2/3/13. Isaiah 37:1-38. THE LORD IS THE ONLY GOD- my devotional

Isaiah 37:1-38                                                                                                                                                         February 3, 2013

Key Verse: 37:20                                                                                                                                                 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“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.”

     Dear Lord heavenly Father thank you for being our source of life and power. With you I can scale a mountain. With you I can cross a great expanse. With you I can love others around me. Lord help me to not seek to be understood, but to understand. I pray that you be with this year’s staff conference. I pray that you may guide us into all truth and bless our fellowship and help us to advertise Jesus and the Gospel to a hungry world. Please emboss my heart with your word today. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

 Part 1: Take It To The Lord In Prayer (1-20)

Verses 1-20. See verses 1 and 14-20.  “When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ^{‘”…. 14} 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. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. ¹⁸ “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. ¹⁹ They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ²⁰ 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.”

(for all of the verses please see the end of this devotional.)

After Hezekiah heard the threats, he personally sought God. The king also asked Isaiah to pray. Isaiah encouraged Hezekiah not to be afraid. Then God sent the Assyrians away. However, the Assyrian king sent another threatening message.   Hezekiah again went up to the temple and laid the message before the LORD. His prayer recognized God’s rule over all creation. He asked God to deliver his people to refute the Assyrians’ blasphemy. He prayed for deliverance so that the whole world might recognize the LORD.

The taunts of the King f Assyria are likened to the taunts of the devil against us. The devil uses fear and intimidation to make us full of fear so that we become helpless and paralyzed. Isaiah’s letter contained the words of God that could encourage Hezekiah. It seems there is a battle between God and the devil and the battle is among the people of God, through outward aggressors and also through inner fear. The Bible says that the Devil uses the fear of death to keep us as his prisoners.

I need to learn to live, not by fear, but by faith. What fears are trying to control my heart? I seem to not have too many fears, but I am living in relative comfort and security. The only hard thing for me is to go to work every day and keep a regular discipline of studying.  There is not much fear involved. It is basically hard to keep “carrying my cross.” If I went out as a missionary I would be full of fear. I hear about missionaries who are victims of violent crime, being robbed by bandits with automatic weapons. I would fear of living in polluted areas where my life would be cut short because of disease. I would be filled with a fear of death, not wanting my life to end, painfully at a young age. I also don’t want to die a slow, quiet death in my 90’s without having achieved something for the glory of God, either. The bottom line is, I need to trust God and serve God with my life and future. He knows what is best. Who am I to think that I should be one of those lucky one who lives to an old age with many achievements and laurels, when billions die young in obscurity. I need to let go of all my fears. I need to trust the Lord in all that that he calls me to do.

I pray that God makes me a missionary one day to the people NW Ontario. Fear could stop me from going. Fear of the cold, and other fears. But if it is the will of God, then it is the will of God. I need to face all the challenges without fear and with a heart full of faith. Lord, take all fear from my heart and help me to be a man of faith who can embrace your will upon my life.

I thank God for the UBF missionaries in 3^rd world countries. They are attacked by bandits and robbed and kidnapped and persecuted in various ways and yet they stay and preach the Gospel. They must be wrestling with their fears…but God is with them and they want to stay in the land that God has sent them. May God grant them great faith to continue to be witnesses of the gospel.

 Part 2: The Zeal Of The LORD Almighty (21-38)

      Verses 21-38,  “²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: …”

(for the remainder of the verses please see the end of this devotional.)

God’s word to Isaiah reassured the king that the blasphemy had been heard. The Assyrians had proudly ridiculed and raged against the Holy One of Israel. They attributed their conquests to their own ingenuity and strength. But God had allowed the Assyrians to do all this. God would punish them for their arrogance and insolence. God would also save a remnant in Jerusalem. It looked humanly impossible but the zeal of the LORD Almighty would accomplish it – which he did! An angel put to death 185,000 Assyrians in one night.

God is a god of justice. He is also the Creator God who can do what ever is in his realm to do.  Our God is the one who delivers, rescues and saves. God will deliver according to his will. This time was obviously his will. I thank God for delivering me time and again. He delivered me in nursing school. He delivered me in helping me to live as a Christian and a servant of God. He delivered me with my relationship with family members. He delivers me at work. There are so many ways in which he delivers. But the most important deliverance is his deliverance from sin and death, into forgiveness, love, peace and eternal life. God delivered us through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Not matter what happens in this world, I am Jesus’ and Jesus is mine. If someone takes my life, they are only sending me into the arms of my Savior and into heaven earlier. Jesus delivers from sin, death and the fear of death. Thank you Jesus! Why does God deliver me? It is to proclaim that he is the God of all the earth. It is so that name of Christ may be advertised.

I thank God for delivering our nation so many times. He protected and guided us time and again. Through many wars, economic depressions etc and led us to be a great nation and a leading missionary sending nation. May his deliverance of our nation proclaim that Jesus is the Lord of all the earth.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you for ruling over all the earth. May the world know that you are the only God.”

One Word: The LORD our God is the only God

Isaiah 37:1-38. “When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ² He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³ They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.” ⁵ When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’” ⁸ When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. ⁹ Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: ¹⁰ “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:¹⁶ “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. ¹⁸ “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. ¹⁹ They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ²⁰ 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.”

“²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: “Virgin Daughter Zion despises and mocks you. Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. ²³ Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord. And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. ²⁵ I have dug wells in foreign landsand drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’ ²⁶ “Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. ²⁷ Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorchedbefore it grows up. ²⁸ “But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me. ²⁹ Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came. ³⁰ “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³¹ Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. ³² For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. ³³ “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. ³⁴ By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,” declares the Lord. ³⁵ “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!” ³⁶ Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. ³⁸ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.”