Thurs.’s Devo - The Battle is the Lord’s

Read: 2 Chronicles 32:1-33:13; Romans 15:23-16:7; Psalm 25:16-22; Proverbs 20:16-18
The first few lines of today’s reading gave me hope. It reads: “After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.” Hezekiah had done nothing wrong and he still got attacked. Sennacherib means “the thorn laid waste”. A thorn is a symbol of a curse and in this case it tried to lay waste to Hezekiah but it had no power.
When we are doing everything right, we still get attacked by the enemy but his curses cannot stay.
Hezekiah prepared for the attack. He sought counsel, and blocked off the water supply outside the city so Assyria’s army wouldn’t have water for their horses. He repaired the wall and built towers to keep watch and made many weapons and shields. He was well fortified. Then he called the people together and encouraged them in the Lord. He gave them confidence in God’s power to save them.
All of Sennacherib’s efforts fell to the ground. He tried intimidation and fear. He boasted of all the nations they had conquered and that their gods hadn’t been able to protect them. Who was Israel to think that their God could protect them. They were wrong. God sent one angel who annihilated all the fighting men, leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. Sennacherib had to withdraw in disgrace. He returned home to have his own sons kill him.
Hezekiah brought great prosperity to the land and fell into pride and it almost cost him his life. He humbled himself before God and God healed him. After he was healed he became proud once again and had a son. He died a proud man and and sadly his son, Manasseh, was one of Judah’s most evil kings. Manasseh did the exact opposite of his father. Most of his life he undid all the good his father had done. He rebuilt all the altars to idols that his father had torn down and led the nation into sin and rebellion. God sent prophets to get his attention and he refused to listen so God had to put a hook in his nose, bound him with shackles and took him to Babylon to get his attention. Manasseh humbled himself greatly before the Lord and God heard his prayers and brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. He died a humble man.
In Romans, Paul was on his way to Jerusalem to give the Jews a contribution from the Gentiles. The Gentiles wanted to bless their fellow Jews because they were blessed by the spiritual blessing the Jews had given them through Abraham so they wanted to share with them their material blessing.
Lord, help us to remember that we are blessed by those that have gone before us. Help us to pass down an even greater blessing to the next generation.