September 19 – Hezekiah under Siege – 2 Kings 18
Today we see the reaction of King Hezekiah when he is under siege. Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king of Judah. Immediately he began tearing down the places of sacrifice to false gods and idols, and victoriously rebelled the Assyrian and Philistine oppression. He wholeheartedly began following after God. Verse 5 states the attitude of Hezekiah very plainly, “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.” In fact, no king before him or after him trusted God like Hezekiah trusted God. A different attitude was adopted by Hezekiah when he was 39 years old. He began to second guess God ability to take care of his troubles. Verse 14 tells us how Hezekiah went to the enemy king to apologize and offer to pay tribute to have peace between them. Hezekiah gave his personal treasure from the palace, then began stripping down the temple of its gold and silver to give to an enemy king. Once Hezekiah began to back pedal on his faith and trust in God, he began a downward slide that he found very difficult to stop. Let’s not allow satan to push doubt and mistrust into our hearts. Let’s place our entire trust in God. Through good times and bad times, God will take care of you!
