Have you ever felt like everyone was out to get you? Chances are that even on your worst day, you only have a handful of enemies. But that wasn't the case with King Hezekiah. As the King of Judah, he defiantly stood against the Assyrian Empire, which responded by sending an army to surround and lay siege to Judah's capital city of Jerusalem.

 

 

Imagine being Hezekiah. You wake up one morning, look out your window, and the valley below you is blanketed with enemy warriors who want you dead. We know that at least 185,000 soldiers were assembled. To put that in perspective, that's the same amount of people that it would take to fill Yankee Stadium to capacity . . . three times over! If anyone ever needed a miracle, it was Hezekiah.

 

He got one. God miraculously showed up, and in a single night, He wiped out 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. As you can imagine, the survivors decided that it was time to pack up and leave.

 

It didn't matter how many people had come up against Hezekiah. God was bigger. This is an important point for us to ponder because it shows us that the God we serve is more powerful than our earthly enemies.

 

Small Group Time: Discuss, Dig, Decide

 

Discuss with your group a time when you were in a battle you felt you couldn't win. How did you feel? How did others respond to your impending doom? How do you now see God's hand in this particular situation?

 

Dig into 2 Kings 19. God gives victory, and He allows defeat. What are the circumstances described here? Who are the powers involved and whose life is on the line? How did God turn the tide and get the glory? What is Hezekiah's motive in this battle? What's your motive in the battle you're facing right now?

 

Decide as a group to encourage someone you know who may be facing a life or death battle. Determine how best to encourage this person and get busy as the hands and feet of Jesus. Remember, you serve the living God, and your witness is for a God who is worthy!