Which King do YOU fear??

So let's continue the story in 2 Kings 19… 

Sennacherib, King of Assyria, sends this blasphemous letter to Hezekiah, King of Judah, telling him basically, "You can't trust in your God. Don't let him deceive you. He's not going to deliver you! Haven't you heard what we, the kings of Assyria, have done to all the nations, and you think you will escape?" 

It was a pretty wild letter and the scary thing was that part of it was true. Sennacherib and the Kings of Assyria had been successfully destroying all the other nations at the time. Much of Israel had already been destroyed and taken into captivity. So this letter was scary enough to make even the strongest god fearing King quake in his shoes. 

But what KING did King Hezekiah truly fear? The King of Assyria, or the King of Heaven?? What did he do? Stand around quaking in his shoes, or go before the God of the universe? 

In verse 14, we are told, "And Hezekiah received the letter…and read it…and went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord." 

Basically he told God, "Look, this King of Assyria is defaming your name. You have to do something. And I believe you can. After all, you are God and there is no other. Please save us!"

And what did God do? 

Well, that night He killed 185,000 Assyrians. The next morning, King Hezekiah saw nothing but dead men outside his walls. Only King Sennacherib, who had written that horrible letter, was left alive to see his entire army destroyed. You can imagine the shame with which he quickly departed alone to his own country. Was he left to live? No, not long after, as he was worshipping his pagan gods, God killed him as well. 

So the moral of the story? I hope it's pretty obvious. It was to me. No matter what comes against us, all we need to do is lay our problems before our God and ask for Him to intervene for His glory and name sake. We may not see dead corpses outside our door (at least right now, I hope we don't), but we should see dead sins and a good many other dead things. 

This chapter was so inspiring to me, and I pray that it will be to all of you as well. We still serve the same God who hears and answers prayer. He has not changed. So let's treat Him like the God that He is!

Review:

• Bible Thought: When you look at the struggles in your life, what King do you fear? The King of this world who is trying to take you captive, or the King of Heaven who is here to set the captives free?
• Blessing: I praise God for stories like this to encourage and boost our faith.
• Battle: That I not forget the God I serve who is ALWAYS able to deliver! He is the King I will fear. I will NOT listen to the voice and threats of the enemy…