Read Through the Bible in a Year 2018 Day 117: A King Mocks God

Good morning, everyone!

Today I read 2 Kings 18-19.

Hezekiah becomes king of Judah. Remember, Israel have been captured by Assyria because they sinned against God without repentance.

But Hezekiah does what is right in the sight of God, and wherever he went, God was with him and prospered him.

Now, the Assyrian king decides to conquer Judah just like he conquered other nations. However, Hezekiah has taken down the false gods and altars and is serving God with all his heart, as David did.

So, when the king of Assyria comes, and taunts Hezekiah, threatening to take Judah just as he had taken all the kingdoms around them, he also declares that their God cannot save them, because none of the other gods had been able to.

Hezekiah does the right thing. Though he is dismayed, he goes to the house of God to pray, and he sends for the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah sends word not to be afraid. God has heard how the king of Assyria blasphemed Him, and He will take care of it.

But the king of Assyria writes a letter to Hezekiah, once again speaking against God.

So Hezekiah took the letter to the temple, and placed it before God.

2 Kings 19:15-19 - Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O LORD our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God."

And so God answered Hezekiah. While the Assyrians were camped, God struck 185,000 of them and they died in their sleep. When the camp awoke the next morning and found them dead, they returned to their home.

After returning, when the king was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, two men killed him.

Make no mistake. It is both foolish and dangerous to mock God. But God takes care of those who love and serve Him.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read 2 Kings 20-22.