Isaiah 36:1-10: a reflection

1Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller’s field highway. 3Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph the recorder came out to him. 4Rabshakeh said to them, “Now tell Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “What confidence is this in which you trust? 5I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7But if you tell me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” 8Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10Have I come up now without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’”

As the Assyrian army threatens Jerusalem, the Assyrian commander comes not only with soldiers but with words, waging psychological warfare against the people's trust in God. In whom do you trust? he taunts. Your confidence is misplaced; Egypt will fail you; and do not say you trust in the LORD. He even claims that God himself sent him to destroy the city. His aim is to undermine the people's trust in God, to sow doubt and despair, to make them believe their faith is vain.

Notice the enemy's tactic: not only force, but words designed to undermine trust in God. The commander mocks their confidence, tries to make them doubt whether God will help them, even twists things to suggest God is against them. His weapon is doubt, aimed at the people's trust; if he can make them believe their faith is vain, he will have won before a battle is fought. The assault was on their trust in God, waged with taunting, doubt-sowing words.

That kind of assault on our trust in God is one we also face. The enemy of our souls uses words, doubts, taunts, to undermine our trust in God, whispering that our faith is vain, that God will not help, that our confidence is misplaced. Like the Assyrian's taunt, in whom do you trust?, these doubts aim to make us abandon our trust in God before the trial is even faced. When your trust in God is assaulted by such doubts, whether from without or within, do not let them undermine your confidence in God. Recognize the tactic: the enemy aims at your trust, using doubt and taunt to make you believe your faith is vain. Stand firm in your trust in God, as Hezekiah would, refusing to let the doubt-sowing words move you. The enemy attacked Judah's trust with taunting words; guard your own trust in God against the doubts and taunts that would undermine it, and do not believe the lie that your faith in God is vain.

Lord, as the Assyrian army threatened Jerusalem, its commander came with taunting words designed to undermine the people's trust in you: in whom do you trust, your confidence is vain, and even claiming you sent him. His weapon was doubt, aimed at their trust in you. That kind of assault I also face. The enemy of my soul uses words, doubts, taunts, to undermine my trust in you, whispering that my faith is vain, that you will not help, that my confidence is misplaced; like the taunt, in whom do you trust, these doubts aim to make me abandon my trust before the trial is even faced. When my trust in you is assaulted by such doubts, whether from without or within, keep them from undermining my confidence in you. Help me recognize the tactic: the enemy aims at my trust, using doubt and taunt to make me believe my faith is vain. Help me stand firm in my trust in you, as Hezekiah did, refusing to let the doubt-sowing words move me. The enemy attacked Judah's trust with taunting words; help me guard my own trust in you against the doubts and taunts that would undermine it, and not believe the lie that my faith in you is vain. Keep me trusting you, Lord, against every doubt-sowing word.