Tuesday, August 30, 2016

II Chronicles 32: Faith For The Fight

Many times people "get religion" as soon as trouble comes knocking on their door.  A refreshing story from II Chronicles 32 shows us that when trouble arrived in the guise of Assyrian king Sennacherib and his army massing outside the gates of Jerusalem, faith had already found a home there.

Several previous chapters in II Chronicles describe the success of King Hezekiah's spiritual reforms.  He had rebuilt the temple, re-instituted the priesthood, and renewed the Passover celebration.  Judah was already primed to follow the Lord and put its trust in Him when the siege of the Assyrians hit.  Sennacherib was relying on intimidation and psychological manipulation to wear down the Israelites' resolve.  Instead, he found a nation professing faith in a God more powerful than he could ever hope to be.

Hezekiah's rousing message to his people to keep their faith was inspiring.  “'Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is one greater with us than with him.  With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.' The people were encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah" (vs. 7 and 8).

The outcome of the battle was that there was no battle like Sennacherib had promised.  Instead of conquering Jerusalem, he withdrew and went home - where he was quickly killed by his sons (vs. 21).  Quite an ignominious end to someone who had dared to challenge God and utter blasphemies against His name!  When will people learn that it never pays to oppose the Lord?  

Thankfully, Hezekiah and His people had already had faith in store, ready and waiting for the day of the fight.  Do we?

No comments:

Post a Comment