But with us is the LORD our God

II Chronicles 32

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Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

II Chronicles 32:7-8

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I don't mean to be irreverent with my picture, but that is the type of image that popped in my mind when I read this verse. Also, I know that I have already written a devotion from my daily reading of these chapters, but this is too good to skip over! When a king makes a statement like this, we should take note!

King Hezekiah was surrounded by the Assyrian army. The enemy was standing outside the city shouting insults and threats to the people. They were blaspheming the name of God. Their claim was that no other god had been able to protect the people Assyria had invaded, and neither would the God of the Jews. With the overwhelming number of enemies, history of the enemies success, and the threats that were hurled at them, fear and hopelessness set in on the people.

Then King Hezekiah spoke up. He tells them to be strong and courageous, the opposite of afraid and dismayed. Where the people wanted to give up because they could not see a way out of their current situation, Hezekiah told them to stand firm. How often do we find ourselves in such a situation? We look around and do not see a way out, an escape, so we want to give up.

Hezekiah also called out the specific threat. We need to know who our enemy is. While this verse is a proclamation, I can assure you there were prayers going up as well. These were prayers from a specific enemy at a specific time. These were not general "God protect us from whatever threats may come our way" prayers. They were prayers like "God protect me from that co-worker who is trying to get me fired", "God protect me from these people who want to take my home because of this unexpected medical debt", "God protect our church from Ralph and Mark who are trying to destroy the church with heresy and discord". For the record, I do not know a "Ralph and Mark" that are trying to destroy a church. We should call out specific threats, especially call them out to God.

"For there be more with us than with him." I hear this and I cannot help but think of John's words in I John 4:4, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." I know it is not a quote, but I have to wonder if the story of Hezekiah was on his mind when he wrote this verse. As we will see, Hezekiah was saying that the hosts of Assyria were few compared to God. John is saying that the hosts of hell are few compared to God.

"With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles." Hezekiah went straight to the power source of the two armies. Assyria was depending on the arm of flesh. If they were going to rely on human strength to win, they needed a huge army because human strength fails due to fatigue, fear, and death. Hezekiah tells Judah that their strength comes from the LORD. Not only is he their strength, he is the one fighting the battles. Even though Assyria had their recent history of defeating nations and growing their empire, Israel had a long standing history of God fighting for, and protecting them.

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And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

II Chronicles 32:8

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What a way to end this verse. Hezekiah makes a proclamation of faith in God and the people were at rest. Notice, there is not detail that said the enemy had yet left. They hadn't, they were still outside the gates yelling and threatening. Nothing about Jerusalem's circumstances had changed. Yet, they rested upon the promise of God spoken by a Godly leader. Oh that we had Godly leaders like Hezekiah in America today. Leaders to remind us that even though our circumstances may be bad, God can fight our battles. God can and will fight our battles if we rest in him.

I grew up hearing the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." I tried for a while to be calloused to words, but truth is, words can hurt worse than a beating. While physical violence may bruise our body, words have a way of worming deep into our brains and tormenting us. Words are 90% of a terrorist attack. The act of violence is usually not nearly as bad as the fear that is spread because of the telling of what happened. This is not a modern media phenomenon, this tactic has been used for thousands of years. The first person to use it was Satan.

Christian, no doubt that Satan has, is, or will hurl insults, fears, and doubts at you. He will attack your insecurities. Who are you going to trust? Are you going to trust Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) or, are you going to trust God who said "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5)? Will you rest on God's word, even if your circumstances do not change?

Father help me to rest in your word. Satan loves to remind me of all my failures. He loves to remind me that I am inadequate. If I allow him, he will bring me down into fear, regret, and hopelessness. Help me to rest in the fact that you knew me before you called me. You knew me before you called me to salvation and you knew me before you called me to serve you. You knew all my faults, past, present, and future, and you called me anyway. You knew all of this and you loved me anyway. You knew all of this when you gave your life for mine. Help me to rest in that, and not fear or be dismayed by the enemy. Amen