May 1, 2025 - 2 Chronicles 32-33

Far far from perfect, yet, Hezekiah was a good king and faithful in so many ways.  Yet . . . “After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself (32:1).  Hezekiah took things in hand, working with Jerusalem’s water supply and strengthening the city’s wall and defenses.  Still, on came Sennacherib with almost 200,000 troops, and he began to besiege the city and mock Hezekiah’s efforts:  “Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands?  Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand?” (32:13-14). Those gods were helpless against Assyria but not Israel’s God.  Of course, Hezekiah, having planned and put into place what he hoped would turn Assyria away, first had to be humbled.  And when he finally listened to Isaiah, he prayed, “O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord” (Isaiah 37:20).  Reliance upon God.  That’s our watchword for today.

In ages past the mighty Lord

by prophets spoke the Word,

and from their lips God’s great design

throughout the earth was heard.

In revelation, parable, bold fantasy and dream,

they echoed God’s eternal vow

to ransom and redeem.

A voice cries in the wilderness:

“Prepare a desert way,

where God may pass, bring righteousness,

and rule without delay.”

The weak who wait upon the Lord

with eagles’ strength shall rise,

imagined blessings of the past

now real before their eyes.   –Michael Morgan (c. 1996)