Confidence

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
16 At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 18 They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.
19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 20 You say you have strategy and military strength–but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 21 Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
(2 Kings 18.13-21)

It is a rare thing when an enemy and a friend give the same advice.

The enemy was the Assyrians. King Hezekiah had rebelled against their control, probably when the Assyrian king Sargon was dying and the new king, Sennacherib, was taking control. Sennacherib sent an army to attack the fortified cities and Hezekiah took a huge amount in gold and silver and “gave it to the king of Assyria” (2 Kings 18:16) to get them to withdraw from Judah. He even took “the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD” (2 Kings18:16) and gave it to the Assyrians.

But still the Assyrian army came on to Jerusalem. Their field commander stood outside the city and asked “On what are you basing this confidence of yours?” The questioned referred to the Egyptians with whom Hezekiah had been discussing an alliance.

The Assyrians were the enemy of Judah, but a warning about the Egyptians also came from a friend, the prophet Isaiah who warned:
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin; 2 Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting Me” (Isaiah 30:1)

An enemy and a friend agree about the danger of placing confidence in worldly power. Who then can we put our confidence in? The answer must be God. He is the only one that we can rely on in time of trouble.
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Prayer:
• Do you put your confidence in God?
When you go through trouble, pray that God will use that trouble to lead you to trust Him more.