10 June
Choices
Thus saith the king of Assyria, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he shall not be able to deliver you. Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern.
2 Kings 18:28 to 31 (paraphrased)Now isn't this a common line? We heard these lines in the Garden of Eden, when Satan tempted Eve. We heard these lines when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. You've probably heard something along these lines as well.
Choices ... we all have choices to make. Gods people had a huge choice here. They were faced by one of the mightiest armies, Assyria, at a time when King Hezekiah had almost nothing to fight back with. So the king of Assyria thought he would give the people a choice — either join him and enjoy the good of the land or stay with King Hezekiah, who has his hope in a God that Assyria has not heard of, and die with their king.
Tough choice. You can take the easy way out (there is always an easy way out) or stand by the God you proclaim to believe in and die fighting for the cause. Satan is a great deceiver and can appear as an angel of light. He will give you the easy way out and bind you for years; for the rest of your life if he can.
I encourage you today to remain steadfast in the LORD. When you remain steadfast and you stand on the Word of God, you will ALWAYS have the victory.
In every trial that you go through, theres an easy way out. For depression, the worlds cure is suicide. Sickness, the cure is chronic medication. Financial problems — go running to the bank. Marriage problems? Get a divorce.
King Hezekiah did not give in to the Assyrian blasphemies. Instead, he cried out to God, and God heard him. And God replied, "Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard," and that night, "the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand."