In Whom Do You Now Trust?

Introduction/Context

Up until now, it has all been prophecy/poetry. Isaiah has prophesied that God is sovereign and would remain true to His covenant promises to David. Isaiah has been saying that if Israel trusts in God and leans into Him, then God will deliver them against their enemies.

The last 7 chapters was describing in detail why Israel needed to stop trusting in Egypt (it had formed an alliance with Egypt to fend off Assyria) and to trust in God for its salvation. They worshipped God with their lips, but their hearts were far removed from him (29:13). Their actions showed that they didn’t trust God.

Hezekiah decided to change this and brought reform. He tore down the alters of the other gods, and restored worship of God alone in all the land. We learn in 1 Kings 18 that he sent messengers out to all Israel to have them come and offer sacrfices to God as well. In this context, Israel is invaded by the Assyrians and its cities are plundered and ransacked.

King of Assyria has just conquered all of the lands surrounding Israel, and all of Israel except for Jerusalem. The king, Hezekiah, is walled up inside in city, about to be besieged.

Only Jerusalem stands. Only the City of David is left.

We have two stories in between poetry-

36-37 - Trust in God

37-38 - Trust in Self

See a contrast between when we trust in God and when we trust in ourselves.

Leads up to this moment: Has everything Isaiah said been just empty words? Is he even a prophet? Is God even listening to Him, or him to God?

Climax: What will Israel do? What will God do?

Title of the sermon comes from the Assyrians challange to Israel: In whom do you now trust?

Body

Assyria comes before Jerusalem. At the gates, send messengers to talk with Hezekiah’s messengers.

Look at how many times he challenges their trust in God. Really, in every main passage he mentions how foolish it is to trust in God in some form. Look for it when we read the short summary verses.

Irony- all of the main theological and practical points come from the mouth of the enemies:

1. The foolishness of trusting in any other god/idol than the one, true God.

Deliverance comes from the Lord, and Him alone.

because….

2. God alone is sovereign, God alone is in control of all things.

read verses 4-7

read verses 13-16a, 18-20

chapter 37

Hezekiah gets the message- tears his clothes, covers himself with sackcloth and ashes.

And what is the first thing he does? Goes into the house of the Lord.

Sends a message to Isaiah the prophet, who could speak to God on behalf of Israel.

Isaiah says that God says to not be afraid. He will send the Assyrians away and kill the leader with a sword in his own land.

At this time, Another nation threated to attack Assyria, so, as God said, they withdrew. However,

The Assyrians returned to say that they still planned to attack Jerusalem.

read verses 37:10-12.

This was terrifying. The Assyrians were truly one of the most powerful nations of that time, and they were going from city to city, nation to nation and wiping everyone out. They had become so strong that no one could stop them. And they knew it. Look how the Assyrians are bragging about their strength. They keep saying, “Where is this god of this nation? Where is that god from that nation? Oh, right, we killed them. Their god couldn’t save them. And guess what, your God won’t save you from us either.

Hezekiah gets the message, and what does he do? He again goes directly into the house of the Lord.

Outline his prayer

Ackowleding who God is. Establishing the Creator-creature distinction. He is God and no one else. He alone rules on high. No one else can save them, except God.

Bringing his request before Him, and being honest. Truly, this was a force too great for them to handle. They were powerless, in need of salvation.

Making the ultimate aim not his personal gain, but God’s glory

Not a bad prayer structure to copy. There is absolutely no one right way to pray. There are wrong ways. But many right ways. And this, this is a real prayer. Humbling yourself before God and exalting Him. Reminding yourself and Him who you are and who He is. Being honest with Him, bringing your fears and worries and the relaity of your situation before Him, holding nothing back, and closing it by asking that above all, that He would answer this prayer ultimately for His glory. And truly desiring that to be the ultimate end. Wow. Yes, God, I am asking something for myself, and I can do that in full confidence without fear or shame. But ultimately, I want to see you glorified through this situation more than getting what I want. Not a bad way to pray.

1 Peter 5:6 ESV

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

BECAUSE YOU HAVE PRAYED v 21. God links His actions with his prayer. Because you have prayed, I will now act.

This is a different Hezekiah than before. Before, Hezekiah would pray, but he would also form an alliance with Egypt. Now, there is not mention of Egypt, not looking for help somewhere else. There is first and foremost prayer

Quote: “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

Now we get to the: Climax: All the pieces are set. The army is outside the gates. Israel is walled up inside the city, praying to God for deliverance. They are outnumbered, outmanned, running out of food and water. What will become of those who have put their trust in the Lord?

And then God answers. And He reveals the biggest plot twist of the whole story.

God’s response:

PLOT TWIST:

Remember how the messenger of Assyria said “do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “the Lord will surely deliver us.” “Have any of the other gods delivered the nations from our hands?

verse 23

God has planned this from eternity past: He caused the Assyrians to attack Israel because of their unfaithfulness, and He will save Israel because of their faithfulness now. He will destory the nation and save His holy city.

Verse 35: “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my sevant David.” God saved His people because He had made a covenant with them, and promised that He would bring the Messiah through them.

Following action: God kills 185,000 people. They retreat back to their country. And, as God said would happen, Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, was killed by his own children while worshipping in the house of his god.

Israel was faced with an impossible situation: It was a blessing in disguise- this time they couldn’t trust in anyone else. They needed to trust in God and God alone. Its often like that: we often don’t realize how much we need God until something huge happens that throws us back on Him. That’s human nature. We see that over and over again in the Bible, that our natural tendancy is to trust anything except God. But as children of God, as ones saved by Christ, we have the privilage of knowing what its like to be saved by Him. We see Hezekiah make the right choice. Instead of sending word to Egypt for help or rallying up his armies, what does he do? He goes into the house of the Lord. He seeks God. He brings his request to Him. In whom do you now trust?

This is a beautiful proof to this quote.

What we also sometimes forget is that Jesus told us very clearly, you can’t do anything without me! We know that we are helpless when we feel it, when we have an army outside our house waiting to destroy us, when there is this impossible challange in front of us. But we forget that everyday, from the smallest to the largest things, we need God.

Its an important reminder: In whom do you now trust? When things go from bad to worse, what do you run to? I hope this story has encouraged you to run into the house of the Lord at all times, but esepcially when you are in trouble.

Its so tempting to trust more in our problems than in the Lord. I trust more in this unexpected bill that I have no idea how I’m going to pay than I do in the Lord’s faithfulness. I trust more in my fear of what others think of me than I do in what God thinks of me. Its often the case that I trust more in my problems than I do in God. But God shows us here, even the biggest problem that Israel had possibly ever faced was still in God’s control.

We might not understand the plan of God at times, and we don’t have to, but what we can do at all times is trust that He is good, He is sovereign, and He will do all things for our good and His glory.

Its a question we can ask ourselves daily, whether we are facing a challenging problem or its a seemingly normal day: In whom do you now trust? In whom am I now trusting? Don’t have time for it, but I mentioned that there are two stories in Isaiah 36-39. We read 36-37 and saw the beautiful result of trusting in God. 38-39 is the unfortuntae result of not trusting in God, but in ourselves. You can read that on your own time.

This is also true for salvation: We don’t normally feel the need for salvation. When something big happens, when a loved one is dying or a tragedy happens, you see people asking for prayer out of desperation. And I understand that. But what breaks my heart is that these situations do not make you need God more than normal, they just show what’s always been there. Those tragic moments where even the atheist is crying out for God, any god, to save him, is just a moment’s glance into reality. Pulling back the viel for just a moment, only to cover it back up again. But for those moments, you knew, I can’t do this- I need something greater than me to save me. Hezekiah had this moment, and he made the right choice. He ran to God, because He knew that God was the only one who could save him. Don’t wait until something tragic happens in your life to ran back to God.

In whom do you now trust?