Sometimes, our situations seem impossible. The enemy can try to intimidate us and threaten us.
And by all known factors, we have every plausible right to give up or give in.
But God!
We see this in Isaiah 36 – 38.
36 – 38
Assyria had just wiped out Samaria and many other nations and had taken out critical strongholds of Judah, and now was coming against Jerusalem.
A messenger comes to the wall and threatens Judah, and everyone hears it; in fact, that was part of the plan.
Isaiah 36:12-15
But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things and not to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! 15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
Wow! Now, everyone is afraid.
How do we respond? What do we do when the enemy comes and causes fear to spread not just to us but to those we lead and those around us?
Hezekiah, the king of Judah, did this:
Isaiah 37:14-17
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
He brings the matter to God. He acknowledges God for who He is. And admits the situation is real. And appeals to God not only for Judah but…
Isaiah 37:18-20
18 “It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 20 Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”
Isaiah recognized that though Assyria was powerful, God was greater. He knew that this was not only about now, and this moment and the current people of Judah, but it was about the eternal God and His glory. Now. Here. And throughout the world and all time.
“That all the peoples of the earth may know that you alone are God.”
Is this our greater concern? We don’t have to be afraid, even in ridiculous circumstances, because it is not about us but God.
God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine.
And so we read in Isaiah 37:36-37
Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
And we find out later that the king of Assyria was assassinated by his sons while worshipping his false gods.
I am reminded of the song “Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns.
“The voice of truth says do not be afraid… This for His glory…”
May we remember we are His kids, and He is doing something in this world that it is really not about us. We get to be a part of His-Story. It is about so the whole world will know who He is.
May we go to God when overwhelmed, When the threats and intimidation cause even those we are leading and those around us to be afraid.
Let us go to God and remember His greatness and ask that He may be known through these circumstances in our lives.
