CHANGE OR REMOVE
Opening Prayer
Lord, as I come to spend time with you in your Word, help me to set aside those things that would distract me from hearing your voice.
Read ISAIAH 37:21–38
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Sennacherib’s Fall
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
“Virgin Daughter Zion
despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
23 Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your messengers
you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
‘With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest heights,
the finest of its forests.
25 I have dug wells in foreign lands[a]
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
26 “Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
27 Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched[b] before it grows up.
28 “But I know where you are
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.
29 Because you rage against me
and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.
30 “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:
“This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
33 “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
34 By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,”
declares the Lord.
35 “I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”
36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 37:25 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kings 19:24); Masoretic Text does not have in foreign lands.
- Isaiah 37:27 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Kings 19:26); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text roof / and terraced fields
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Rise up, O God, and defend your cause.’1 Reflect on this verse and let it shape your prayers for the world today.
Think of the bad actors on the political stage in your country or in the world today. It’s frustrating and unsettling to read about the destructive things some leaders do, egged on by the divisive cheers of their supporters. Our readings in Isaiah have given me an odd sense of encouragement. As we’ve learned over the past two weeks, the evil leaders of today are not a new phenomenon. God knows what they’re up to and is able to deal with them. That’s the storyline of our reading today.
In response to the existential threat from Assyria, Isaiah shares an extended message from the Lord with Hezekiah, which we might paraphrase, ‘I know what Sennacherib has been up to, but you can be sure that long ago I planned to punish him and protect Jerusalem’ (vv. 23–35). That’s exactly what happened in the most unexpected way (vv. 36, 37). What other examples of God’s intervention in world history are you aware of? Did you notice what triggered Israel’s deliverance? Hezekiah prayed and God acted (v. 21), which is both a mystery and a source of hope for our prayer lives.
In the United States we seem to have exceeded our quota of divisive leaders over the past few years. This has prompted me to pray, ‘Lord, either change their hearts or remove them.’ As a Christian, I must believe – in fact, I must desire – that God could change the heart of even the worst leader. But eventually evil must be stopped, eventually justice must prevail, especially because innocent, vulnerable people often suffer the consequences of evil. So, I also pray that God will remove bad leaders, leaving the particulars of how and when it happens to him.
Apply
Think of the most divisive leader you know and pray that they may have a Damascus Road experience.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, pour out grace and mercy on us. Do not leave us to our own devises; move now to bring integrity and compassion to our nation. Help us to see you as our center, our inspiration, the One we seek to follow in all that we do.
1 Ps 74:22
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