I hope my friend, Chris Taylor, doesn't mind that I single him out in my blog but last Sunday I was very touched by a lesson he gave in our Sunday School meeting at church. Asked on the sudden to share a message with the group, he bravely stood and shared a gospel study that had recently left an impression on him. He blew me away with the Spirit in that lesson and I felt the desire to reinvigorate my scripture study so that I always have a beautiful, powerful testimony building experience to pull from the rafters of my mind in a crunch!
His message came from 2 Kings 18-19 and I'll do my best no to butcher it.
In this chapter Hezekiah is king of Judah and he is a righteous and god-fearing man. Verse 6 of chapter 18 says something I find beautiful, that "he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses."
Above Judah was Samaria (of Isreal) and Assyria. Shalmaneser was king of Assyria at the time.
Assyria invaded Isreal (who at the time were not doing well to obey the word of the Lord as was taught to them by Moses) and assimilated Isreal unto its own, stomping out the religion and culture of the people by spreading them throughout their lands and forcing them to worship as the Assyrians.
The Assyrians then came to the borders of Judah and being fearful, Hezekiah sent to Shalmaneser a plea for mercy, offering the king any price to spare his people. The king appointed a debt of 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. In order to pay this debt, Hezekiah had to ransack the temple, cutting away from its doors and inner contents. Doing this act shows that Hezekiah was so worried for the safety of his people that he was willing to do pretty much anything, even at the cost of destroying his God's temple, to appease the King of Assyria. It is apparent that he was experiencing a crisis of faith. I think we are often subject to this same way of thinking. A trial or conflict comes, and we immediately resort to all we know we can do to solve the problem ourselves, without relying on God to help us. It isn't an odd concept, it humanizes Hezekiah, and helps me to understand the magnitude of his fear.
Soon after they receive this gold and silver, a representative of Assyria approaches the walls of Jerusalem and calls out to the Jews, saying "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying the Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria."
He then asked of the Jews whether the Gods of Isreal had spared them from the Assyrian armies. Where were the Gods of Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden? Where were the kings of Hamath, Arpad Sephavaim, Hena and Ivah? All these had been destroyed by the Assyrians. Then the people are invited to join the Assyrians, as slaves more or less.
Hezekiah hears of all that is being said, and is, again, fearful. But this time, instead of offering money and trying to resolve this predicament on his own, he makes a more faith-based decision and sends his servants to the prophet Isaiah.
Chris then paused and helped us to imagine the headspace of Hezekiah at this moment. He is a good man, even a righteous man, who has been placed in an impossible situation. He must have felt a tremendous amount of guilt during the time he was disassembling his God's temple, but he was feeling desperate and afraid. He ultimately realizes there is nothing he can do to stop this threat except to rely on his God, and probably is thinking he should have done this in the first place...he had a repentant spirit, in other words. He must have approached his God in a very humbled way after all he had done.
Isaiah responds to Hezekiah's servants, sending back a message that "Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." When Hezekiah hears Isaiah's words, he prays in the temple. He finally puts his faith forward.
The impressions that then come upon his heart had a profound effect on me.
The Gods of those people who were defeated by the Assyrians were nothing but the working of man's hands, and not the true God of this earth. They could not rely in whom they had trusted because those Gods were not real. I thought of the things to come in our time, of all that is manifesting already in the world today, and thought of our great need to have faith in the true and everlasting God.
The Lord tells that He will defend and protect Jerusalem, and that is shall be saved.
And that night, while all are asleep, the Lord sends an ANGEL (an UNSEEN POWER) to the camp of Assyrians and smote an hundred fourscore and five thousand. When the Jews of Jerusalem awoke the next morning, they saw that this threatening legion was nothing but a collection of corpses.
Concluding the story, all the prophesy of Isaiah was fulfilled. The king learned of the demise of his armies, returned to Nineveh, and was later killed by his own sons.
How could anyone have anticipated this type of help? If they were
thinking practically and logistically, their odds of survival were slim to none. How
could they defeat such a massive army with their small number? Where
was their help to come from? Still, the Lord provided help where help
was needed. And I need to trust that regardless of the circumstances
that come upon me in life, no matter my mistakes and missteps, or how bleak the outcomes of my problems may seem, that the
Lord is limitless...and that he CAN send SEEN AND UNSEEN FORCES to
protect and shield me from all that threatens me and my family if I am repentant, faithful, and TRUST IN HIM MORE THAN MYSELF. I need
to have faith and work now to be deserving of that kind of protection. I am grateful that this Gospel reminds me where I can put my trust and that the Spirit whispers to my heart the truth of the things I learn.
I'm grateful that the intended teacher of that week didn't show and that Chris was able to share the ponderings of his heart with us. I was touched and the spirit was strong amongst all in the room. This was truly one of the most edifying church meetings I've experienced over the past few months. I am so grateful I was there to hear it and that Chloe cooperated so that I could.
