Hezekiah & What to do when your faith is Tested

Sometimes in life faith is tested.  Really tested.  When all the world seems poised against us and our core will be challenged.  In these moments, when the rubber meets the road and the strength and source of our faith is shaken, it is good to know that God is there, and He will show up in our greatest hour of need.

Although most of the Bible deals with this very thing; however, for the purposes of this brief discussion, only the story of Hezekiah and Sennacherib will be examined.  This story is chronicled in both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.

Sennacherib is the king of Assyria, at their heights of power they were the most powerful and feared nation in all of the Ancient Near East.  Sennacherib was a fierce king, well-renown for his viciousness.  He had nearly conquered all of Israel during Hezekiah's reign over Judah, the southern kingdom.

Sennecharib had already destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and shipped the northern tribes of Israelites as exiles back to Assyria when he sent a diplomatic envoy to Hezekiah to send him a message.  Sennacherib, in no ambiguous terms, told Hezekiah to surrender of his own volition.  The heart of the Assyrian king's message was that Hezekiah should not trust in his god, for none of the gods of the previously deposed nations had been able to stay their hand of destruction.

To be sure, Sennacherib called out Hezekiah.  But more importantly, Sennacherib called out God by thinking of God as just another deity who would fail to stop his conquest.  Sennacherib was wrong; dead wrong.  For after he made such an audacious and prideful message against the God of Israel, 185,000 of the Assyrians fell dead in one night.  And upon Sennacherib's retreat back to the Assyrian capital, his two sons assassinated him while he was in his temple worshiping his god.

What is striking about this story is that, following Sennecharib's challenge, Hezekiah tore his clothes and prayed.  This should be our posture when we are faced with the same sorts of challenges to our faith: pray and seek God's counsel.  Additionally, God did not sit by idly but He showed up in force to destroy Sennacharib for his pride.  This is a sound indication that God is the God of all the universe.  We should take the mind of Hezekiah and when life strikes us, we should fall prostrate in faith before the Holy Lord.  Praise be to God, who will support us when we seek His face and presence in humility and faith!