Who Do You Believe? By Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
Even though we are Christians, we will always face problems and will have to ask ourselves: “Who do we believe?” Do we believe the promises in God’s word, or do we fall into a state of fear because of the problems?
2 Kings 18 tells the story of King Hezekiah, one of the good kings of Judah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and he “removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.” He also broke the bronze snake Moses had made into pieces because the Israelites had been burning incense to it.
King Hezekiah was doing everything right, but he still faced the threat of an attack by the King of Assyria. Even when we are in a good place, attacks come, don’t they?
Hezekiah had a choice to believe that God would protect Judah, or to crumble and surrender to the threats of the king of Assyria, who attempted to coax the people of Judah by saying, “’Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us. Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?’”
After hearing this, King Hezekiah humbled himself by tearing his clothes and putting on sackcloth in the Temple. He acknowledged God, proclaiming, “LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth,” and he asked God to deliver Judah.
The LORD God took care of it, defended Judah by putting 185,000 to death in the Assyrian camp, so the Assyrians retreated, and later, the threatening King of Assyria was killed by his own sons—a horrible end.
What this story tells us is that even when hardship comes, we have to trust that the LORD Almighty will act on our behalf. Sometimes, through the threats that face us, God is asking, “Do you believe me? Do you believe my promises, and that I will fight for you?”
Let’s be like Hezekiah, who faced a takeover but, instead of feeling hopeless, pressed harder into the hope God provides.
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