Day #82
Scripture Reading: II Kings 16 - 20 …
God had told Israel that He chose them to be His
people, to be a special nation to Him, that they might declare His Name and His
praises. So what did Israel do? After God brought them out of Egypt
with a mighty hand, delivering them even through the midst of the Red Sea …
after they had seen God's power with their own eyes, after they experienced
God's power and judgment at Mt. Sinai and in the wilderness … after they saw
God help them to defeat the nations in the promised land … after God appeared
at the temple and blessed all of Israel with prosperity under King David and
then King Solomon … what did they do?? They lived like the other nations
around them!!
And King Ahaz in Judah did likewise. When
Aram and Israel attacked Judah, Ahaz went to the king of Assyria for help and
gave HIM gifts!! (16:8). Then Ahaz removed parts of the temple that
apparently offended the king of Assyria (16:17-18). Anything to stay in
power. Hoshea had become king in Israel
and the new king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had sought help from the
king of Egypt, so Assyria invaded Israel and after several years put King
Hoshea in prison and captured Samaria, the capital of Israel, and deported the
Israelites throughout the Assyrian Empire. God does not leave us in doubt
as to why this happened: "All this took place because the
Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God … They worshiped other
gods and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before
them" (17:7-8).
As you read through Chapter 17, verses 7-17, you
may wonder what took God so long to bring judgment on Israel. Verses
18-19 summarize the consequences of Israel's consistent rebellion against their
God: "So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them
from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, and even Judah did
not keep the commands of the LORD their God." So what can we
expect to happen to Judah?
After Israel was exiled, King Hezekiah reigned in
Judah. He was a king like David, who trusted in the LORD. In fact,
we are told, "There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah,
either before him or after him” (18:5).
David and Solomon had
reigned over all of Israel, but God says Hezekiah was the greatest king in
Judah because he obeyed the LORD and trusted in Him and even destroyed the high
places where the people had worshiped false gods. God was with him in
whatever he did and he defeated the Assyrians and the Philistines (in GAZA …
that's how long the fight has been going on in that small area).
Now a new king came to power in Assyria, named
Sennacherib. He attacked Judah and King Hezekiah tried to appease him by
sending him silver and gold. But that didn't stop him. He sent a
message to Hezekiah and the people of Judah, asking, "On whom are you
depending?" (18:20). He told the people, "Do not
let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, 'The LORD
will surely deliver us' …" (18:30). He boasted that the gods of
the other nations he had defeated were not able to stand up against him, and
Judah's God wouldn't be able to either! But Sennacherib didn't know that
Judah's God was different than the gods of the nations.
Hezekiah did what all those who know the living and
true God should do: he prayed! And he told others to pray,
including the prophet Isaiah, who was alive during this time. God gave
Isaiah a message for Hezekiah: "Do
not be afraid of what you have heard … " (19:6).
God said that HE would take care of Sennacherib and the Assyrian army.
It reminds you of how God told Moses and the people of Israel to stand
still and He would fight for them as Pharaoh came against them at the Red Sea.
The outcome would be the same here.
The prayer Hezekiah offered revealed his heart for
God: "You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made heaven and earth. … Now, O LORD our God, deliver
us from his hand so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD,
are God!" (19:15, 19). That will be the desire of every true
servant of the LORD, our God. Isaiah, himself, would write it this way:
"Yes, LORD, walking in the way of Your laws, we wait for You;
Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts" (Isaiah 26:8).
God answered Hezekiah's prayer in a remarkable way.
He promised that He would deliver Judah and said, "The zeal of
the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. … He (the king of Assyria)
will not enter this city … I will defend this city and save it for
my sake and for the sake of David my servant" (19:31,34). So
what did God do? "That night the angel of the LORD went out and
put to death one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian
camp" (19:35). Our God is able to do more than we can possibly
imagine. God desires that His name be known, whether in salvation for
those who trust in Him or in judgment on those who reject Him and who worship
other gods.
As God had "a people" in the days of the
kings and the prophets, so God has called a people today to Himself through His
Son Jesus Christ. To those who are His true people God says, "You
are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to
God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His wonderful light" (I Peter 2:9). God calls us to be a
people for HIM! We who by God's grace are His people exist for God, and
through His grace He IS faithful as we call upon Him, providing for all we NEED
that we may fulfill our mission to make HIM known.
God calls you and me to set our eyes on Jesus and
to be focused on our mission to make the one true God known to the world in
which we live today. A chosen people ought to act like it!! We who
disciples of Jesus today are called to be the salt of the earth and the light
of the world! Let’s do it!!
"O LORD, our God, in the highest heavens You
are praised by the host of angels around Your throne. Open my eyes to see Your
glory and open my heart to respond in love and praise for Your deliverance
through the blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son and my Savior and Lord. I
depend on YOU for all I need and for life itself. May my lips declare
Your glory to all I meet and may Your Name be exalted today on my account.
In Jesus' name, Amen"
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