“I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”
God moves in complex and incomprehensible ways. He is fully capable of altering the physical world to achieve his ends, but he is equally capable of moving in the lives of people, individually and collectively. He is capable of working wonders so obvious we cannot help but recognize them as miraculous. He is also capable of working wonders so subtle we easily write them off and ordinary circumstances, coincidences at most. And what’s more, he does it without violating our free will.
I don’t know entirely how this happens, how he brings it about, but I know he does. I know he does, because if he were willing to violate our free will, I don’t believe we’d be living in this broken messed up world. I know he does because, from a birds eye view, it becomes much easier to recognize.
When it comes to martial encounters, it’s as easy as a spirit of confusion or fear, weapons hitting their mark or not. When it comes to the movement of nations, I can imagine it comes down to the presentation of a series of options and influences to which God himself already knows the response to come. The choice is still made, but the course is directed by one who knows where there those choices lead. I’m also sure it’s much deeper and much more complicated than I could ever conceive of.
What I do know is that God laid out a redemptive plan, and he brought it to pass. God allowed Israel to determine for themselves whether they would be faithful participants, and more often than not, they were not, but God kept his promise and brought about redemption anyway. He blessed the faithful few, and he brought about redemption as he had always said he would. Just as he will bring about ultimate restoration, the final resurrection.