2 Chronicles 32

What a mistake the king of Assyria made thinking the God of Judah was like the gods of other nations. How important encouragement is to remind us of the truth and value of believing and following God and allowing that faith to drive out fear…even in the presence of an apparently superior enemy. As the king of Assyria tries to discourage Judah from trusting God and flaunts all the things he had done to put down other gods, it reminded me of the naysayers in our own lives as well as the voices in our own heads that discredits God and makes believing Him seem foolish. And yet, that is exactly what we should do with a God who is so good and so powerful. And He does not disappoint, both here in our passage and in our lives. He sends an angel who destroys all the fighting men of Assyria. So just like that, what seemed to be a lost cause, what seemed like a clear victory for the enemy of Israel turns into their defeat. It is just like our God to turn the tables like that and then we see how there was no reason to doubt Him in the first place.

Now with all the good Hezekiah did, God grants him a miracle to spare his life. And yet it leads to pride in his heart rather than appreciation and humility. We are all subject to disobedience and wrong thinking, but the important thing is to to confess our wrong and repent quickly so we can be under the favor of God once again. The problem with great wealth is the pride that comes along with it and the desire to have everyone know about our success and our riches. Hezekiah unfortunately shows it to the wrong people who say, we would like all those things for ourselves too…..and so we are going to come and take it. In some ways it is the beginning of the end for Judah. And maybe Hezekiah’s pride is the thing that aids in his son’s rejection of God….we will read about that disobedience in the next chapter.