August 2 - The Backlash

After the reforms and revival under Hezekiah, king of Judah, the backlash of the enemy came immediately. “After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself.” This is a common pattern that once we have done something to serve or glorify the Lord, the enemy would come at us with a backlash. It is then time for us to be alert and face the onslaught of the enemy with strong defenses.

Hezekiah immediately went to work, he planned with his officers and mighty men to stop the springs that were outside the city so that the Assyrians would not have water supply. Then he set to work resolutely and built up the wall that was broken and raised towers upon it. Even outside of the walls, he built another wall and strengthened the Milo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance to arm his people against the invasion. After all those preparations, he assembled the people and spoke words of encouragement to them.

The first line of defense is not what we can do or prepare, it is our trust in God to do the battle for us, believing that God can defeat our enemy. It was the trust in God that the people stood together with king Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah. When the prophet cried out to the Lord, He sent an angel to cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers of Assyria. So Sennacherib had to go back to his own country and was killed there.

Just imagine if the king and people did not have such confidence in God, they would have fallen into the trap of the enemy when Sennacherib’s servant came to blaspheme God before the people of Jerusalem and Judah. The enemy always wants to turn the warfare from the spiritual plane to a psychological plane. When we move from our spirit to our soul, our analysis would frightened us at the prospect of defeat; our fear would creep in and then we might decide to surrender or to run away from it all. Spiritual warfare is our only hope to win the battle for in the natural, Hezekiah did not have a chance.

The fall of Hezekiah was not because of an outside enemy but was caused by his flesh. When pride came into him, he did not even recognize God’s healing power but became proud and haughty. This inner enemy of the flesh was more powerful than all the armies of Assyria. The enemy won the next battle when Hezekiah was not paying attention and let his flesh come into the picture. Backlash number two worked and Hezekiah was defeated. Trust in the Lord now and make every battle a spiritual one. Only God’s arm is mighty to save you.