Proverbs 21:31 - The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.
We can divide this verse into three parts:
1. Day of battle
2. Horse being made ready
3. Trusting the Lord for the victory
1. What is day of battle?
Generally, battle refers to the specific day when two armies fight with each other. Day of decision – which kingdom is going to fall and which will stay.
Likewise what are the days of battle in our lives? Many times, we face days filled with challenges, hardship and difficulties. Some of these are internal like health issues or external like relationship, job, decision making.
This verse gives us counsel as to how we face our days of battle.
2. Horse needs to be prepared for the battle.
The important thing is preparation.
Modern military strength is evaluated through technology and weapon systems - Advanced air power, missile systems, drones, cyber-warfare capabilities, satellite intelligence, and precision weapons
In ancient world, the horse was a symbol of military power. Horses were expensive, rare, and associated with kings and armies. To have horses meant strength, readiness, and confidence.
Horse was important for battle and process to make the horse ready
The horse for the battle has to be kept ready.
You cannot just leave a horse in the Marina beach and leave it in the battlefield.
How are the horses prepared?
They do it step-by-step
• Noise & Chaos: Horses were slowly introduced to battlefield sounds (bells, shouting, clashing metal) and sights (costumes, moving objects, crowds) to prevent panic, using bells in manes to acclimate them.
• Physical Development: Training focused on agility, balance, and strength through activities like tight turns, navigating rough terrain, and carrying heavy loads to develop muscle and coordination.
How gymnastics person turns and spins his body nothing happens. If we do once, also, we will catch sprain. That’s because their bodies are trained.
• Discipline: Trainers built trust by gradually increasing stimuli, teaching the horse to walk through simulated lines of people or chaos without spooking.
PERFECT OBEDIENCE: ARABIAN HORSES
Arabian horses go through rigorous training in the deserts of the Middle East. The trainers require absolute obedience from the horses, and test them to see if they are completely trained. The final test is almost beyond the endurance of any living thing. The trainers force the horses to do without water for many days. Then he turns them loose and of course they start running toward the water, but just as they get to the edge, ready to plunge in and drink, the trainer blows his whistle. The horses who have been completely trained and who have learned perfect obedience, stop. They turn around and come pacing back to the trainer. They stand there quivering, wanting water, but they wait in perfect obedience. When the trainer is sure that he has their obedience he gives them a signal to go back to drink.
This preparation for the horse is very important for the battle.
Likewise, God wants us to prepare ourselves for our days of battle.
God is not honored by laziness masquerading as faith.
Faith does not say: “God will do it, so I won’t.”
Faith says: “I will do my part, trusting God with the result.”
When should this preparation start?
Not on the day of the battle. But long time even if before a battle is known to take place. Often times, battles happen suddenly. But the horse must be prepared.
Students typically begin preparing for their exams several months before the exam day.
How I am preparing myself for the challenges this day is going to present. I want to make sure that I am going to the battle ready.
Illus: In June 2025, a major fire broke out in a 67-storey residential building in Dubai Marina late at night. Flames and smoke spread through the high-rise, posing a serious threat to thousands of residents. But thanks to well-organised emergency preparedness and rapid response by Dubai Civil Defence, all 3,820 residents from 764 apartments were safely evacuated without any injuries or casualties. Fire crews worked for several hours to extinguish the blaze, while emergency and medical teams supported those evacuated.
Authorities and residents later noted that clear alarms, evacuation procedures, regular drills, and coordinated action helped make the evacuation orderly rather than chaotic, even in the face of a frightening situation.
This wasn’t luck — it was preparedness in action.
What is the preparation that God requires of us.
• Spiritual preparation
• Mental/Emotional preparation
Let me explain this to you with the example of David.
All of us know the story of David and Goliath.
Let me briefly retell it to remind us of the setting.
There is a war between Israel and the Philistines. The two armies are camped on opposite sides of the valley of Elah, facing each other. Every day, a giant warrior named Goliath comes forward from the Philistine side. He is enormous in size, heavily armed (55kgs), and battle-hardened. (9 – 9.5 feet; tallest men living today are around 8 feet 2 inches). For forty days, morning and evening, he mocks Israel and challenges them to send one man to fight him.
But no one steps forward.
The soldiers of Israel, including King Saul, are filled with fear. They see Goliath’s size, his armor, his weapons—and they shrink back. The battle never begins because fear has already won.
Into this tense situation walks David, a young shepherd boy. He hasn’t come to fight; he has come to deliver food to his brothers. He is not wearing armor, he holds no sword, and he has no military rank. Yet as David listens to Goliath’s words, he is disturbed—not by the size of the giant, but by the insult against the living God.
While everyone else asks, “How can we defeat him?”
He fights with just 5 stones and a sling and defeats Goliath.
He won that battle because of his preparation.
What was the preparation? He didn’t even wear the armies dress.
Spiritual preparation:
As a shepherd, alone in the fields, he learned to depend on God daily.
Consider David. Before he ever faced Goliath publicly, he had already faced lions and bears privately while tending sheep. Those unseen moments with God prepared him for a visible victory. When Goliath stood before him, David did not panic
1 Samuel 17:37 - The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from this Philistine
This confidence did not come from a single prayer but from a pattern of relationship with God. David knew God personally. He worshiped, prayed, and trusted Him in unseen moments. That is why Goliath’s size did not intimidate him. David had already learned how big his God was.
First, spiritual preparation means building habits of Daily prayer, time in Scripture, worship, and obedience before pressure arrives.
In practical terms, this means we don’t wait for a diagnosis, a conflict, or a loss to start praying seriously. We cultivate faith when life is calm, so that when life is chaotic, faith comes naturally.
Many of us search God only during difficult moments. We forget him when all things go well.
When prayer and Scripture are part of daily life, fear loses its voice, and trust takes its place.
Isaiah 28:16 - He who believes shall not act hastily.
He doesn’t haste when a battle comes suddenly because he is prepared for the battle.
2. Mental/Emotional preparation
Mental/Emotional preparation is often the most neglected, yet it is crucial.
If not prepared emotionally, during the battle that is when problems come - Fear, anxiety, disappointment, and discouragement. Many go into depression as well.
Emotions are natural. Emotionless man is equivalent to a dead man.
Jesus had emotions too. He got angry when they made the temple into a den of thieves.
We see this clearly in Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus experienced deep anguish, sorrow, and distress. Sweating blood is a medical condition termed Hematidrosis and is believed to happen during Extreme psychological/physical distress
He did not deny His emotions, but He surrendered them in prayer.
Luke 22:42 - Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.
Emotional strength came through submission and trust in the Father’s plan.
When emotions are surrendered to God, they no longer dominate our decisions.
If Jesus had taken the decision emotionally, he would not have surrendered to the cross but he surrendered his emotions to God.
When emotions are surrendered to God, they no longer dominate our decisions.
Mental preparation shifts our focus from the size of the problem to the greatness of God.
One famous preacher said, “Do not tell God, how big your mountain is but tell your mountain how big your God is.”
Your have stir your faith to see a miracle. We do not serve a weak god. We serve the creator of the universe.
While everyone else saw Goliath as an unbeatable giant, David saw him differently. Where the army saw danger, David saw dishonor against God. He asked a crucial question:
1 Samuel 17:26 - Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who dares to defy the troops of the living God?
In everyday life, this applies to career choices, family decisions, and ministry responsibilities. Don’t act quickly based on emotions but wait at the feet of God and he will guide you in the right path.
1. Trusting the Lord for the victory
In spite of all our preparations, we need to remember that victory is not the result of our efforts, it belongs to God.
We must remember:
• Growth come from God
• Doors open and close by His will
Illustration:
In April 2025, more than 25 students in Visakhapatnam were unable to sit for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main) — a highly competitive engineering entrance test that many prepare for over two years — because they reached the exam centre too late. Parents claimed the students were held up in heavy traffic allegedly caused by a VIP convoy, and despite their preparation and plea for entry, they were not allowed into the exam hall once gates were closed. t
This incident highlights how effort and preparation may be thorough and sincere, yet unforeseen external factors can disrupt intended outcomes — reminding us that while we do our best, the ultimate results are beyond our control.
Deut 8:17, 18 - You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.” But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.
Nothing will thwart God’s plan. God has a vision and purpose in our lives.
We have a role to play in that. We play a role in God’s kingdom work and we need to be ready for that. Start your day to be ready to receive and rest in him knowing that he will give success.
True faith does not trust God only if the outcome/result is as we expected.
It trusts Him because:
• He is wise
• He is good
• He sees what we cannot
What we see as victory may not be victory in God’s eyes.
The disciples did not understand cross as a sign of victory when Jesus died on it. They were confused.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were talking about themselves,
Luke 24:21 – “but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.”
Disciples only understood later that the cross was the victory to redeem the world
Illustration:
In 1967, Joni Eareckson was a 17-year-old athlete—active, adventurous, and full of dreams. One summer day, she dived into what she thought was deep water. It wasn’t.
The dive severed her spinal cord.
She was instantly paralyzed from the neck down.
Doctors were clear:
• She would never walk again
• She would never regain use of her hands
• Her former life was over
From every visible angle, this was not a setback—it was a dead end.
Joni herself later said she prayed desperately for healing and struggled deeply with despair, anger, and even suicidal thoughts. For years, the accident felt like God’s silence, not His presence.
It appeared to be defeat because her independence was gone, her future plans were collapsed, her prayers for healing seemed unanswered and her suffering was public, permanent, and humiliating.
She later said, “But God was not finished writing my life-script. Thankfully, he moved on the hearts of Christian friends to pray for me and, eventually, I began to take a closer look at the Bible to see what exactly God had to say about my circumstances. I learned that the God of the Bible is not sometimes sovereign. He does not occupy the throne one day and vacate it the next. He is supremely in charge, often in ways we cannot understand, at least this side of eternity.”
Over time, something unexpected happened.
Because she could no longer use her hands, Joni learned to paint using her mouth. Her artwork gained national attention. She also published a book: Joni: An Unforgettable Story which was translated into 50 languages and had 5 million copies sold. She founded Joni and Friends, a global ministry serving people with disabilities in over 50 countries
and is today one of the most trusted Christian voices on suffering, sovereignty, and hope
Today you probably aren’t able to understand God’s purposes in your pain. But, God has a hope and victorious future in store for you.
Jer 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future
May this year be a year of victory as God promised. But lets not forget to do our part both spiritual and mental preparation.
Let commit to do our part trusting God to do His.
