WHAT NOW?

 WHAT NOW?

 2021! Do you like the ring of that? I do. Many of the key events in my life have happened in years that end in “1”.

 1971: Met my wife, Alba; met my Savior, Jesus. 

1981: Our daughter, Miriam, was born.

1991: Moved to El Paso. 

2001: Had my first heart attack; my oldest grandson was born. 

 What will 2021 hold? Who knows! 2020 sure surprised everyone. After all…

 Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV) A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

 We do not know when things with the virus will turn and some sense of normalcy will return.

The people of God were in a similar situation during the reign of King Hezekiah. Isaiah gave the people of Judah an idea about what was to come. The story is told in 2 Kings 18 and 19, 2 Chronicles 32, and Isaiah 36 and 37. 

Hezekiah was the greatest king of Judah. 

2 Kings 18:5–7 (NKJV) He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

He was a reviver. He cleansed and repaired the Temple; he restored Temple worship; he reinstated Passover.

He was a reformer. He destroyed pagan worship in Judah; he reinvigorated the priesthood and re-established its support.

He was a commander. 

2 Chronicles 32:5-8 (NKJV) And he strengthened himself, built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired the Millo in the City of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. Then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate, and gave them encouragement, saying, “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. 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 were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

The Assyrians were plowing through the Middle East and conquering nations left and right. They had decimated Israel and now set their sights on Judah and Jerusalem. They conquered the surrounding cities and isolated Jerusalem, leaving it cut off and seemingly helpless. Their agriculture was devastated, water was limited, and enemies were knocking at the door.

Representatives from Assyria came; they told the people to surrender and they would be taken care of. The people kept quiet. The threats compounded. Word reached Hezekiah. 

How did King Hezekiah respond?

First: he went to God in humility.

Isaiah 37:1 (NKJV) And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

When trouble comes, we know where to go and how to go. 

Second: he sought counsel from Isaiah. 

Isaiah 37:2 (NKJV) Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

We all need a man of God we can go to for advice and counsel. Isaiah gave him a prophetic word. Sometimes we need a word! 

Isaiah 37:6–7 (NKJV): And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

The enemy returns and questions the word. This is how he functions. “Yea, has God said?”

Isaiah 37:10–13 (NKJV): Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

This is the issue: The enemy comes and shouts that “your God is no different from all the other spiritual crutches people use. He cannot deliver you. And even if He could, He won’t!”

Third: Hezekiah literally lays his burden before God. 

Isaiah 37:14–20 (NKJV) And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 18 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.”

I have known people who literally laid their bills on the kitchen table and asked Him to pay them. We cannot be afraid of the miraculous. We must hang on to the truth that God can and He will! “Lord, if you are willing?” “I am!”

Isaiah comes with an affirmation. Because the Assyrians had questioned the power of God, they would be judged. He goes on for several verses about that accusation and then says…

Isaiah 37:33–35 (NKJV): Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the Lord. 35 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”

Fourth, God gives a sign. 

Isaiah 37:30–31 (NKJV) This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap,

Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. 31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.

God will miraculously take care of you. You couldn’t harvest last year, but there will be enough to feed you. You won’t harvest this year, but there will be enough to feed you. Then, I will remove the enemy and you will sow and reap, plant and eat! You will stay rooted and fruitful!

Listen, we may not get out of this for a couple of years, but God will take care of you! 

Psalm 37:25 (NKJV) I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.

Fifth, God brings supernatural deliverance. 

Isaiah 37:36 (NKJV) Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.

Psalms 34:7 (NKJV) The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.

How does the story end? 

Just like God said it would!

Isaiah 37:37–38 (NKJV) So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. 38 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

What do we take home today?

1.    The devil will tell you God doesn’t love you; he doesn’t hear you; he has deserted you. 

2.    Take it to the Lord. 

3.  God will provide for you.

4.    God will prove Himself to you.

God can summon His angels and this plague will be gone in an instant. Whatever problem you face, God can snap His fingers and it will be gone in an instant. Our God is able!

Romans 4:21 (NKJV) and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

MINISTRY TIME Alba