It's against our natures to stand and wait. In a fast moving society where things change almost before the thought has time to form in our minds, standing still is equated to being left behind in the dust.

But the Lord told Jehoshaphat to stand still. Scary thought when you are faced with imminent destruction. God's people often had to fight their way out of difficult situations, but not this time. Whether they fought, or not, it was to be at God's command not at their own insistence. To decided for themselves what should be done always invited disaster—something God's people were unfortunately already experts at.

The instructions were clear. They were to stand still and watch the Lord work. The battle was not theirs; it belonged to the Lord and He would win it for them. And that was exactly what He did.

The lessons are as clear as the instructions were. There are plenty of times in life when we have to make an effort to work through our own problems, our own struggles. In those moments, the Lord provides for us all that is necessary to win those battles. However, there are other times when all He demands of us is to confront the problem and then stand still and watch Him work it out. That's scary. We have been programmed to believe that we have to DO something and that if we don't we will lose. We itch to fight, to prove our worth, to show our strength.

 And God says: "Stand still and watch me show my strength."

In the end, we have to admit that our strength is puny beside His, and that winning or losing never rested with us in the first place. Which way the battle goes is always in His hands, and our obedience to His command to fight, or to stand and wait, is always critical to victory or defeat.

While the world rushes past in a flurry of activity without direction, the believer can stand still and know with assurance that God knows exactly where He wants to take us and how to get us there safely. Stand still and watch Him fight your battles—you'll always be the winner.