As a kid, I watched Batman and Robin every day after school. I had to because the day before the dynamic duo were strapped to a ticking bomb or rolling down a conveyor belt into a buzzing table saw, seconds from their death. I knew they would make it, but I had to tune in and find out how. That’s sort of how I left you last week. The devil (aka King Sennacherib) was making threats that seemed all too common today.
It could have been titled 7 Lies That Keep You From Trying. We’ve experienced them all and like all convincing lies, there is just enough truth to make us believe them. Then when we believe them, they in turn, become reality. My hope was by identifying them, we might recognize the lie before we start agreeing with it.
While, it’s great to uncover the enemies’ tactics, it’s greater to see how another hero of faith deals with the threats. One of the most interesting things, is what he doesn’t say.
“But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”
2 Kings 18:36
There are times we talk too much. The devil enjoys knowing what has boggled our minds and has effectively sidelined our faith for the moment. Like a chicken, he will peck at the sore spot. Don’t give him the satisfaction. I know there are times we just need a shoulder to cry on and a friend to help bear the burden. No doubt, that’s necessary and a gift from the Father. But our incessant complaining is praise to satan and drives our faith and other’s into the grave. Hezekiah commanded his people to not let their fears be heard. Don’t let the enemy see you sweat.
Humility is Necessary
“When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord.”
2 Kings 18:1
King Hezekiah humbled himself before the King of the Universe and went to church to seek His help. Yep, that was me last week. There are times in life when memorized prayers and polite little requests are not enough. You have to cry ugly, get in a posture of need, and find that place where you can get alone with God. Preferably, in reverse order. (grin). There is nothing pretty or religious about it. The devil says you look weak. Don’t believe him. I work in a church and the strongest people I know will come there when life gets difficult. They walk away strengthened.
Ask for Prayer
He also sent his advisers to visit the prophet of God, Isaiah. He told them to tell Isaiah just how bad it was.
“This is the what King Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his word. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!’.”
2 Kings 18:3,4
Hezekiah tells the man of God, that they are facing trouble, they have been insulted, and they are humiliated. I would venture to say most trials fall under at least one of those headings. You have suffered some kind of physical loss. Or your friend, or family, or boss has used words to insult you. Don’t words hurt? Or maybe you have had a failure that is humiliating. Deserved or undeserved. Seek the Lord and be honest.
Then he compares this trial to a baby coming to full term and the mother is too weak to deliver. He’s done. He has held his ground, watched and waited as Assyria got closer and closer, and now the moment has arrived to battle. Hezekiah finds himself too worn-out to labor. That is humiliating and dangerous.
Even when your faith is lacking
Did you notice the choice of words in his request? I don’t want to make more out it than there is, but I don’t believe there are any accidental words in the Word. Hezekiah says “perhaps” the Lord “your” God has heard. Perhaps? Oh, Hezekiah, the Lord’s ear is not dull. He heard the blasphemy. And why, “your God” and not “our God”? It seems to me his faith has taken some blows. His ears are still ringing with the threats. Perhaps Isaiah can persuade God to help. Look at that last line. Pray, Isaiah, for the few survivors that are still hanging on. Not exactly a fireball of faith, but still trusting in the Only One Who Can Help.
Easy Peasy
God gives a quick reply through Isaiah.
“This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. Listen! I, myself, will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to this land, where I will have him killed with a sword.”
2 Kings 19:4
Okay, then. That’s that. God has spoken. Bye Felicia. That’s exactly what happens. He gets word that the king of Ethiopia has attacked and he must get home right away.
You would think the enemy would quietly sulk away and leave well enough alone. No, that’s not how the devil works either. Instead, Sennacherib sends another threatening letter to Hezekiah that begins with “Don’t let your God whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured…” and ends with a long list of defeated armies that trusted in their gods too.
The devil rails even in retreat
That is just like the devil. Even as he daily marches closer to his doom, he rails against us with threats. God clearly has the upperhand, as we will see in a minute; but that doesn’t stop satan from terrorizing the saints, even as he retreats to another losing battle.
Hezekiah doesn’t take this lightly. Despite having the promise of God’s rescue, he brings this new threat straight to God himself. He literally brings the message to the temple of the Lord and spreads it out before God and prays. This is so important to our victory.
Take your problems to God and lay them out. Written prayers are so effective. So many times what I think I need, or believe, is completely different when I put it in ink. Something about writing it gets prayers down to business. No fluff. No vain repetition. My selfishness or covetousness shines though when I think about my grandchildren finding these prayers after I’m dead and gone. Often, while writing, petitions become praise and complaints are deemed a waste of paper. Try it. Even a hand written list that you lay hands on and pray has an impact on your faith.
One day I was so troubled by someone that had proven to be my enemy, rather than friend. I had prayed for her. I had asked the Lord to help me forgive her. Though I thought I had forgiven, I still avoided her like the plague. The feelings just weren’t getting better. Like Hezekiah, I took it to church. Sinking down beside the altar, I felt like I had said everything already. So, I wrote her name with my finger on that altar and I left her and all the hurts there. I can’t explain it, but I got up free. I’m still free after many years.
The fight builds faith
Hezekiah’s prayer is wonderful. The fight had made him stronger. He starts with words of adoration. “You alone” is the theme of his praise. Then he says, “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations…” But this is different.
“But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all – only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power…”
2 Kings 19:17-19
Hezekiah’s faith is growing, even in the middle of the attack. “Now, O Lord our God”, shows that he knew he could call on God too. God knew him and would hear his cry for Israel. Hezekiah stood honestly before God with enough faith to ask for “the impossible”. He knew the history of this attacker. He knew so many other gods had fallen before him. But HIS God was different.
God’s answer found in 2 Kings 19:17-34 should be on our lips often, when the devil fires his darts of fear into our souls. It’s priceless. He begins by mocking Sennacherib’s own boasts. “I have ascended. I have cut down. I have reached. With the soles of my feet. Blah. Blah. Blah.” The king is exposed as God repeats the brags of a boastful warrior. But the boaster is deflated when the Lord says:
“But have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.”
2 Kings 19:25
In other words, the ONLY reason that you have beat anyone, Sennacherib, is because I planned it a LONG time ago. You have no power to destroy where I have protected. You are merely a tool at my disposal.
Furthermore,
“And because of your raging against me and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I will make you return by the same road on which you came.”
2 Kings 19:28
I love this picture.
If you put a hook in someone’s nose and a bit in their mouth, they will go exactly where you tell them, with little or no resistance. I dare say you could drag a dragon with that combination. So, where did God send this enemy of Israel? Back the same way he came. That spells retreat. He isn’t marching through the land as a conqueror. He is tucking his tail and setting the GPS for home. He’ll not be staying for tacos or having a king to king meeting. He switches from offense to defense as he heads home to save his own kingdom.
God then shares some promises with Hezekiah for the future. He even gives hope and a promise for those left in Judah. The “passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” (vs. 31). I just love that “passionate commitment”. I couldn’t feel safer.
He gave the king of Assyria a promise too. “His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it.” (vs.32)
What are we worried about?
That night, the Angel of the Lord, killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Repeat: One angel. The next morning the Assyrian survivors broke camp and went home the way they came. Smart move. And King Sennacherib? Later, he was killed by his own two sons while he worshipped in the temple of his god, Nisroch.
Feel like singing, anyone? Yes, I do. Maybe dance too. God is victorious over and over in our lives. We have heard the devil breathing down our neck and consuming our thoughts. We have endured the labor pains but didn’t have enough strength to deliver. Then God reads our mail. We hand him what we can’t handle and he answers the enemy. It’s not what he bargained for. Not only will you be rescued, but he will be defeated. Go ahead. Get up and take a victory lap with the Lord!
amen and amen and amen!