Tues.’s Devo - Don’t Compromise

Read: Micah 6-7; 2 Chron. 32:1-8; 2 Kings 18:13-37; Isaiah 36
Judah had slowly drifted into idolatry and forgotten God. God sent them Isaiah and Micah as his prophets to turn them back to Him. God wants to know what he has done to make them tired of him. He reminded them of all the times he watched over them, saved them and extended his faithful love to them. But instead of remaining faithful to honor and thank him, they went after deplorable gods who could do nothing good for them.
So God sent the Assyrian army to draw them back to Him. Israel had been subject to them for years, but Hezekiah decided it was time to break their yoke of bondage off so he made a stand not to send them tribute. This made the Assyrians angry and they came to destroy them. Hezekiah caved and gave them the gold and silver they want which he had to take from the temple. The king of Assyria was not content with just gold and silver - he wanted total control. He promised the children of Israel that he would take them to a place where they will have all their needs met if they came with him peacefully. King Hezekiah is in a hard place where he has to decide whether he is going to trust God to deliver him or listen to the lies of the king of Assyria.
This is the best picture of how the devil works. He will try to strike a bargain with us making us think that is as far as he will go. It starts as a small compromise like not reading your Bible for a week while you’re on vacation, then things get real busy when you get back because you have to make up for the time you are away and before you know it you are a month or so down the road and you haven’t opened your Bible. Just like with Israel, the king of Assyria didn’t stop with the tribute they owed, he wanted to own them and take their inheritance which was their land. The devil won’t stop at your small compromise, he wants your marriage, your children, your finances, your reputation, your testimony…all of you. He wants to kill, steal and destroy us. But we can stand up and say, “NO MORE!” We can pick back up our swords and start swinging. No weapon that the devil can forge can stand up against the weapon we have which is the Word of God.
Lord, help us to recognize the enemies strategies and raise up the standard of the Word against him. We will win! When you are on our side, nothing can stand against us.