Isaiah 37 asks the question, “How do we react to Distress?” Isaiah writes of a time of very real and immediate horror. “This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace“. Hezekiah, King of Judah, provides a pattern for us to follow when devastation stands at our door. Recall the situation; the Assyrian army which had annihilated city after city stood surrounding Jerusalem with an offer to surrender, or be destroyed. The king was in personal danger as well as the remaining remnant of God’s people. All eyes were on Hezekiah. He did two things; he grasped the seriousness, “and went into the temple of the LORD“. The king said to his council, “It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander… ridicule the living God, and that He will rebuke him“. Isaiah the prophet sent this message back to the king, “Do not be afraid of what you have heard“. Why can Isaiah say that? He knows that God is in control and man can do nothing that God does not allow. God adds, “Listen! I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword“. The king does not know any details, but he has a choice to believe God’s promise, or to believe man’s. Do you need God’s promise today?
The Assyrian king sent a letter filled with threats and humiliation, “Do not let the god you depend on deceive you“. He boasts of all the cities he has attacked “destroying them completely“. And he asks, “And will you be delivered?” Hezekiah responds by laying the letter at God’s feet, “he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed… You alone are God… Give ear, LORD, and hear… listen to all the words… sent to ridicule the living God“. He asks, “God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, LORD, are the only God“. Is there something you need to lay at God’s feet?
The Lord spoke through Isaiah, “Because you have prayed to Me…“. I believe God responded to the king’s humility and faith. Then, God pronounced judgment against the king of Assyria. “Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against the Holy One of Israel!” And God explains that every victory was not by his own power, but for God’s purpose, “Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass“. The king thought he was in control, but God says, “I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against Me“. And God made him a promise, “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“. God also made a promise to the king of Judah, “Out of Jerusalem will come a remnant… a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this“. God promised to protect the city, “I will defend this city and save it, for My sake“. And almost as a footnote we read, “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!” If you need a promise from God, begin here, Romans 12:3 reminds us, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you“. May we all submit to God’s authority and may we align with His purposes knowing He is the Lord of all.