When you encounter challenges do you wonder where God is or why He hasn’t delivered you immediately? Have you ever doubted God’s power to resolve a difficult situation? You are not alone.

When Hezekiah was threatened by an Assyrian invasion, he decided to try to solve his problem without turning to the Lord. It didn’t work. The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, sent his armies and officials to besiege Jerusalem. They arrived with a message for the king, “On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?” (v. 20).

The Assyrian king suspected that Hezekiah had made an alliance with Egypt for military defense and that Judea might be trusting their God to save them. To this he had a simple response, “Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?” (v. 33). “How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (v. 35).

His logic was simple. He looked at the circumstances of all the other nations his people had conquered. Those nations prayed to their gods to no avail. He thought: We have surrounded you and destroyed your cities. What makes you think your god is any different? What the Assyrian king did not know is that the God of Israel uses difficulty in the lives of His people. In each case, He has the good of His people in mind. The threat that Jerusalem and Judah were enduring said absolutely nothing about the Lord’s power.

Deep down Hezekiah knew that to be true. Therefore, he ordered his men not to answer the Assyrians while he went to the Temple (19:1). His faith understood how the world really worked. The next time you’re in difficult waters, guard your heart against the crippling thought that God isn’t in control. Turn to Him and wait.

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