God is Still Sovereign

I thought I’d post this entry from my HEAR journal, as it gives me hope from a strange passage.

H – Highlight

1 Kings 19:35 – And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

E – Explain

During the days of Isaiah and Hezekiah, the Assyrian army threatened Jerusalem. This force was insurmountable. There was simply no way that Judah should have been able to survive. The northern kingdom had already fallen to this empire.

But, in the verse above, we see the supernatural hand of God at work. The Lord sent an angel and wiped out a massive force outside of Jerusalem.

A – Apply

God is able to change the world by his will and for his glory. There is no army he cannot defeat. There is no force that is great enough to stop his plan. For me this morning, I find comfort and hope in the fact that God is mighty enough to defeat armies and change the course of history. Obviously we are living in a strange and frightening political time. But knowing that the Lord is almighty and glorious reminds us that he is not going to be defeated. Our election, our laws, our national strength or weakness have nothing to do with the greatness or the glory of God.

R – Respond

Lord, I see in this text that the greatest of enemy armies and the mightiest of empires do not threaten you. You are the Lord over all. No king and no army, no president and no election, can change who you are. Help me, I pray, to remember your greatness and that my purpose is to glorify you. I do pray for your mercy on our nation. But I will not, or at least I should not, allow myself to fret over the plots of men. You are God, and that is the great and final truth.