Their God fights for them

And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before! Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?” 1 Samuel 4:6-8

You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you. Deuteronomy 3:22

In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. Nehemiah 4:20

In Small Gods, Sir Terry Pratchett discusses the case of the novice minister of Om, Brutha, who hears the voice of the Great God Om calling to him. Finding himself incarnated in the form of a tortoise, Om bosses Brutha throughout the regions surrounding Omnia, trying to figure out why he had not come in a more impressive form- why he was suddenly such a small god.

Sorry if that spoils the plot for you, I think you would learn that much of it from the back of the book (or the dust sleeve, if you have a hardcover copy). I should offer a bit of a spoiler alert for the final paragraphs of this post, though. I am looking at a scene from the end of the story, which relates to the verses I quoted above.

Om at the height of his power enters the hall of the gods on the mountain of Cori Celesti. He finds the gods of the Ephebians and Tsorteans, whose worshippers are establishing a beachhead in a retaliatory invasion of Omnia, gathered around the great board game of the gods, playing with men instead of pieces (but still using dice- it’s not a Eurogame, I guess). A lone fisherman of a tiny tribe, who have been completely isolated from the rest of the world, has been caught up in the conflict, and Om meets his people’s god, a large newt named P’tang-P’tang.

Om looked at the figure of the little fisherman.
“When he dies, you’ll have fifty worshippers,” he said.
“That more or less than fifty-one?”
“A lot less.” …

He said, to the occult world in general, “There’s a people going to die down there.”A Tsortean God of the Sun did not even bother to look round.“That’s what they’re for,” he said. In his hand he was holding a dice box that looked very much like a human skull with rubies in the eye-sockets.

“Ah, yes,” said Om. “I forgot that, for a moment.” He looked at the skull, and then turned to the little Goddess of Plenty.
“What’s this, love? A cornucopia? Can I have a look? Thanks.”
Om emptied some of the fruit out, then he nudged the Newt God.
“I was you, friend, I’d find something long and hefty,” he said.
“Is one less than fifty-one?” said P’tang-P’tang.
“It’s the same,” said Om firmly. He eyed the back of the Tsortean God’s head.
“But you have thousands,” said the Newt God. “You fight for thousands.”
Om rubbed his forehead. I spent too long down there, he thought. I can’t stop thinking at ground level.
“I think,” he said, “I think, if you want thousands, you have to fight for one.” He tapped the Solar God on the shoulder. “Hey, sunshine?”
When the God looked around, Om broke the cornucopia over his head.

It was at this point that I was reminded of the passages I quoted above. I think that in Small Gods, Pratchett reminded me of the importance of this truth, that God did not simply have his people go fight battles for him. He fought for them. The God of the Bible showed his glory and proved his supremacy by redeeming a people for his name and establishing them as a kingdom of priests by his might. I think that this is what human beings really wished their gods would do. Instead, we find what is illustrated throughout Small Gods, that worshippers are called on to conquer infidels in order to prove their god’s supremacy with their own blood.

How wonderful it is that this truth extends even more powerfully to the redemption we see after the Cross.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32