The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Sometimes we stress over things that are not in our hands. It is the most awful feeling in the world to watch someone die while you try to save them. The pain and anger afterward is unbelievable. You spend years wondering why you couldn't stop it. And you die a little as well. 

It hurts just as much when you're watching people you love die spiritually. Often, you beat the floor or the walls and scream for God to do something. You sit and wonder what kind of prayer you can pray that God will hear. You wonder why it is taking so long. Sometimes you're praying for your loved one and trying not to pray for the party responsible for leading them astray, or at least not to pray for a bolt of lightning to smite them where they stand. You feel totally helpless and that is the most awful feeling there is.

Sometimes I have to be reminded.   

Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's. 2Chronicles 20:15

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. Micah 7:7-8

Then I read of how God deals with our enemies with no help from me.

... Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me;  deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.  For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD, for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see! 

You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah 

Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips— for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?” 

But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. 

O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. 

Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield! 

For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah Psalms 59:1b-13

And I realize that God don't play.