God Rescues in Difference Day - Isaiah 34-39

Isaiah 37:5-7 (ESV)
When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

One of the major events during Isaiah, the prophets day, was the rise and fall of the surrounding nations.  Assyria was one of those nations.  They rose to power and began to invade the lands around them.  Although the they would eventually succumb to the Babylonian’s power, later, the Assyrians would first destroy and take captive the northern ten tribes of Israel.  Their ruler (during the above passage) was King Sennacherib, sent his highest ranking officer to taunt the southern two tribes, Judah.  Hezekiah was the leader of Judah and he took the taunts and the threats to Isaiah the prophet to know what God would have him do.  This might be the first lesson to learn in crisis management.   Hezekiah sought counsel from those higher than he was.  He was willing to listen to his spiritual adviser and God’s wisdom and counsel.  Perhaps he remembered Solomon’s proverb that tells us, “there is safety in a multitude of counselors.”  

When Isaiah hears of the threats, he tells Hezekiah the above passage.  Although later God will simply destroy Sennacherib, this time he simply uses a rumor to move them from the doorsteps of Jerusalem, Judah’s capital city.  A simple rumor moves the greatest army of the day to another place and away from God’s people.   Not a plague, not a sword (although that will happen in chapter 38), not another army or nation sent by God to support Hezekiah.  No, this time it was just a rumor.  God can use some strange ways to show His power.  He can come in thunder and lighting.  He can come in a small still voice (1 Kings 19).  To defeat Pharaoh’s army He came in ten plagues.   To defeat the Prince of Death (Satan) He sent His Son to die and raise again to defeat death (Hebrew 2:14).  But, this time God simply sent a rumor.   We should never underestimate or doubt God’s power to intervene on our behalf.  We have to be willing to ask God first.  After we ask, we can stand back and see what tool and approach God takes to solve our problems.