1 Chronicles 19:6-15. The Ammonites, seeing that they have "made themselves odious to David," hire chariots and horsemen from neighboring countries to muster a battle against David. David sends Joab and his mighty men to fight against the mercenary armies and the Ammonites. When Joab finds the battle arrayed both in front of him and behind him, he puts some of his men against the Syrians and some against the Ammonites. He says if either side feels overwhelmed in battle, the other will come to their assistance, "Be of good courage ... and may the Lord do what seems good to him." When Joab and his men draw up against the Syrians, the Syrians flee from them. When the Ammonites see the Syrians flee, they themselves flee from the battle as well.

David had been trying to deal kindly with the Ammonites but they had humiliated his messengers and sent them home. Then the Ammonites, like most bullies, realize that they have picked a fight that they are not capable of winning on their own, so they decide to supplement their forces with mercenaries. Even with the help of a paid army, though, they have no stomach for the fight with the forces of good. The hired Syrians flee at the first sight of battle against David's forces (this was not their fight, after all), and the Ammonites flee thereafter, without the battle ever being joined.

Often all that is required of us is a confident confrontation with those who are behaving badly. We should not pick a fight, but if a bully or a persecutor brings one to us, we have to go out and meet him with the confidence of being in the right. As Joab says, "Be of good courage... and may the Lord do whatever seems good to him." There really is no need to fear even when contrary forces are coming against us. God sees what is going on. He knows what which side is right and very often our enemies will flee before us, especially when their hearts are not in the fight.

Sometimes, though, our enemies truly believe that they are in the right. Then we will have a greater battle on our hands, and we have to try diplomacy first. But if the other side behaves to our diplomatic outreach the way the Ammonites did to David's, we then must confront them confidently.  God will see us through that as well. As Lincoln said, we should only be concerned with whether we are on God's side, for He is always right.