situation you're in, believer, where if you rely on Him, you're going to find that, well, this was too complicated for our Lord to know what you need in that hour?

Uh-uh. Never going to happen. So my point is, God's assistance, it's strong, it's all-knowing, there's never going to be a place where it's just impractical. You know, I rely on the Lord for everything, but this one trial, this one thing of sin, the Lord's help is impractical here.

It won't work. You're never going to find that, Christian. God is able to support, able to guide. Yes, He uses means. He brings people with different skills to help. So how did the boys get out? The divers literally dragged and carried them out.

They were somewhat sedated. And they had one person in the front swimming, holding the oxygen tank, the boy in the middle, and another person behind. Here this boy is sedated, and they're just carrying him out of the cave.

And they got all of them out alive. And you know, that reminded me of how the Lord helps us. He carries us. He helps us. Charles Leiter did a sermon on Deuteronomy 1 .31. And in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries a son.

So when you think about the Lord delivering Israel, it's likened to a father carrying his son. You just pick the little boy up and you carry him out. That's what God's support is likened to for Israel, Deuteronomy 1 .31 says.

That's how it is. Lord, I need You to do something. I'm relying on You. Lord, I've got nowhere else to go. This feels overwhelming. This feels complicated. All I can do is cast that burden upon You. Ask yourself this.

Right now, when the eyes of the Lord gaze upon you, what does He find? What does He find? Are you facing a trial? And are you turning your face towards the Lord? Or are you turning elsewhere and you're not committing it to God in prayer?

You're not going to Him in faith. Another question. What speed does this help come? Like I mentioned, it took the divers nine days just to find them. It took a longer period of time to get them out. Our text says here, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro.

There's some idea of speed there. Again, God is omnipresent. He's omniscient. He's omnipotent. He's got all power. You don't have to worry. The Lord might delay for a long period of time before He removes those circumstances.

He might keep you in those circumstances for five years. But that doesn't mean He's not able to support you in the midst of that trial and give you grace. Deuteronomy 33, 26. It says, there is none like God who rides through the heavens to your help.

Through the skies in His majesty. You know, you hear the fire truck, the alarm in your house, and you hear it coming, and you know the fire truck is riding through the streets to aid someone. Maybe a fire.

Maybe someone collapsed. They're riding. Here the Bible says, our God rides through the heavens to your aid. That doesn't literally mean He comes down. Again, it's giving a picture. Believer, you're in that situation.

That trial. Rely on the Lord. Who is like our God who rides through the heavens to your aid? Who is like your God who knows your circumstances? Knows the trial. Knows the enemy. You say, well, the enemy's a million men.

It doesn't matter. The Lord's able to slay them in a moment. This is just the same reality. Philippians 4 .13 I always have strength through Christ who strengthens me. Or 4 .19 My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

The issue is never with the Lord having a lack of supply. The issue is with us being slow and dragging our feet to rely upon our God. Can God miss spotting someone who's relying on Him? Can He miss you?

You know, the eyes are going, I miss someone there. That won't ever happen. He's not going to miss you. Nothing's outside of His sight. Don't ever say there's no support here. No. His grace is sufficient.

The Condition of God's Support

A fifth question. We were kind of looking at the idea of assistance right there. Fifth question is this, what is the condition of the Lord's support? What is the condition? Look at verse 9. 2 Chronicles 16 The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support, and then he mentions a specific type of person, to those whose heart is blameless, is whole, as the King James says, is perfect toward Him.

Obviously, that doesn't mean, especially the King James rendering it perfect, you know that doesn't mean sinless perfectionism, and that's the only type of person the Lord's going to help. If you haven't sinned for the last six months, you look to the Lord, He's going to help you.

Clearly, that's not what's being said. Even with His help with Asa beforehand, 2 Chronicles 15 -17, it even says the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days.

At least, all of those days at this period until the 36th year. So Asa, he hadn't removed the high places, and yet he was receiving the help of our God. So what does this condition, what does it mean?

And I've already tried to define this, but the best thing to ask is this, let's define it by the context that we've been looking at. What does it mean whose heart is wholly towards the Lord? What did we see in chapter 14?

That's the example of where Asa's heart is wholly towards the Lord. Verse 11, Asa cried to the Lord his God, O Lord, there is none like You to help. He's completely relying on the Lord. Verse 15 of chapter 15.

It says there, they sought Him with their whole desire. Your heart being wholly towards the Lord, it just simply is Lord. I've got nowhere else to go. You've got to help me. I've got no one else to look to.

And you're not saying that, and at the same time, you know, I'm not really trusting in the Lord. I'm really trusting in this over here. You can say it with a good conscience. Lord, I've got no backup plan.

You're the only plan. I've got nowhere else to look. The Christian Holman, it renders it for those whose hearts are completely His. Lord, I've got no options except You. In 2 Chronicles 15, it said their whole desire was towards Him.

And it says He was found by them. And this condition should not bother us. 1 Peter 3 .12, For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the faith of the Lord is against those who do evil.

If you have sin in your life that is unrepentant, that you're refusing to acknowledge, you're refusing to forsake, and you're going to the Lord asking for help, the Lord is saying there's something more important to do.

Forsake this idol. Turn from this. Then come to Me. Or come to Me as you're turning from that and say, Lord, help. Help, please. So, what is the condition? Are you wholly relying on God? Meaning, do you have your full confidence, your full trust in Him?

And right there, you're in a spot where you realize, Lord, I have no other options. Because you know there are times we catch ourselves, something happens, we're going through a trial, and there's no acknowledgement of God.

And we're not getting His support until we stop and say, wait a minute. All this has happened so fast, and yet we've not even taken it to the Lord. We've not even looked to Him and asked for His help.

Why do men not rely on the Lord? That psalm, it said, our own weakness feeling. You know why men don't rely on the Lord? They don't feel their own weakness. They're proud, self-reliant. We need to say as Paul, when I am weak, then I am strong.

We need to believe the reality of John 15 that apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, I can do nothing. This promise is not for the half-hearted. It's not for those following from far off. Those putting on an appearance.

Those playing with sin. Again, if you're playing with sin, your whole desire is not towards the Lord. And you're going, Lord, help me. Give me strong support. The Lord is saying, forsake that. Turn from that.

Be holy for Me. All out for Me. Sadly, most do foolishly. They don't wholly trust God. The seer, he told Asa, verse 9, the second half, he says, you have done foolishly in this. For from now on, you will have wars.

In other words, you won't have God's support. You face that trial. He didn't rely on the Lord. And the seer says, you're going to face wars from now on. We either get strong support from the Lord, or you could say we get strong opposition from Him.

1 Peter 5 .5, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God will oppose you if you go in a way of sin, a way of half-heartedness. It even says here in verse 12, in the 39th year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet.

God gave Asa a disease. God is opposing this man who's not relying on Him. Even in that affliction, he did not seek the Lord. Think about it. What victory against sin? What victory of a significant trial in your life where you look back and it's like, wow, I endured through that trial.

You're amazed. What victory can you look at that has not been because of the Lord's help? You can't find one. Every single victory, you look back and you know that was the Lord's hand. He supported us strongly.

That's why this happened as it did. Christian, you never have to go forth alone against the foe. You never have to go alone. The Bible says our God is a God who will fight for us. As Craig mentioned in the first hour, that doesn't mean we just sit down and do nothing.