Recently a very precious friend informed me that her daughter-in-law just received an unwanted diagnosis. Although this had been suspected, it was now confirmed. The disease runs on both sides of this gal's family, and all who have walked the road ahead of her have passed away as the sickness has spread. The track record before her is not encouraging. This sweet gal is scared. The stats are not stacked on her side. Why should her outcome be any different?
King Sennacherib of Assyria sends a message to king Hezekiah in Jerusalem, taunting him, mocking the idea of trusting in God as his defense. He boasts, "You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way!" Total annihilation is their "modus operandi", their habitual pattern of elimination. A history of such devastation is frightening to the next target on their warpath. With a previous performance of 100%, the outcome seems inevitable.
We far too often place our confidence only in what we can see. When the situation looks bleak, we break. Hope is hard to hang on to when the ground seems shaky and the battle appears lost before it even begins. We seem to believe that if something has always ended a certain way prior, we might as well surrender to the inevitable. Nothing is going to change.
Hezekiah's response to king Sennacherib's insults and boasting is such an example of how we should all respond when we feel up against a wall. After reading the letter from the messengers, he goes up to the Temple of the LORD, places the document before God and lifts his voice in prayer. He acknowledges God's sovereignty and sufficiency. He doesn't deny that the Assyrian king has blazed a path of destruction, destroying many nations, but Hezekiah recognizes a truth that Sennacherib does not. The LORD alone is God and He has the final say!
When hit with a crisis, often panic follows, but instead Hezekiah focuses on the power of his God. If the LORD is God, there is absolutely nothing He cannot do. Not one thing is beyond His control. Although repeated actions do normally result in the same outcome, that is not true of God. Just because a previous pattern has been established in the past, it does not mean the end will be the same the next time. Sennacherib, in asking, "Why should you be any different?" removed God from the equation. The Lord does not fit into any box or standardized testing. He cannot be assessed on a principle of consistency. Although His character and attributes never change, His ways are greater, higher, and bigger. Everything should always be different with the Lord!
We can't give up or throw down our weapons in defeat when circumstances appear desperate. If we set our minds on collapse, the agonizing realities of life will overwhelm us. We must train our hearts to focus on believing that it is only God who controls the outcome of our days. Scripture tells us that every single day of our lives was written by God in His book before even one came to be. God is not surprised by what startles us. He carefully plans and specifically controls each detail. When a detour, distraction, diagnosis or disaster shakes our resolve, God is not surprised and He has a plan of rescue in place.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, "This is what the LORD says; Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against Me from the Assyrian king's messengers. Listen! I Myself will move against him..." God is setting Himself up to move against the "Assyrian king" in your way. And when God moves, awesome things happen!
Why should you be any different? I'll tell you why. Because God in you makes all things new!
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