Isaiah 37:14

New International Version (NIV)

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.

For Meditation

King Hezekiah panicked the first time he received a long message from the field commander of King Sennacherib because the Assyrians had destroyed many nations including the Northern Kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 17:6). Hezekiah, therefore, tore his clothes and adorned himself with sackcloth. He went to the temple of the LORD, but instead of a personal prayer, he sent an emissary to the prophet Isaiah to solicit prayer for the remnant of Israel (2 Kings 37:1-4).

When for the second time, Hezekiah received a threatening and scathing message from Sennacherib, he went up to the temple of the Lord, but this time, he spread the letter out before the Lord and prayed (Isaiah 37:14-20). He affirmed the might of the “God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim.” The maker of heaven and earth, the God of Israel rules over all the kingdoms of the earth. But here was Sennacherib, a heathen king, sending a letter with words that ridiculed the living God.

Yes, Hezekiah agreed that Sennacherib had routed all the nations he had attacked and destroyed their gods, but he affirmed that they were no gods, but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Yahweh alone is God. So, “Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God” (20).

1. Isn’t that wonderful? When you hear a bad report, what do you do with it?
2. Who do you turn to for help? Is it to a person, medium, or system?
3. Can those people or mediums guarantee the help you need? Do you remember the gods of those nations Sennacherib burned after laying waste their peoples and lands (19)?
4. Do you remember the many times you have been disappointed by the people and systems you trusted to help?
5. Has God ever disappointed you? Has He not been ever faithful – if you really understand His ways?

I pray you’ll turn to God first when things heat up for you. Panic is never the right response. It only drives fear through the heart and paralyzes you. Your best recourse is on your knees, and with upraised hands to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

May He answer you from heaven and give you victory over your enemies – be they humans, systems, or situations. May the world around you notice your calmness and God’s glory upon you, and be convicted of their need for Jesus as Savior and Lord.

“Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Ps. 20:7).

Shalom