07 10 08 Severe Warning

I don’t know about the weather in your area lately, but here in MD and along the East Coast it seems as though every time it rains there is a SEVERE WARNING. After so many warning, even our six year old is getting used to them. As a father and husband, I want to be sure everyone is safe and the house secure, but with so many warnings day by day, I find myself becoming frustrated! I actually enjoy just a nice steady rain now…no lightning, no thunder, no wind, no flooding, no clean-up.

This is to say nothing however of the spiritual battles we face day-to-day! We have yet to have a weapon staring at our face telling us to back down, leave, surrender or deny our faith. Not yet… But read this confrontation King Hezekiah was facing.

“When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the LORD’s temple. He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz: ‘This is what Hezekiah says: This is a day of distress, insults, and humiliation, as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the LORD your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said so pray for this remnant that remains.’”
(2 Kings 19:1-4 NET)

Assyria’s King replied,
“Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead (2 Kings 19:10 NET)

Hezekiah went to the Lord:
“It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands. They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. Now, O LORD our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, LORD, are the only God.”
(2 Kings 19: 17-19 NET)

God’s response…?
“This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria’... So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:
‘He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here.
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,
nor will he build siege works against it.
He will go back the way he came.
He will not enter this city,” says the LORD.
I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’
That very night the LORD’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses so King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.
(2 Kings 19:20-37)

When faced with a SEVERE WARNING, unnerving news, or unavoidable distress, we must do as King Hezekiah did…turn to the Lord. Before we react, we must act in prayer. At times prayer is all we can do and then we wait upon the Lord. At other times we pray then go to action. A SEVERE WARNING can bring severe conditions. God may calm the storm, but other times He calms those of us in the storm so we may act properly in the middle of it. As we go to our knees acknowledging God as the God, we find strength to stand and do battle!