The Victory of God Is Assured

Yael Eckstein  |  February 25, 2022

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
    that can succeed against the LORD.

The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
    but victory rests with the LORD. — Proverbs 21:30-31

We continue with devotional thoughts from the Book of Proverbs every Friday. One of the 11 books in the Torah known as the Ketuvim, Hebrew for “writings,” Proverbs is part of the “wisdom tradition,” which also includes Job and Ecclesiastes.

One of the constant struggles that Israel faces is the threat of terrorism and war from the enemies that surround us. We experienced this yet again last year when rockets were showered onto our cities by terrorists trying to kill as many Israelis as possible. And trust me, as a Jew living in Israel, it can certainly be scary when there’s a flareup and we don’t know how long it will last and whether we will end up in a full-scale war.

But as the psalmist reminds us, “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). Even as I watch the news and worry about where the next rocket will fall, I know in heart that God is with us.

I also know, and always remind my friends in the Jewish community, that there are millions of Christians who love the Jewish people and who never stop praying for us, something that wasn’t the case centuries ago when the Jewish people went through so much suffering in the exile. Times have changed. We are not alone.

The Victory of God Is Assured

In Proverbs 21 we read, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.”

The message to us is right here in these verses. First, we are told that no human wisdom, insight, or plan against God can succeed. But the second verse gives us more insight. Although God’s victory is assured, we must still make the horse ready for battle. We know that God will be victorious, but we are not exempt from doing whatever we can to fight alongside Him. The victory is His, but we must prepare ourselves and participate in the fight.

We live in troubled times. Many people of faith wonder how everything going on in the world is really part of God’s plan. We wonder where it’s all headed. But we must remember, as people of biblical faith, that although we don’t know how everything will play out in the end, the victory of God is assured.

We just need to do our part and make “ready for the day of battle.”

Your Turn:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for all who call on the God of Israel, in these troubled times.