BE ON THE LOOKOUT

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

“‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!
“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.

2 Kings 18:13-37

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus, talking to those who were trying to kill Him had this to say to His adversaries:

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44

Indeed, Satan surely is a deceiver and delights in nothing less than tempting God’s people to turn toward his desires. He is relentless in this and is a master at exploiting our weaknesses as well as using others to be instruments of his dirty work. We simply must always be on guard and prepared to ward off the work of the devil when he tries to have his way in and around us.

Today’s scripture is a classic example of how Satan can get enter into our life circumstances and turn us upside down if we’re not careful. And this just doesn’t happen to those who are new in their faith. It happens just as much to the experienced, mature believer as even the most righteous and prized in God’s eyes can come under assault.

Point in case is Hezekiah. We were introduced to him at the beginning of 2nd Kings, chapter 18, as a king who did what was right in the sight of God. In return, God was with him and led him to great success.

But things began to shift as Chapter 18 continues. In our scripture passage, we read where “Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them” in the “fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign”. This placed a lot of pressure on Hezekiah who knew what had happened to Israel and thought his kingdom was next to fall.

So what did Judah’s king do?

The proper thing to do would have been to draw near to God and consult Him on what should be done. But when we’re pressurized, we often don’t think straight and tend to make rash and improper decisions. Satan is a master at whipping our lives into a frenzy and leaving us disoriented…our bearing on the Lord temporarily lost. This is when he starts to have his way with us.

In the case of Hezekiah, he decided the way to thwart Sennacherib’s advances was to pay him off. He admitted he had erred in not paying before this, thus buying Sennacherib’s mercy on Judah but now sought to make restitution. Hezekiah offered to pay whatever the Assyrian king demanded as long as the he withdrew and ceased the attack. What was the price? Scripture tells us that the “king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah…three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold”. To pay, Hezekiah “gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace” and also “stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord”. All this was given to Sennacherib.

So that was it…right? Hezekiah had paid what Sennacherib had asked for. The king surely would keep his end of the deal and return to Assyria…right?

It didn’t quite happen that way.

For instead of returning to Assyria, Sennacherib “sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah”. They called for Hezekiah but instead got “Eliakim…the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah…the recorder” who went out to them.

Isn’t this just how Satan is? He attacks us and convinces us to do something we think might get us out of the trouble he enticed us into. And then when we do that something, we only find that we have spiraled further down and away from the Lord. The further the devil gets away from God the more he can have his way with us.

So Sennacherib had no intentions of giving up and used his field commander to do his work. What was that work? To try and break the will of the people of Judah so they would surrender to him and turn Judah over. Note the ways that Satan works through the field commander to try and get Israel to give in and then ask yourself if these same ploys aren’t applied toward us in life:

First, criticism. Judah is mocked as being weak, without allies, and unable to stand on their own against Assyria. No one could possibly help them…not Egypt and not God. The temptation here was to be drawn into an attitude of hopelessness and then surrender.

Does this not happen to us as well when we find ourselves up against trouble? Satan can creep in and make us feel like we’re alone and without help…isolated and hopeless. With this, we are led we have just one option: give up.

Second, temptation. The field commander encourages Judah to “make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria”. What was the proposed deal? Two thousand horses.

Again, does Satan try and offer us options to help us get out of trouble? He does but his suggestions are sin-ridden and, if followed, only drag us further into trouble than before.

Third, lies. The field commander tries to spin the attacks of Assyria as being instituted by the Lord. If he could get Judah to believe this, then they would see their fate as part of God’s plan.

How often does Satan feed us lies to get us to sin, ever seeking us to believe that the Lord would delight in us being content so we should pursue sinful desires that make us feel good.

Fourth, character assassination. The field commander tried to attack the people’s faith in their leader, denigrating Hezekiah before the people. The people are told that Hezekiah could not deliver them and so they may as well just turn themselves over to Assyria.

How good is Satan at getting us to believe we’re worthless and unable to do anything right or good? He is constantly seeking to attack our character and wishes to shackle us with guilt and shame…inadequacy and embarrassment.

Fifth, false promises. The field commander tells the people of Judah that if they would make peace with the Assyrians then they would get to “eat fruit from (their) own vine and fig tree and drink water from (their) own cistern” before being taken away to “a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey”.

After reading these words from the Assyrian field commander, I couldn’t help but remember this passage:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5

And the rest was history. Adam and Eve ate on the advice of the serpent and sin entered the world. All because of a false promise.

Satan is very good at this ploy and we better be ever aware of it. He could say any of the following:

“Take this drug and it will take away all your problems.”

“A little affair won’t hurt. You deserve a little pleasure and no one will ever find out about it.”

“You work hard for your money. If you want to gamble, then so be it.”

Unfortunately, a lot of people are falling for his temptations.

So what are we to do with this passage?

My hope is that we are reminded how Satan never ceases to pursue us and try to turn us from God’s will and way. We need to always be on the lookout…but even more so, we need to keep a grip on the Lord and hold on so tight that we can’t be led astray. God will always shed light on Satan’s darkest schemes if we seek His counsel and guidance.

And that assurance is what offers us hope for success when it comes to avoiding sin and living in the righteousness God expects.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com