Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another – showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 THE MESSAGE.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 20-21.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8.

This, Isaiah 37, is an amazing chapter showing us what is possible when we trust Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit for everything. King Hezekiah has heard the taunts of the field commander speaking for Sennacherib, king of Assyria. He takes it to God and sends 2 officials to Isaiah, v. 1-4. When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard – those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’” v. 5-7. And Sennacherib did withdraw and his field commander, also, because of a new threat by a different king. Sennacherib continues his threats in a message sent to Hezekiah that Hezekiah is still not safe. And what did Hezekiah do? Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God…” v. 14-17. God already knew. He knows. He knows our hearts and thoughts. So Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah…“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:…Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes with pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! 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 the tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’” v. 21-25. Wow. That sounds like Satan in his pride. So God responds: “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. Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame…But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against Me and because your insolence has reached My ears, I will put My hook into your nose and My bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.”…v. 26-29. In the notes below it said that putting a hook into the nose or a bit in the mouth was how the Assyrians would torture their captives as signs of humiliation. And the Assyrian army and Sennacherib? 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! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword…v. 36-38. God promised Hezekiah, “I will defend this city and save it, for My sake and for the sake of David my servant!” v. 35. And God did.

When we realize how much we don’t know, then, are we ready to turn away from foolish pride. Is God at work in the nations of our day? Why would it be any different today? And what about in our own personal lives? When we realize that God knows our thoughts and our pride and our desperation and that He will work in us just as He works in nations, then can we come to realize that long ago God ordained it…in days of old He planned it…and we can turn to God and be centered in His truth and His love and trust Him for everything. And how much better when we walk with Him now and let Him be the one to gently teach us. We have so much to learn and without Him we are incomplete.