21 JULY 2024 devotional

“And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.” (I Kings 19:14-15)

Normally I don’t do this, but tonight this is personal. Not like when I opened up to you the other day, but more immediate and definitely more militant.

This has been a day of great turmoil in our world and everyone is scrambling for answers. It has also been a day of great turmoil in my own personal life at work. Maybe it has something to do with the full moon we have outside tonight – that makes everyone a little crazy. Whatever the excuse, people are grabbing for power and control and stabbing whoever gets in their way. That is the way of the world.

Tonight I want to re-encourage you (as I did a few days ago) on our proper response to attacks against us. We all can quote the verse that says “No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that would rise up against me in judgment I will condemn…” That’s all well and good. And very true. That is a good base from which to operate – knowing that God has your back. But there are a couple of deeper actions you can take to go from defensive to offensive. I won’t share one of those with you because I’m not sure your maturity in the Lord level. This one I will share.

Hezekiah had received from the king of Assyria a very hostile, condescending, threatening letter. In this letter, Hezekiah was reminded of other former enemies of this particular king and his exploits against them. He was further threatened that he was foolish to think some god would deliver him and the Israelites out of his hand. He was very arrogant and (as one of my superiors would say) snarky in the tone of this letter. What he had recounted was all true. He had, in fact, wiped out whole peoples, tribes, and countries by his sheer power and military might. His biggest mistake, however, was assuming the God of Israel was just another god.

My dear friends, our God is the only true God. He is the God of gods. His Son, Jesus, is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, and aside from Him there is no other. He has no equal. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-seeing. From Him comes our very life, and through His Word all creation continues to exist. He created Buddha in the womb, He created Mohammed in the womb, He created Krishna in the womb, He created all these “gods” just like He created you and me. And let’s not forget, He also created the one who is coming against you and me.

We see in this passage (including the verses following) how Hezekiah exalts God in his prayer. He tells God that he acknowledges Him as the true God. He lays out the threatening letter before God and allows God to take command of the situation. Sure, he wept over it and, no doubt, felt a measure of fear. Yet he knew to take it all to God and let Him handle it.

Tonight I encourage you to do the same thing. Turn it all over to God. Be still and know that He Is God. Stand still and see the salvation of God. Be at peace in your heart and make no back up plans. God doesn’t need them. He’s got this. Rest.

Be blessed.