What Does It Mean To Trust the Lord? Pt 2
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How many times have you heard or been told something to this effect, “you just need to trust the Lord”? How many times does God tell us to do this very thing in the Scriptures? It is one of the great themes of Scripture!
5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
We know what the words “trust the Lord” mean, but how well do we understand what it means to trust the Lord in real life?
“Doctrinal Statements are like skeletons—bare bones, but absolutely essential to give form and order and interconnection to the body of revealed truth. Stories flesh out that skeleton, incarnate that truth, demonstrate how the doctrine looks and moves and acts in the real world of flesh and blood.” —Layton Talbert (Not By Chance Learning to Trust a Sovereign God, 64)
This morning I want us to consider what it means (in real life) to trust the Lord from the story of a man named Hezekiah.
5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
Hezekiah is set forth as a shinning example of what it means to trust the Lord! There were no other kings of Judah before him or after him who trusted the Lord like Hezekiah did. What can we learn from Hezekiah? I think we can learn what it looks like to trust the Lord in the daily activities of our lives. How did Hezekiah trust the Lord? How can we be like him and learn to trust the Lord the way he did?
What does it mean to trust the Lord?
Trusting the Lord means:
I. You do not allow danger to keep you from doing right
I. You do not allow danger to keep you from doing right
II. You remain loyal even if God allows your efforts to fail
II. You remain loyal even if God allows your efforts to fail
III. You remain confident even if God allows others to ridicule you
III. You remain confident even if God allows others to ridicule you
IV. You place humble dependence in the Lord
IV. You place humble dependence in the Lord
How does Hezekiah react to all this? He has high ranking officials shouting propaganda and insults at the people on the walls. There is a large army parked on his doorstep. What does the king do?
1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
In an act of humility, mourning, and supplication Hezekiah goes into the house of the Lord. But, he doesn’t stop there.
2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
The king actually sends to find a prophet. In most of the history of the kings God has to send a prophet to them, but here Hezekiah seeks out a prophet himself! Why? Because Hezekiah wants to know what the Lord says about the matter.
2 Kings 19:6 (ESV)
6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
Thus says the Lord- there are no more comforting words than that! Think of all the false words of propaganda the people have just had to listen to. Think of the fear and the dread that those words caused. How refreshing to turn your ear off to false words and to instead listen to the words of God! “Thus says the Lord!”
How often do we fill our minds with the words that are in opposition to God’s Word? How often do we listen and fill our hearts with the words of men instead of the words of God. What do the words of men bring? fear, hopelessness, despair. What do the words of God bring?
Do not be afraid! because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”
Application: How much of our day to we allow our ears to listen to man’s words? How much of your day is spent listening to the news or on social media or at work listening to the words of unsaved people? By the way- it is not wrong to do those things. But, are you taking regular lengthy times to listen to what the Lord says in His Word?
The news makes its money off of peddling fear. The war in Ukraine, rising gas prices, threat of nuclear war, WWIII- if that is your constant diet, if those are the only words you listen to what is that going to do to your spirit?
What does the Lord say?
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Trusting the Lord means you place a humble dependence in the Lord.
Trusting the Lord means:
V. You keep placing humble dependence in the Lord
V. You keep placing humble dependence in the Lord
Hezekiah seeks the Lord- depends on the Lord- then what happens?
8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish.
9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
Exactly what God said would happen in v. 7- the high ranking official of Assyria hears a rumor that the nation of Egypt was fighting against Assyria. So he and the army depart from Jerusalem. Hezekiah and the people get a reprieve. But it is not over.
The leaders of Assyria send a letter to Hezekiah reminding them that they will be back and he better be ready to surrender or else.
10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?
The initial threat had abated, but now there is this looming threat. Hezekiah has already place his humble trust in the Lord. What should he do now? The exact same thing he has already done. Keep on placing his humble dependence in the Lord. This is the way real life works. You don’t just do this one time put your trust in the Lord and then everything is OK. What ends up happening is that as you slowly progress through the trials of life you have to keep coming back, and keep coming back, and keep coming back to humbly depend on God. And that is exactly what Hezekiah does.
14 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 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands
18 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 were destroyed.
19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
Hezekiah goes to the house of the Lord, he spreads out the letter before God. And what does he do? He prayed before the Lord! Again we see his humility and his supplication before God. Hezekiah acknowledges what is true about God- he is enthroned above the cherubim, He is God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth, he is the one who made heaven and earth.
He then makes his request to God- incline your ear, see how Sennacherib mocks the living God. Yes, it is true that Assyria has laid waste to other great nations and their “gods.” But, those “gods” were only the work of men’s hands. So, now please, Lord our God, save us- why? for your glory! so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone!
This is what trusting the Lord looks like in real life- continually coming before the Lord, humbling ourselves, acknowledging what is true about God, putting our faith in God to act, and asking that He would get glory for himself!
Application: How about you? Maybe you have at one point in your life trusted the Lord for something, but the trial has been long and you no longer seek the Lord. You no longer come in humility and depend upon Him! Trusting the Lord means you continue to put humble dependence in the Lord as long as is necessary. Example: Trusting the Lord over and over again when i was first dating Sharon.
Trusting the Lord means:
VI. You patiently trust the Lord to act
VI. You patiently trust the Lord to act
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
God hears Hezekiah's prayer- and the word of the Lord that Isaiah gives to the king is awesome!
21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: “She despises you, she scorns you— the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you— the daughter of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is like a virgin daughter (not very strong), but yet she will scorn or make fun of Assyria, she will wag her head behind you! How is this possible? Because Assyria has insulted the virgin and in insulting her they have insulted her protector who happens to be the ruler of the universe!
22 “Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
Assyria has not merely been mocking Judah, they have really been mocking the Holy One of Israel! Wow!
23 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon; I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its farthest lodging place, its most fruitful forest.
24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.’
Notice the repetition of the word “I.” Look at all that I have done! Assyria is arrogant and proud. They think they understand how the world works, but they do not see the providential hand of almighty God guiding and directing all things!
25 “Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins,
Everything that Assyria has accomplished, in reality, was only because God planned to use their wickedness to accomplish his ultimate purpose!
27 “But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.
The one who dwells in every moment of every time, who has infinite knowledge beyond our comprehension- says of the most powerful nation of the day- I KNOW everything about you.
28 Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
Hook in your nose (fish hook)
Bit in your mouth (like a horse)
Assyrians may have used these methods to lead the captives of other nations out of their land. Now God says I am going to do the same thing to you Assyria. I WILL TURN YOU BACK!
With everything going on in the world today do these verse take on a new significance to you? Long ago God planned and God determined exactly what nations would conquer and be conquered. God knows all of the plans of the kings of the nations- he knows when they sit down and when they go out and when they come is. He knows when they rage against Him. And God is able to lead kings and armies about by the nose to do exactly what He wills. God is in control. When it may seem like the world is spinning out of control to us, it never seems that way to God. He providential rules and governs all of the affairs of men to accomplish his plan.
In vv 29-31 God gives Judah hope- he gives them a sign and promises that they will (contrary to the words of the Assyrians) eat the produce of their own land for the next three years.
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord.
34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
Hezekiah did everything he could within his power to save his people. When his own strength failed he came in humble dependence before the Lord and kept on coming before the Lord. And now He must wait patiently for the Lord to act on his behalf.
35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
God is able, by his grace, to act on your behalf! Wait patiently for him, commit your way to him- over and over again- for as long as is necessary- trust him and he will act!
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
One day, God will bring forth your righteousness as the light! He will cause you to shine as the noonday sun.
Even though it may not be in this life-
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
God has already acted on your behalf- and he will continue to act and it will be glorious! Will you trust him?
Conclusion:
What happens in the end to Sennacherib?
36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.
37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Will you be like Hezekiah? Will you trust the Lord?
What does it mean to trust the Lord?
1. You do not allow danger to keep you from doing right.
2. You remain loyal even if God allows your efforts to fail.
3. You remain confident even if God allows others to ridicule you.
4. You place humble dependence in the Lord.
5. You keep placing humble dependence in the Lord.
6. You patiently trust the Lord to act.
Proposition: The Lord acts on behalf of those who put their trust in Him.
How do you need to trust the Lord today?