Quiet Confidence

We expect that when we serve God faithfully, the Lord should make it a point of duty to keep disasters far away from us. However, the goal of our Lord Jesus Christ is to make us like Him in all areas of our lives. He will continue to arrange situations that will be used to train us to be like Him. 2Chronicles 29 opened with the introduction of King Hezekiah. The Bible says he did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestor David had done. This was a great testimony considering that he had a father that was an idol worshipper; he was able to step out of such influence with courage and boldness. As a result God approved him as an instrument for revival in Judah and Israel. God used him to awaken the Priests and Levites to their duties. He even acted as a Priest and unlike king Uzziah he was not punished. The verdict of Heaven about him in 2Chronicles 31:20-21 was that he did well in the service of God, his heart sought God and he prospered. One would imagine that with these great works of faithfulness, he should enjoy a time of peace and prosperity for the rest of his natural life. Alas, that was not to be the case! Chapter 32 opened with “After these faithful deeds, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities and intended to break into them.” Amazingly, with a heart sold out to God to diligently seek and serve Him, the enemy still came desiring to win such a heart to himself. Praise God, King Hezekiah did not turn around to fight the Lord but started stopping whatever may be feeding the enemy from within his land. So we must! When faced with such challenges, instead of fighting the Lord, we must look into our hearts and stop all that the enemy is feeding on from within us: malice, jealousy, fits of rage, falsehood, deceit, worldliness and the likes. Equally, the cracked walls of our lives must be shored up with determination and courage: walls cracked up by prayerlessness, sudden restlessness in His Presence and dwindling study of the Word of God. King Hezekiah stood up to declare and encourage the people that God is with them and is able to deliver them from the hands of the enemy that had laid siege on them. He had a quiet confidence in the fear of God and the Bible says in Proverbs 14:26 “In the fear of the Lord, one has strong confidence and his children have a refuge.” The enemy was enraged with this quiet confidence in Hezekiah and the people of Judah. Friend, when the enemy comes against us, the first thing he tries to take from us is our confidence, but we saw Hezekiah build his and that of his people in the Lord. The Lord responded and sent an Angel who annihilated every brave warrior, leader and commander in the camp of the Assyrians. No matter what you go through, don’t lose your quiet confidence in the Lord allow Him to fight on your behalf. He will surely come through for you; all you have to do is starve the enemy of anything he may be feeding off from your heart. The end result is that you would have rest and blessing on all sides.