Read
The Lord's Answer to
(Isaiah 37.21-35)
20Isaiah went to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of Israel had said:
Hezekiah, I heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21Now this is what I say to that king:
The people of Jerusalem
hate and make fun of you;
they laugh
behind your back.
22Sennacherib, you cursed,
shouted, and sneered at me,
the holy God of Israel.
23You let your officials
insult me, the Lord.
And this is how you
bragged about yourself:
“I led my chariots
to the highest heights
of Lebanon's mountains.
I went deep into its forest,
cutting down the best cedar
and cypress trees.
24I dried up every stream
in the land of Egypt,
and I drank water
from wells I had dug.”
25Sennacherib, now listen
to me, the Lord.
I planned all this long ago.
And you don't even realize
that I alone am the one
who decided that you
would do these things.
I let you make ruins
of fortified cities.
26Their people became weak,
terribly confused.
They were like wild flowers
or tender young grass
growing on a flat roof,
scorched before it matures.
27I know all about you,
even how fiercely angry
you are with me.
28I have seen your pride
and the tremendous hatred
you have for me.
Now I will put a hook
in your nose,
a bit in your mouth,
then I will send you back
to where you came from.
29Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest. 30Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. 31I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.
32I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack. 33As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. 34I will protect it for myself and for my servant David.
The Death
(Isaiah 37.36-38)
35 That same night the Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them. And so the next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. 36After this King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. 37One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king.
Reflect
We all have the tendency to be distracted; to get distraught over the situations we find ourselves in every day. It’s our nature to worry, and thus to seek resolution (sometimes on our own) regardless of what our faith and/or trust in God might tell us. However, the example found in the story of King Hezekiah is one that should lead us to do otherwise.
Here we are at the end of King Hezekiah’s encounter with the Assyrian Empire. Up to this point, Hezekiah has tried to take things into his own hands by enlisting Egypt to rebel with Judah against the King of Assyria. Earlier in chapter 18 we find the consequences of these actions in the form of an army sent by the King of Assyria to capture and destroy the nation of Judah.
Furthermore, earlier in this chapter, we find King Hezekiah responding to the news of the failed negotiations from his officials whom he’d dispatched hoping to dissuade the King of Assyria from attacking the city. It was only after exhausting all of the ideas and plans that Hezekiah could think of, that he finally turned to God for help.
I imagine that many of you, like myself, usually follow a similar course of response when confronted with a problem. Most of the time we can resolve things ourselves using the talents and skills each of us have. After all, God has given us these gifts, and expects us to use them. But the lesson here is that God also wants us to be reliant on him, especially in important decisions. He knows the plans he has for us (Jeremiah 29:11), and he alone can help us navigate the winding paths of life that we can easily get lost on if we depend on anything or anyone but him.
Respond
Heavenly Father, I praise you because you are sovereign. You notice everything I do
and everywhere I go (Psalm 139:3). Please help me to not rely on myself or anyone else, but to trust solely in you – no matter what my circumstance. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Arthur Satterwhite III
Arthur L. Satterwhite III serves as the National Movements Ministry Mobilizer at American Bible Society where he currently oversees the organization’s work with Protestant denominations, para-Church ministries, and Christian events and conferences. In this role, Arthur leads ABS’ efforts to serve, equip and collaborate with Christian leaders in order to positively shift individuals’ perception of the Bible and drive their constituencies toward active Bible engagement.