Dealing with Trouble

After these things and these acts of faithfulness, King Sennacherib of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself.
2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem,
3 he planned with his officers and his warriors to stop the flow of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him.
4 A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the wadi that flowed through the land, saying, "Why should the Assyrian kings come and find water in abundance?"
5 Hezekiah set to work resolutely and built up the entire wall that was broken down, and raised towers on it, and outside it he built another wall; he also strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance.
6 He appointed combat commanders over the people, and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,
7 "Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is one greater with us than with him.
8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles." The people were encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.
2 Chron 32:1-8, NRSV

 Over the past several days, I have had the above scripture on my mind as I've meditated on the inevitability of trouble and crisis in life. It's a passage I've turned to often and I am sure I've blogged about it in the past. But, it is one of those that I think bears repeating. 

I wish trouble was not inevitable and that I could somehow find a solution that would enable me to avoid it 100% of the time. Unfortunately, it simply is not that easy. Sometimes we think that if we do everything right, crossing all our "t's" and dotting all our "i's", then we can avoid difficulty in life. But, crisis is indiscriminate, and while I do agree that we often bring allot of problems upon ourselves, adversity in life is absolutely unavoidable no matter how attentive and astute we live. Jesus, himself, told us this: 

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33, ESV

In our lives, trouble and suffering will always loom upon the horizon. They are inevitable simply because we are human and because we live in an imperfect world. The presence of difficulties in and of themselves do not imply anything negative about us. The important thing, however, is how we deal with crisis when it comes. Thankfully God does not leave us to our own devices and the story before us can teach us allot about how to conduct ourselves in the difficult times of life. 



Before we go any further, let's just take a moment to look at the fix that Hezekiah was in. He was facing a formidable foe; the Assyrians were an imposing force and known throughout that region of the world to be fierce and cruel opponents in battle. They had already conquered over 40 fortified cities in Judah and their King, Sennacherib, set his sights upon Jerusalem to take it for himself. 

Now, in the natural, Judah was no match for Sennacherib. Hezekiah and his kingdom stood no chance of defeating Assyria. The threat was real and imposing. In comparison, we often find ourselves in bad situations that are outside of our control and for which we are no match. Health issues, financial and family crisis will often arise in our lives for which we are ill prepared, in the natural, to overcome. 

Another issue we see here is that crisis came upon Hezekiah at a time when he was doing everything right. With the exception of a few bad decisions, his life and rule was exemplary. He inherited a kingdom that was steeped in idolatry and wickedness. Ahaz, Hezekiah's father, had led the kingdom of Judah away from God and the negative effects of this was widespread throughout Judah when Hezekiah became king.


Refusing to follow in his father's footsteps, Hezekiah ascended the throne of his father and began the hard work of restoring the rule of righteousness in the land, leading the people back to God. He reopened the temple, which had been desecrated and locked during the reign of his father. He reactivated the priesthood, liturgical and choral worship, as well as the passover observance. At the time of this siege by Sennacherib, Hezekiah was, in essence, doing everything right. 


Accordingly, we often find ourselves in the very same situation. We are doing everything right and living our lives in as godly a manner as we know how, and all of a sudden crisis raises its ugly head and we find ourselves facing an enemy that is too big for us. How we respond to this will have a direct impact on our success in dealing with these struggles.

It is very important for us to understand the universality of suffering so that we do not take it so personally. This is not the easiest thing to do; its hard to take when its your family, your finances, or your church that is being assailed. But, Paul tells us that "[n]o testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone..." (1 Cor 10:13, NRSV) The word "testing" here can be interpreted as adversity. We may feel like the world is against us and that we are the only person who has faced what we are facing, but this simply is not true.   


The steps Hezekiah took are illustrative of what we can do when times of trouble come upon us. So, let's take a look at these steps and how they enabled him to succeed in this crisis.

While not recorded in this rendition of the story, a companion text in 2 Kings 19 tells us that Hezekiah went into the temple and tore his clothes and sent word to the prophet Isaiah. Essentially, what he was doing by asking for the prophet was crying out for a word from God. This is by the far the most important thing we can do when we face adversity. I can tell you everything is going to be okay, pat you on the back and assure you I am praying for you. I can speak words of comfort to you and try my best to help you. But, nothing will suffice like a word from the Lord spoken to our hearts at the right time. All hell can assail us but when God tells us, as he did Hezekiah through the prophet, that everything is going to be okay, it will be okay. Turning to God in crisis is the single most important thing we can do.


Then we pick up the story in the text above and see that he did not isolate himself but rather took council with key people in his administration in an effort to develop a strategy for success. This is often the opposite of what we do when problems arise. It is so easy to become self-consumed and isolate ourselves, to our own detriment. We fail to recognize the wisdom of wise counsel. Solomon, in Proverbs, tells us that "in an abundance of counselors there is safety." (Prov 11:14, NRSV) In Ecclesiastes 4:11-12, further adds to this idea of the safety in counsel, "if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken." (Eccl 4:11-12, NRSV) In times of trouble, the worst thing we can do is isolate ourselves and refuse to reach out to others for help. 

Notice also who he took counsel with. These were men who not only could help him make wise decisions, but also men who were intricately involved in the crisis, whose lives would be directly affected by the outcome. It is important that we recognize people in our lives who we can share our struggles with and trust them to give us godly counsel. We do not need to indiscriminately divulge our every problem to anyone willing to listen. Not everyone will have our best interest at heart. And, we all know people who we are very careful not to ask them "how they are doing" because they will inadvertently tell anyone and everyone who will listen about their problems. This is not what the scriptures are saying, but rather taking counsel with wise men and women who have the wisdom and spiritual discernment to aid us in our struggles is another very important thing to do in a time of crisis. 

The next decision Hezekiah made was to dry up the spring of Gihon outside the city walls and divert the water to within the city. He had constructed an extraordinary aqueduct system to accomplish just this task, perhaps in preparation for a siege such as this. The principle here is that if Sennacherib was going to besiege Jerusalem, Hezekiah was not going to make it easy for him. 

This is an extremely important point as well. We can not stockpile the enemy's munitions pile and expect to win the war. This is a principle the US has failed to recognize many times. We sell and distribute weapons to foreign powers and find ourselves facing those very same weapons in war some time down the road. While crisis is inevitable, we can mitigate it by being careful to do the right things and take the appropriate steps to ensure our success. 

One of the ways in which we actually help our enemy in crisis is how we talk about our situation. Being negative and speaking words of defeat only adds to our trouble. Once again, the Preacher of Wisdom tells us that "[d]eath and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov 18:21, NRSV) The words we speak can be lethal.   Conversely, they can also be powerful weapons for overcoming our enemy. Additionally, keeping guard over our speech can aid us in maintaining a proper attitude, which is so critical when facing difficulty. All this translates into a refusal to cooperate with the enemy in crisis. It is one thing to face difficult times, its quite another thing to help perpetuate these times by failing to keep a reign upon our speech and attitude. 

Hezekiah then began to repair the defenses of the city. He wanted Sennacherib to face a fully fortified city when he arrived. So, he set about repairing the broken places in the walls and rebuilding the towers. To me, this equates to doing things that are fundamental to the health and well being of our spiritual lives. Things such reading our bibles, maintaining a regular practice of devotion and prayer, being consistent in our church attendance and giving, and continually investing in the lives of the people that are important to us.   

When we find ourselves in trouble it is so easy to become consumed by it and to neglect the important people and things in our lives. Trouble can be a very formidable opponent because it is designed to cripple us by diverting our attention away from the things that can help us. But, we have to recognize the folly in this and take the necessary steps to ensure that we concentrate on the essential and fundamental aspects of our Christian existence.

Next, Hezekiah began to prepare the people for an offensive. He directed the people to make shields and weapons and he appointed combat leaders to lead the people in battle. We can not simply lie down and passively accept defeat. Sure, our enemy is formidable, and in natural, defeat or failure may appear to be inevitable. This was definitely the case with Hezekiah. But, he determined that he was not going to go down without a fight. This is consistent with Paul's language in Ephesians, "...take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore..." (Eph 6:13-14, NRSV) We must ultimately recognize that the battle is the Lord's, but we must do our part in resisting the enemy.

Lastly, Hezekiah assembled the people and comforted them, directing them to the source of their strength. He told them to trust in the Lord. Ultimately, God will win the battle. We may face things that are too big for us and our efforts may appear to be inadequate, but our cooperation will enable God to rise up in our lives and defeat our enemies just as He did for Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem. The angel of the Lord went into the camp of Assyria and killed 185,000 men. Sennacherib left Judah and upon returning home, he was assassinated by his own people. God's intervention was unmistakable, just as it will be in our lives. 

If we do our part, he is faithful to do his. We can count on him! God will defend us and will take care of us. Our success is guaranteed if we are careful to do the things that we can, thereby cooperating with God and helping to create an atmosphere and environment where God can rise up on our behalf and defeat our enemies.