Corona Devo 1366
What false truths (Lies!) are being shouted into our lives and ears today?
Don't believe them! Believe God! Believe His Word and His promises for us--they are trustworthy and true, and if we will listen to the Lord and obey Him, then He will take care of us, and He'll take care of our enemies too.
King Hezekiah was doing his best to lead the Israelites back under the canopy of God's will and way for His people. He was ruling the people (and himself) under the authority of God, and things were going pretty well, until in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them (Isaiah 36:1).
And once that happened, the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff...with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:2) and to smack-talk the Israelite people, to intimidate them, to threaten them, and (ultimately) to test their faith in God.
~~~
What I love about the Bible is how God uses His Word and (Bible) people from yesterday to relate to us and the situations that we are experiencing today.
Do we have people/authorities/media/friends/fears/anything...shouting-at-us, and trying to shake-our-faith in God today?
~~~
Many of the Israelites had gathered to see (and hear) these noblemen from Assyria speak to King Hezekiah's officials, and boy...did they get a show.
The Assyrian king’s chief of staff taunted, scoffed-at, threatened, and belittled Hezekiah, the Israelites, and (most-blasphemous-of-all) God.
Let's picture ourselves as a fly-on-the-wall in Jerusalem, sitting next to the men and women sitting-on- the-wall in Jerusalem. Listen for any similar taunts of people and society today:
Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? (5) Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me?
(6) On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!
(7) “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?...
(11) Then (Hezekiah's officials) Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.”
(12) But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
(13) Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! (14) This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. (15) Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
(16) “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.
(18) “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?... (20) What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”
(21) But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.” ~Isaiah 36:4-7, 11-16, 18, 20-21
~~~
Wow! A LOT went-down in Jerusalem that day!
The Assyrian king’s chief of staff did his absolute best to intimidate, threaten, convince, menace and discourage the Israelites from trusting in Hezekiah (their earthly king) and in the Lord, their Heavenly King.
Did it work?
NO!
And I pray that God's Word strengthens us today against the intimidations and God-slurs that are being shouted into our ears and lives.
We can TRUST God today, just as King Hezekiah and the Israelites did in their day.
~
After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah, (6) the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. (7) Listen! I myself will move against him... So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”(Isaiah 37:5-7).
Don't believe voices in our lives that shout against God. Believe God! Believe His Word and His promises for us--they are trustworthy and true, and if we will listen to the Lord and obey Him, then He will take care of us, and He'll take care of our enemies too.
~~~
Hezekiah believed in the power of God and that is all that God requires of us. These words of assurance to God's people (and judgment to the enemies-of-God) were spoken to Hezekiah yesterday, but they are also spoken to us today.
“And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls... (34) He will not enter this city,’ says the Lord. (35) ‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.’”
(37) Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land...
(38) One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons...killed him with their swords... ~Isaiah 37:33-35, 37-38
If we will listen to the Lord and obey Him, He'll take care of things.
We can TRUST God today.
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