2/2/13. Isaiah 36:1-22. SEEK GOD IN THE FACE OF THREATS – my devotional

Key Verse: 36:21                                                                                                                                                             Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.’” (NIV 2011)

     Dear Lord Jesus Christ. I want to thank you for bringing me hope, strength and forgiveness and love each day. It is hard to constantly work and travel. My days are just flying by. But you keep me focused, free from self condemnation and helping me to embrace each day with satisfaction. Thank you for this. I pray for the upcoming UBF staff conference to be full of the word of God and the spirit of God. May you bear much fruit through it. Enlighten my mind and heart through your word. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1:  Disaster On The Horizon (1-20).

The people of Judah were suffering greatly for they were facing the fierce Assyrians. Verses 1-20, “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.² Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, ³ Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnathe secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him. ⁴ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? ⁵ You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? …” (For the rest of the text please see the end of this devotional.)

The Assyrians had overrun all of Judah. Only Jerusalem was left. The Assyrian field commander taunted the people of Jerusalem in Hebrew so that everyone could hear his taunt. He set out to demoralize the people. The field commander tried to frighten the people into surrender. It was an early example of psychological warfare. He derided King Hezekiah’s political alliances. He mocked Hezekiah’s lack of military strength. The commander especially ridiculed Hezekiah’s faith in God. He tried to plant fear and doubt about the LORD and the LORD’s servant through distortions of the facts and outright lies. He said that no one, not even the LORD, could rescue the people. The situation was bleak.

This is the way that Satan works to break down the people of God. He uses psychological warfare. He used it in the Garden of Eden when he conversed with Eve asking her if “God really said…” He used in the desert with Jesus when he tempted Jesus in 4 ways. (Matt 4a) He works in our own hearts. He tries to whittle us down and break us down until we loose our joy of life and our Christian witness. Satan tries to where me down making me think that working so much is a waste of time and not God’s will. He tries to make me feel guilty about doing things that I really need to do. He tries to wear me down by reminding me of the impossibilities and the barriers in being a missionary to the Aboriginal people NW Ontario causing me to slow down in my research and in my desire to see it happen. There is so much psychological warfare going on. How do we overcome?

Jesus overcame the devil’s taunts and temptations by holding onto the word of God in Matt 4:1-11. He always responded by saying, “It is written.” Jesus held onto the written word of God. This is the secret. We need to keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus. We need to focus on the word of God.  The Word of God is like the tracks on which a train travels. They keep us focused on goal, Christ and the everlasting Kingdom of God. I pray that God may help us to remain steadfast. I pray that we may stay focused on Christ and one the kingdom. I pray that we not become victims of the devil’s psychological warfare.

Part 2: “Do Not Answer Him.” (21-22).

They were forced to find a spiritual solution. Look at verses 21-22, “²¹ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”²² Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.”

King Hezekiah could not do anything to fight on a human level. But he knew it was time for repentance and prayer. He had apparently already told the people to trust in the LORD (15). “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.’”  Then he commanded the people to remain silent. We must not listen and surrender to the devil’s threats and lies which are meant to frighten us. We must not act in fear. Instead we must humbly come to God in faith and trust.

There are times when we can do nothing and all we can do is turn to God to find his solutions. Actually we should turn to God first and immediately, even before our human efforts. But we are human. We try our best and then, when we fail, we turn to the Lord. Anyway, whether earlier or later we turn to the Lord and that is good.

Over the last two years I feel that I have been pushed to the point where I could do nothing else by turn to the Lord and let him have his will on my life. I was isolated from family, I was depressed, ministry was a lonely place, I was loosing hope and vision for my life and ministry, I could not move because my mortgage was reversed do to the mortgage crisis. I was loosing the joy of life and unable to glorify Jesus. My inner suffering was so much. I felt like I was stuck. I had no where to turn. Looking back I could see that this was God’s work and doing. I was in a corner. All I could do is repent and turn to Christ. I could only apply faith. And God worked. He got me out of my rut. He set me and my family on a new course of fruitfulness. So many walls were broken down. I received new freedom of heart and soul. Who else but Jesus could do this in my life? Thank you Lord, for coming to me and delivering me when I was up against a wall.

I pray that the people of this nation may turn to you for deliverance. May they recognize their own helplessness and may they turn to you to find your solution to their unique problems and dilemmas.

Prayer: Lord, help me not to listen to the psychological warfare of the devil. Please bring repentance and faith  to our land and to my heart.

One Word: Repent, apply faith and pray in dark times

Verses 1-20, “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.² Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, ³ Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnathe secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him. ⁴ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? ⁵ You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ⁶ Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ⁷ But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”? ⁸ “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!⁹ How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen^[a]? ¹⁰ Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’” ¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.” ¹² 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 people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement 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.’ ¹⁶ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ²⁰ Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”