When God doesn’t make logical sense and He tells you to do something. You must decide if you will believe Him, and then decide if you will obey what He has told you to do.
II Kings 19:7 I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor. NAS
In order to understand the significance of verse 7, we need to go back a few verses to find out the story. This could definitely be a time when God doesn’t make logical sense according to humans.
Israel was chosen by God to be His special people. He wanted to show the heathen nations around them that He was the One True God. And He could handle every circumstance or problem they might ever have.
God wanted them to put Him first in everything they did. They would stay close to Him for a time, then start a period of falling away. Every time this ended in severe consequences. They would cry out to God for help, and He would send someone to lead in their deliverance.
They had rebelled so many times against God that they had fallen far away from where they had started. Now they were divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms with different kings for each. The Northern Kingdom was captured and lost their freedom several years before the Southern Kingdom.
Now the story brings us to Hezekiah, who was the king of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. He was 25 when he became king and ruled for 29 years. He obeyed God and was completely faithful to Him for a number of years.
God made him successful in everything he did. This was because he had gotten rid of all heathen idols and utensils that had been used for heathen worship.
Hezekiah brought Judah back to a point of total worship and consecration to God.
But by his fourteenth year as king, Hezekiah was starting to fall away from God and Assyria came against Judah. The Assyrians were very powerful, and had conquered almost all the nations around them. From a human standpoint victory looked like a sure thing.
Since Hezekiah had fallen away from God, he easily believed that Judah could be beaten. He sent a message telling the king of Assyria that Judah would pay handsomely if they would stop their attack.
The king demanded 11 tons of silver and a ton of gold. Hezekiah took all the silver from the house of the Lord and all the treasure from the king’s house. He also cut off the gold from the door of the temple and the gold that overlaid the doorposts.
The messengers from Assyria had been sent to intimidate the Israelites into an easy surrender with the following words:
“Listen carefully to the words of The Great King, the king of Assyria: Don’t let Hezekiah fool you; he can’t save you. And don’t let Hezekiah give you that line about trusting in God, telling you, ‘God will save us—this city will never be abandoned to the king of Assyria.’ Don’t listen to Hezekiah—he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Listen to the king of Assyria—deal with me and live the good life; I’ll guarantee everyone your own plot of ground—a garden and a well! I’ll take you to a land sweeter by far than this one, a land of grain and wine, bread and vineyards, olive orchards and honey. You only live once—so live, really live! “No. Don’t listen to Hezekiah. Don’t listen to his lies, telling you ‘God will save us.’ Has there ever been a god anywhere who delivered anyone from the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? And Samaria—did their gods save them? Can you name a god who saved anyone anywhere from me, the king of Assyria? So what makes you think that God can save Jerusalem from me?” II Kings 18: 29-35
WOW! They were told “you only live once- so live, really live!” That sounds like today doesn’t it? But this was many years before the birth of Christ. I suppose in every age it is easier to live for yourself and concentrate only on getting what you want.
After that intimidating speech, it certainly looked like Assyria had the upper hand. Judah would be carried off to another land as Israel had been years before.
When the messengers from Hezekiah heard the news, they ripped their robes in despair and told the King what had been said.
When Hezekiah heard, he too ripped his clothes and dressed in rough burlap. He sent word to the prophet Isaiah and told him everything that had happened. He asked Isaiah to pray for Israel and ask God to send a miracle.
Isaiah answered them, “Tell your master, ‘God‘s word: Don’t be at all concerned about what you’ve heard from the king of Assyria’s bootlicking errand boys—these outrageous blasphemies. Here’s what I’m going to do: Afflict him with self-doubt. He’s going to hear a rumor and, frightened for his life, retreat to his own country. Once there, I’ll see to it that he gets killed.
Satan wasn’t about to give up this fight easily. So right after Isaiah gave the word from God, Sennacherib once again threatened Judah. They were reminded that not one country had been able to win against them, and Israel would not be the first.
Hezekiah went to the temple and cried out to God, praying fervently for victory. God responded back to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah. He said that He would fight for them and that Assyria would be doomed.
That very night an Angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up the next morning, they saw a whole camp of corpses.
The Assyrian king managed to escape, but it had been already prophesied by Isaiah that he would be killed. One day when he was worshiping in the temple, his own sons murdered him. This ended his reign of terror.
God was true to His Word. He gave Judah an awesome victory without them ever having to physically fight.
Many times God speaks a word of victory in the midst of a situation that looks absolutely and utterly impossible. When God doesn’t make logical sense, you have a decision to make.
Will you believe God or believe what you are physically seeing or hearing at the time.
Let’s believe what the Bible says so much that God must honor His Word. That’s the way He wants you to live each day. You can trust a God who loves you so much that He sent His son to die on a cross for your sin so you could have a way to reach God and have eternal life.
