Besieged
by Lynda Scott
Recently I have been reading about the life of King Hezekiah in the Old Testament. It’s a fascinating story. He was the son of King Ahaz, who did not walk in the Lord’s ways. No doubt Hezekiah’s mother Abijah was a godly woman. In the first month Hezekiah became king he purified and repaired the temple and set in place a series of godly reforms for the nation of Judah.
However the world power of the time was Assyria, led by King Sennacherib. They had a massive army that they used to intimidate and control and conquer the surrounding nations. The time came when King Sennacherib decided to march against Jerusalem and King Hezekiah. Imagine how Hezekiah must have felt. There were 185000 soldiers camped outside the gates of Jerusalem! He was responsible for the safety of his people and they were facing imminent annihilation. The field commander of the Assyrian army came to the walls to mock Hezekiah and the God in whom he trusted, to make the people all along the walls listening tremble with fear.
So what did Hezekiah do? He humbled himself, he sought the word of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah, and then he prayed. Today’s verses are a part of King Hezekiah’s prayer. Then another word came to him from Isaiah, from the Lord, - ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him…’ (Isaiah 37:21-22). That night as the Assyrian army slept in their tents at the gates of Jerusalem, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death the whole army - 185000 of them (Isaiah 37:36)! What an extraordinary deliverance. In one night the future for King Hezekiah and the nation of Judah was changed from death to life, despair to victory, poverty to prosperity.
There are times in our lives when we feel like we’re facing a problem the size of the Assyrian army - an insurmountable problem that threatens to destroy us. We want to trust in God, but we see the size of the problem, and we’re completely overwhelmed. There seems no hope, or possible resolution to the problem. To make things worse, all we can hear are the taunts of the evil one telling us how foolish we are for trusting God, and saying ‘He won’t save you’. We’re caught between fear and faith.
If this is where you are today, take heart. Do as King Hezekiah did. Humble yourself, seek the Word of the Lord and pray. Then let your miracle be in the Lord’s hands, and when it comes, give Him all the glory.
Prayer: Father, today I feel besieged with this overwhelming problem. I can’t see how to get through this. I humble myself today. Forgive me for fearing and not trusting You. I seek Your word for my situation and I ask You in Your great mercy to deliver me. May my deliverance be for Your glory and be a testimony showing those I know that You alone are God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Lynda Scott was first introduced to Ellel Ministries at a conference led by Peter and Fiona Horrobin in 1996 when she was miraculously healed following a devastating accident. Lynda has continued her association with Ellel Ministries over the years and has recently written her story “Lynda: From Accident & Trauma to Healing & Wholeness.” She lives in Australia with her husband Leigh and 3 children, who are all at school. She works in a local health clinic, as well as helping her husband with the administration of their beef cattle farm.
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