4th January
Read Psalm 142
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
This Psalm of David is headed that it was when he was in the ‘cave’ probably the cave of Adullam, mentioned in 1 Samuel 22:1 where David was in hiding and in fear of his life. There are two things running side by side through this Psalm. The first is that of a terrible sense of helplessness and hopelessness, the other is that of determination to seek God in every predicament. Let us always remember in this and every year that when in difficulty “God is my refuge” (v5)
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday Isaiah 36:1-6
Most of the early chapters of Isaiah have been written within a context of Judah being under the cosh of the Assyrian empire. Syria and Israel had been overrun and conquered, the cities of Judah had likewise been defeated and now Sennacherib intended to defeat Jerusalem and its King and thus control the country of Judah.
From Chapter 36 we are given some historical background to things happening on the ground an what we see is the Rabshakeh or field commander of the Assyrian forces confidently marches up to the city of Jerusalm and is met by King Hezekiah’s officials. His message for them to take back is that they might as well give up because they have no chance. The Assyrians taunt them knowing that they have been trying to seek Egypts help against them but it will be useless because they are relying on a “splintered shaft that will pierce the hand that leans on it” (v6)
The temptations that we are faced with are not much different for Satan knows that making us feel helpless is the way to go. Even if Satan tells us the truth – that we are rotten sinners with no power, he isn’t doing it to drive us to God who forgives sinners and delivers them, no he just wants our confidence to collapse. Wait, and let us read through the chapters to follow.
Tuesday Isaiah 36:7-10
The Rabshakeh turns next to matters religious and to Hezekiah’s reputation with his people. Hezekiah in obedience to God had gone about a large scale clearing of the altars scattered around the towns of Judah because the worship of God was to take place where the Ark of the Covenant was, in Jerusalem. The Rabshakeh tells him that if he is depending on God then he should not have destroyed all these other altars in the country. Sometimes people can charge Christians as not being true because they do things that the outside person doesn’t understand.
The Rabshakeh begins to mock Hezekiah now by telling him to produce riders (which he couldn’t) and he would provide him with 2000 horses. The mocking attitude is often another of the enemy’s tactics designed to make us fall into depression and defeat but on top of which he tells Hzekiah that he came to do what he intends because God told him to. Very probably true though the end destruction of Jerusalem would not be yet. This passage needs to be read when we feel down and nearly out.
Wednesday Isaiah 36:11-22
The meeting with Hezekiah’s officials took place in sight of and in the earing of the people on the walls of the city. The three officials asked the commander to speak in Arabic which they understood not in Hebrew so that the people listening on the city wall wouldn’t hear the message they were giving. The Rabshakeh would have none of it though and spoke even louder to the people of the city, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall” (v12) because he told them that what he had to say would affect them all.
Sometimes there are things we wish not to hear, we can shut our ears to them, but at the end of the day we should hear everything about our lives. The commander told the people not to trust Hezekiah because he would not be able to save them – which was true but Hezekiah told the people to put their trust not on him but in the Lord and that was quite different. Nevertheless the commander doesn’t even care about that, telling the people that the gods of surrounding nations hadn’t been able to save them so how could the Lord save Jerusalem from the Assyrian army (v20). The people in obedience to Hezekiah said nothing in reply (v21).
When the tempter of our souls tells us bad things that will happen to us, like Jesus at his trial we need to say nothing. Just wait. The Lord will do what he decides and faith in him won’t be misplaced.
Thursday Hezekiah 37:1-13
When the message of the commander of the Assyrian forces was related to Hezekiah what did he do? He went to the temple and in sackcloth (the sign of mourning) he poured out his sorrows to the Lord and then summoned his top officials to say to them what they also knew that this was a depressing time for them all but that because it was part of a spiritual battle between God and his enemies it may be that God will hear their prayer and save the remnant of the people in Jerusalem who survive. He tells them to pray and to go to Isaiah the prophet to see whether there was a word from the Lord
It is always the right track in time of difficulty to head for the throne of God and make our requests known. When they arrived at Isaiah he told them not to be afraid because the siege would cease and the troops of Sennacherib would withdraw which they did because a force of Egyptians were coming up from the South to engage with the Assyrians and so the Rabshakeh withdrew from Jerusalem to bolster the numbers of Sennacherib’s main army. However he doesn’t leave before telling Hezekiah not to imagine that this was the end of things. It was his bold, “I’ll be back” threat, still designed to strike fear into the King and his people. We will see how Hezekiah deals with this.
Friday Hezekiah 37:14-20
These verses tell us of Hezekiah receiving of the Rabshakeh’s departing message and what he does about it. He does nothing different from what he did to begin with though here he takes the threatening letter into the temple and spread it before God as though to say, “look at it, Lord” and then he engages in a wonderful prayer starting with the sovereignty of God and then saying, “look at these words”. When we begin with the bigness of God all other things shrink in significance so this is how we need to pray, don’t start with the problems we fact but with the greatness and power of our Lord.
He doesn’t pretend that there is no problem, on the contrary he says that all the things the Rabshakeh said about the power and victories of the Assyrians was true but all the gods of the others were idols of wood and stone completely unlike the God of the people of Israel and he asks for deliverance however we need to note that it wasn’t just for the selfish reasons of the pittle remnant in Jerusalem but “ so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God. (v20)
Saturday Isaiah 37:21-38
The close of the chapter recounts Isaiah’s message to Hezekiah as the Word of the Lord. It begins with a message to the Assyrian powers who had boasted about their victories and conquering power (v21-25). Then he tells them, “Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; (v26), in other words all the things that have happened under your earthly regime, I have planned. And he tells the Assyrian emperor that he will put a hook in his nose and a bit in his mouth and lead him back to where he came from (v29) and he tells Hezekiah that things will ease and harvests will again ripen and be collected and that a band of survivors will remain.
The conclusion of Sennacherib’s life is that he will not get to enter Jerusalem as he had planned his army would die at the hands of the Angel of the Lord – it may have been through epidemic – such that in a short time after the death of many he would have to break camp and return to Nineveh. The chapter closes with a note about his eventual assignation. Hezekiah’s faithfulness is given a great reward in all of this.