Isaiah 36 (HCSB)
Sennacherib’s Invasion
1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller’s Field. 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.
4 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on? 5 I say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me? 6 Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him. 7 Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?
8 Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! 9 How then can you drive back a single officer among the weakest of my master’s officers and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”
12 But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew:
Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you. 15 Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly deliver us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’”
16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my power? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands ever delivered his land from my power? So will the Lord deliver Jerusalem.”
21 But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 18-20): I am weak, Father, and far too often give into the flesh and the world. I often put the things of this world and of my own selfish desires above You. I falsely worship those things as false gods, in a sense, because I’ve placed my focus and my priorities on them instead of You, Father. Please forgive me of this sin and help me to always remember that You are #1 above all else in my life.
PROMISE (verses 7-10): Father, You promise us that false words will be used against us; oftentimes false claims of doing things in Your name or for Your will. Help me to be able to decipher what is really spoken from You, Father, and not out of trickery and deception from this broken world of sinners and from the enemy.
ATTITUDE (verses 4-5): Please help me to change my attitude of inaction that I far too often default to, Father. Help my faith never be “mere words” again, so that I may glorify You in both my actions and what I say, so that the one reinforces, emphasizes, and duplicates the other.
COMMAND (verses 14-15): Although not a direct command here, Lord, I do feel like You are ordering us to not be deceived by false words that twist their own agenda to make things appear as if You will it to be so. Help me to remain in Your word and Your will, Father, so that I can decipher moments like these properly.
EXAMPLE (All verses): This entire chapter is an example of how many leaders will try to deceive us, claiming falsely that Your will is being done and trying to convince us to turn away from Your actual will. Help me to know the difference, Father.
*DAILY NOTE: Help me with discernment, Father. Help me to discern the things of this world that align with Your will and the things that do not. Help me to discern when someone is speaking legitimately about Your truths and Your will. Help me to discern the good people and the bad of this life, Father. Give me the attitude and spirit of discernment, so I may walk in this life without falling into the deceptive ways of this world as often as I have been so far, Father.
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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