Wed.’s Devo - How to Lay Waste a Curse

Read: 2 Chronicles 32:1-33:13; Romans 15:23-16:7; Psalm 25:16-22; Proverbs 20:16-18
Hezekiah was such a good king so the Lord gave him wisdom in how to defeat the Assyrians who were on their way to Jerusalem. He took away their water source outside the city and built up the walls around Jerusalem. The leader of the Assyrian army was Sennacherib which means “the thorn laid waste”. So this story is how to stop a curse since a thorn is the picture of a curse. Sennacherib came throwing curses at Hezekiah about his god. He even wrote these curses on paper insulting God. He told the people that no other nation’s god could save them so theirs wouldn’t be able to either. Instead of turning in fear and believing them, Hezekiah had already established the righteousness of God in his kingdom so all he did was find the priests to pray with him.
God’s angel slew all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. Sennacherib went home in disgrace knowing that the God of Hezekiah was no ordinary god. When he went into the temple of his god, his own sons killed him with the sword.
Hezekiah continued to prosper and become very wealthy and his kingdom very secure in the Lord until he died and his son, Manasseh came to rule. Manasseh rebelled against the ways of his father and did everything against the Lord he could do. He restored idolatry of every kind and brought it into the temple of the Lord. He was taken away by the very people his dad defeated. He was lead in chains with a hook in his nose. In prison, in Assyria, he cried out to the Lord and humbled himself. God heard him and brought him back to his land to rule his kingdom.
In Romans, Paul is ending his letter to the Christians in Rome. He loves the people in his churches, but he shares with these his own personal struggles and gives them details of how to pray for him. He shares how the Gentile Christians are reaching out to the poor Jews in Jerusalem. He makes the correlation about the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews shared with the Gentiles their spiritual inheritance and blessings so it is fit that the Gentiles share with the Jews in their material blessings.
Lord, may we freely give of our spiritual blessings and our material blessings for the kingdom’s sake. Thank you that we are blessed and not cursed.