Thursday, September 7, 2006
Isaiah 37:33-35 "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,' Says the LORD. 'For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake.'"
"BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD"
Another well-known battle came about in the days of Hezekiah nearing the end of his reign over Judah. The world power of the day were the Assyrians, a cruel and vicious people, who had scattered the northern ten tribes of Israel throughout their empire. The Assyrians under Sennacherib had come down against Jerusalem with at least 185,000 men and surrounded the city. The Assyrians were ready to sit it out and wait for Hezekiah to surrender. Hezekiah turns to the Lord for comfort and help.
This is among the great comforting events in history for the believer. The Lord tells Hezekiah, "Don't worry about the Assyrians. You don't need to gather a force to go out and try to break through. You don't need to try to send a messenger to get help from anyone else. I won't need 318 trained servants. I won't need 300 men. I won't need you to march around the camp. I will take care of this Myself."
That night, as the people of Jerusalem slept, the Lord sent the Angel of Death through the camp of the Assyrians. In the morning 185,000 of them had been slain. Sennacherib turned and went home and was assassinated shortly on his return.
Many times the Lord uses us in one way or another to bring about a victory. But every so often, the Lord says, "Sit back, relax, don't worry, I'll do this Myself."
I often wonder how many more times the Lord would do that if we would simply learn to "Be still" and we then would know that the Lord, He is God. He defends and fights and gives the victory to those whom He has called His own in Jesus.
