In a recent prayer of lament over the state of the church and society posted on social media one aspect being lamented was “You do not go out with our armies”.
But where does the expectation come from that God SHOULD go out with our armies?
God went out with Israel’s armies of old because they are His people and they were fighting in direct obedience to His instructions and with His promise of victory.
Our armies, as a rule, have NO direct mandate from God, our wars are not commanded by Him, our nations are not His people the way Israel is, and our governments do not even acknowledge Him, so why should He go out with them?
Throughout church history whenever the church has invoked God on behalf of the nations’ military campaigns — frequently, in fact, both sides in a conflict invoked God’s help — the results were not to the glory of God.