2 Chronicles 14:11-12 (NLT) Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “O Lord, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O Lord, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!” ¹² So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah, and the enemy fled.

King Asa was one of Judah's good kings even though his father, King Abijah was not. Abijah's reign lasted only three years and then his son, Asa, took over as king. He began to remove all the pagan altars and shrines and cut down the Asherah poles in the land. There was a period of peace for ten years but then, trouble came to his doorstep. The Ethiopians came against King Asa and Judah with a million-man army. Their army was twice the size of Judah's army, which in the natural, would ensure defeat. But King Asa made the best military move that anyone could make: he cried out to the Lord! He pleaded his case to God and put his trust and the future of the survival of the people of Judah in His hands. The Bible tells us that the Lord defeated the Ethiopians. It wasn't even that the Lord strengthened Asa and the army of Judah so that they would be able to rise up against this vast horde of soldiers. It was the Lord Himself and His army that did it (2 Chronicles 14:13). The job that was left for Judah's army was to carry off the vast amount of plunder that was the result of the miraculous victory.

This story should encourage every single person whose God is the Lord. When the Lord is with you, the facts and the odds don't matter. The Ethiopians outnumbered Judah's army by a ridiculously large amount. There was no possible way for them to survive that kind of onslaught by themselves. But they weren't by themselves. God was with them, and He was with them because Asa cried out to God for help and deliverance. God answered and they were saved and then blessed by the plunder. Think of anything that you are facing that doesn't look too good. Think of any situation or circumstance where the odds are totally against you. Whatever you are facing or whatever you will ever face will be as nothing if you call out to God and put all your trust in Him. The odds then go immediately from heavily against you to overwhelmingly in your favor. There is no one, no number of people, no situation and no circumstance that is greater than God. If you have incredible odds against you in any situation, they immediately turn in your favor when the Lord is with you. And here is more great news: He has promised to never leave us or forsake us! He will not only work in your favor, but the result will be that He will also provide blessings to go along with the victory. Our lesson from this story is that when the odds are against us, they will turn in our favor with blessings on the side when we run to God for help!

Pastor Joey Vazquez