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The goal of the enemy is to render us hopeless in the face of our circumstances. The world, Satan, and even our own hearts influence our minds to these dark places. Even though the Assyrians accuse Hezekiah of being seduced, they have been seduced by their own power. They believe the God of Israel is just another god to be manipulated by man in order to achieve victory. In this way, they truly believe that their power is above God’s.
The temptation for the Judah would be to respond in panic. We tend to freak out for a minute and lose our sense of direction. This is exactly the battle plan of the enemy. He wants to destroy our willpower. He wants to leave us with no options. We so quickly forget that repentance is always an option.
The question that plagues many aspects of our life is – should I trust God or trust humans? Our temptation is to trust ourselves, or others, to help squeeze out of a tough situation. As we will see in the next chapter, Hezekiah rightly seeks the Lord.
What do you do when you are overwhelmed? How do you cope?
This chapter really reminds me of the necessity to meditate on Scripture. When Satan came to Adam and Eve, as well as Jesus, he used the same exact tactics. He twisted truth while trying to draw out a quick and foolish decision. Adam and Even fell. Jesus did not. The difference was, Jesus used the promises of Scripture to fight the enemy. He meditated on the Word (He WAS the Word in the flesh), and He stood on that firm foundation.
The importance of the Word is not just to learn stuff, but to apply it as well. We must meditate on the Word so that when the enemy comes knocking, we have the firepower to withstand the flaming arrows!