October 14, Isaiah 37
So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD."
- Isaiah 37:20
Troubles are facts of life in a fallen world. No rational person expects everything to go just exactly as they wished or planned. But sometimes troubles escalate to become threats. They threaten our safety or the well being of our loved ones. Such threatening troubles provoke anxiety because we have an inborn sense of self-preservation. When a problem or a threat gets our attention, we automatically go on alert.
The boisterous threats from the Assyrian commander against Jerusalem certainly got the attention of the people in the city and the delegation Hezekiah sent out to meet the Assyrians. They returned to Hezekiah shaken, their clothing torn in grief and anguish. After Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his own clothes, put on sackcloth garments of penitence and mourning and went to the temple. He sent a message to Isaiah about the danger. The king pleaded with the prophet to pray that God would hear the Assyrian's threat and turn him away. Isaiah sent the king's delegation back to Hezekiah with a reassuring word from the Lord. He said God was well aware of the Assyrians' railings against him, and that he would turn their leader around and send him home where he would be killed.
The king of Assyria paused his plan to destroy Jerusalem while he went to put down another rebellion at Libnah. But he sent messengers to Hezekiah, assuring him that he would be back to take Jerusalem. The proud king warned Hezekiah not to trust his God to deliver him, noting that none of the gods of the other nations had been able to save them from his invasion and conquest.
Hezekiah took Sennacherib's threatening, blasphemous letter and "spread it before the LORD." He pleaded with God to see, hear and act against the Assyrians. He asked God to save them, and show Assyria and the other nations that Israel's God was the one true God.
The Lord replied through Isaiah again, addressing both his people and their threatening enemy. God told Sennacherib that he knew him, his boasts and his mockery. He reminded him that it was God's power and not his own that had enabled him to conquer the nations he had already defeated. But he would not conquer Jerusalem. God told the arrogant Assyrian that he would turn him around and drag him back home as he had chained and dragged his captives. Excavations of Assyrian ruins have uncovered awful images of Assyrian conquests, showing captives chained together with rings in their noses and hooks in their mouths. God told Sennacherib he would experience the same misery he had inflicted on others.
To his own people, the Lord sent a message of affirmation and assurance. Their barren fields and ruined crops would be fruitful again soon. God applied that image of new growth and fruitful harvest to the remnant of his people, assuring them that remnant of the house of Judah would again take root downward and bear fruit upward. God had not forsaken his people. He would keep his promises to Abraham and David by saving a remnant of his people through whom the promised Messiah would come.
Finally after the prophetic threats, the Assyrian army was destroyed in a single night. We do not know how God chose to do it. But 185,000 Assyrian soldiers deployed to destroy Jerusalem were themselves destroyed in a single night. Defeated, Sennacherib returned home. When he was worshipping his false god, two of his own sons assassinated him, and another son became king in his place. God's prophetic word, delivered by Isaiah, came true. The prayer of Hezekiah teaches us how to appeal to God in humble, trusting faith to do what we cannot do. That trusting faith unlocks the great promises God has made to us. Do we accept his invitation to cast all our cares on him? Do we believe that we can find grace to help in time of need when we come to the throne of Grace? Do we trust that he is in control and works everything together for the good of his people? When you and I trust and pray like that, we may still be disappointed by events and circumstances we face, but we will not despair. We may be frustrated by trying situations, but we will not forsake our faith and hope. When troubles come, God's people turn to God. Then you and I can know from our own experience what David explained: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears."
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—October 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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