[GMartin2R]

A while back I decided it was time for me to read through the book of Isaiah again. I had read through it before but since taking old testament survey from Dr McMath, I’m coming to discover just how cool that book is. One day I was reading about how God was promising destruction on the enemies of Israel and last night I was reading the story of Sennacharib and Hezekiah. There as so many things that can be drawn from the book of Isaiah, so many demonstrations of God’s power and ultimate control that it’s a good read. Here’s Sennacharib, king of Assyria, the most powerful guy on earth at the time; and he decides he’s going to take over the area. So me marches through all the other lands and defeats them hands down until Judah is left. He sends a letter to Hezekiah telling him that God wasn’t as powerful as he was. After Hezekiah took it to God, Isaiah sent work back to Hezekiah that God was indeed going to defeat Sennacharib. What I found cool was as I read what God said through Isaiah I could almost see God there looking at Sennacharib and thinking to Himself “blaspheme Me will you… well I’ll show you who’s who.” And low and behold, Sennacharib is defeated without Hezekiah having to take up arms as God did it all. I like that because it gives the sense of ultimate justice. “Mess with My people will you, mere man…” that just goes to show what God can do.

When we were talking about this in class, something came up that I found quite interesting. In those times, kings would keep an annual of the events of their reign. Who they had conquered and so on. Basically a way to boost their pride in the “look what I’ve done” category. Anyhow Sennacharib’s was found, and in it he had written how he had conquered this city, burned that one, and so on. When he came to Jerusalem and Hezekiah, he put that he had shut him up in the city like a bird in a cage. Considering he had intended to take control of the city that was acknowledging a defeat for him. I found that kinda interesting at least.

My bible made note of something that I wouldn’t have otherwise picked up on unless they had noted it. The events that happened in the temples of God and Sennacharib’s god. When Hezekiah went before God with the letter, he found the peace of knowing that God was going to act. In essence; life… after his defeat and retreat to Assyrian territory, Sennacharib was in the temple of his god where he was killed by his sons. His god brought death even though not directly, yet God gave life to Hezekiah and His people. Ok so no big doctrine will be built on that or anything but isn’t it cool how even in something that small things work to show God is the ultimate.

Of all the books in the Old Testament, we spent the most time in the book of Isaiah, and now I can see why. So much is there, yet it all comes back to the point that we have a God in heaven who is in control of all.

One chapter that really struck me as neat was 33. vs 2-3 are really cool in that they are a call upon God for salvation and help in hard times. Then we get into a description of God. “At the thunder of Your voice, the peoples flee; when You rise up, the nations scatter.” When God says something, the nations will eventually listen. It goes back to just how big of a God we have and trust in. the whole concept of saying something and people running away is something that I’m not sure we will ever fully understand. It’s graspable in the one sense but that the same time I don’t know too many people who can frighten others just be the sound of their voice alone. Now certain people can have a similar effect but that’s because of what they’ve done in the past and not their voice alone. Obviously, our God has a voice that is distinctive that everyone will know whose voice it is. What better place to be than in the hands of the one whose voice can scatter the nations with a word? What better to trust in than the One to who is creator of everything? What better than to trust in His power? And all this from a few chapters of Isaiah… it’s amazing how deep scripture is. You never know it all… you may know the stories but there are always things to be learned from the Bible. But hey, gotta give credit where it’s due, finite minds can only grasp a part of infinite concept. Or rephrased, we can only understand so much of God; His will, ways, and mind. It is always a learning process for us…

So the thought for today, “the day you stop learning is the day you die.” Both in life and in the bible there are seemingly an infinite number of lessons to learn. As we learn them, whether the easy or hard way, it is important to always keep learning. And always stay in the Word. There are more lessons that can be taught by that book alone than many experiences in the world. Stay in the Word; it may be hard but only then can we see the riches of what is contained therein…

Go with God.
GM…

[Becky]

that is soo true G!!

The scarious place to be, is against the one who controls everything. The safest place to be is in His grace.