Wed.’s Devo - God’s Great Deliverance

Read: 2 Kings 18:13-19:37; Acts 21:1-16; Psalm 149:1-9; Proverbs 18:8 In Hezekiah’s 14th year of reigning over Judah, Sennacherib of Assyria came to take the fortified cities of Judah. Hezekiah repented that he had stopped paying them tribute and asked what it would take to make them leave them in peace. Hezekiah gave Senacherib all the silver and gold he could find in his kingdom and took the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and gave it to him. Sennacherib still sent his powerful army led by Rabshakeh against Jerusalem. *** Hezekiah sent his officers to speak to Rabshekeh. Rabshekeh rebuffed Hezekiah for thinking he could buy his way out of this, or hire Egypt to help him, or think the Lord would help them. He boasted that the Lord was the one who sent him to destroy them. *** Hezekiah’s officers asked him to speak to them in Aramaic so their soldiers couldn’t understand. He refused and addressed them instead. He told them that if they listened to Hezekiah they would be doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, but if they surrendered to him, they would be taken to his land where they would have their own land and eat bread and drink wine. He told them not to listen to Hezekiah because the gods of other nations had not been able to save them. What makes them think that the Lord will not be able to deliver them out of their hands. *** Judah’s men remained quiet because they had been instructed not to answer. When Hezekiah heard what Rabshekeh said, he tore his clothes and wore sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord to pray. He sent his men to ask Isaiah what they should do. Isaiah told them not to be afraid of the words of Rabshekeh because he reviled the Lord with his words. God would put a spirit in him so he would hear a rumor and return to his ow land. He would die of the sword in his own land. *** Rabshekeh sent another letter to Hezekiah threatening him again and reminding him of all the nations he had defeated. Hezekiah took the letter and spread it out in the temple of the Lord. He prayed that God would save them so that all the kingdoms of the earth would know that he is the only God. *** Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah saying that the Lord heard his prayer and repeated a prophesy about Sennacherib. It was true that he would turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins and destroy nations, but he had defied the Holy One of Israel, and God would retaliate. God would put a hook in his nose and a bit in his mouth and he would return the way he came. *** For Judah, Isaiah prophesied, she would eat from what grows this year and the next year. In the third year, they will sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat from their fruit. A remnant would survive. *** God also said the king of Assyria would not return to harm the city because the Lord would defend it for his name sake and for the sake of David. *** That night the angel of death went and killed 185,000 Assyrians in their camp. Senecherib went back home to Nineveh and was assassinated by his own son in the temple of his god. Esarhaddon, another son ruled in his place. *** In Acts, Paul and Luke and their friends left Ephesus and traveled to Jerusalem. All the way people were prophesying over Paul and warning him not to go to Jerusalem because he would be persecuted and end up in prison. Paul had to trust the spirit of God inside him and kept going toward Jerusalem. He was not afraid of chains or imprisonment; he was more afraid of missing God’s plan for his life. *** When they finally arrived in Jerusalem, they stayed with Mnason who had been an early disciple of theirs. *** Lord, may we be like Paul who was not afraid of death or persecution. May we fear you above our comfort.