2 Chronicles 32:1-33:13, Romans 15:23-16:9, Psalms 25:16-22, Proverbs 20:16-18
Today is the 2nd day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure to be here with you as we…well…as we move into the end of the week and approach the weekend, the first weekend of the month of August. We have made it a long way together and we’re learning so much together as God’s word continues to speak on its own behalf, in its entirety in a year. So we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week and we’re rounding the corner on second Chronicles and for that matter we’re rounding the corner on the letter to the Romans. So, we’re gonna be switching up here over the next couple of days into some new territory but first we need to finish well where we are. Second Chronicles chapter 32 verse 1 through 33 verse 13 today.
Commentary:
Alright. So, from our time and second Chronicles today we again encountered the story of Assyria’s invasion of Israel and we can just be like, “yeah there’s another piece of the story, there’s some history of how things happened”, but if we go a little closer, we see that we’re reading our own story as well and we’re given some pretty powerful counsel on how to navigate. So, when King Hezekiah faced the reality that the Assyrians were coming, and they were outnumbered and unprepared he acted very wisely. He did what he could first to prepare himself and his army for the attack. Like, he cut off the water flow so that if the invasion happened than the invading army wouldn’t have access to water and he fortified and repaired the defensive walls of Jerusalem and built towers and additional defenses and then had weaponry for his soldiers made that they would need for that kind of a battle and then he encouraged the people by telling them, “be brave and be strong. Don’t let the king of Assyria and all those warriors that he brings with them scare you because you dismay, because our forces are greater than his. All he has his human strength, but we have the Lord our God will help us fight our battles.” So, let’s look at what happened here. King Hezekiah received word that the enemy was going to invade and what he did not do is go lay on his bed and sulk. What he did do is everything he could do to prepare and acknowledged God in all of it. So, we easily could pause here and consider the battles that we’re facing. Are we doing all that we can to be prepared and then having faith in God alone or are we just completely unaware? As the story went on, we saw that Hezekiah was prepared, as prepared as they could be. The first offensive initiative by the Assyrians had nothing to do with swords and spears and arrows and wood and metal. The first attack…the first wave…and this is so often true in our lives…the first attack was made out of words, right? So, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria sends his envoys to the walls of Jerusalem to tell them they’re gonna die. It’s a psychological attack and it’s supposed to weaken and intimidate Jerusalem. Just listen to these taunts. “What makes you so confident that you stay put in Jerusalem while it is being attacked? Obviously, King Hezekiah’s fooled you into surrendering yourselves to death by hunger and thirst when he says the Lord our God will rescue us from a serious king. Don’t know what I and my predecessors have done to the people of other nations. Were any of the gods of these other nations able to rescue their lands from my power? Which one of any of the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed was able to rescue them from my power? So, why should your God be able to rescue you from my power? Don’t let Hezekiah seduce you like fools. Don’t believe him. No God of any other nation or kingdom has been able to rescue their people from me or from my predecessors. No. Your gods won’t rescue you from my power.” Does that sound familiar at all? Like, doesn’t that resemble the kind heckling and insults that plague us nearly every time we’re facing a battle? So, like, no matter how prepared we are we seem to face the taunts of the enemy because if we can be demoralized, like, if we will just surrender there…well then it doesn’t matter how prepared we are or how much were trusting in God. If we believe the taunts then fear overtakes and wins the battle over our faith and then God seems completely absent, like He’s gone, like He’s unavailable. And, so, when we feel this way, we just need to backtrack and look at the fact that we’ve been demoralized and surrendered. The thing is, in the story, the threats, the things that were being said outside of Jerusalem’s walls, those things were true. The Assyrian Empire had completely destroyed many kings and kingdoms and for sure they had an intimidating, merciless army, but rather than accept defeat and surrender, Hezekiah and also the prophet Isaiah was there, they cried out to God. They were as prepared for battle as they could be, but they were not gonna survive, they would not be able to with withstand a siege, not in their own strength. And, so, they cried out to God and God came. So, according to second Chronicles 33, “then the Lord sent a messenger who destroyed every warrior, leader, and officer in the camp of the Assyrian king. When Sennacherib went home in disgrace, he entered the temple of his God and his own sons killed him with the sword. This is how the Lord rescued Hezekiah and the citizens of Jerusalem from the power of Assyria’s king Sennacherib and all others giving them rest on all sides.” So, what we see in this story is vigilant preparation, totally getting as prepared as possible and a total awareness of what’s actually going on, married to a complete understanding that no matter how prepared they might be, no matter how much information or intel that they have, only the strength of God could lead them to victory. Let’s member this today as were facing our own battles,
Prayer:
Father, there’s probably not person within the sound of my voice that isn’t facing some sort of battle in some sort of way, and some of these are small little obstacles and some of these are what feels like a full assault on our soul or on our life. And, so, Father, show us by the power of Your Holy Spirit, how to prepare, how to be vigilant, how to not just surrender before anything starts because we’re intimidated, how to be prepared and how to know that You alone are our only hope. And may we see these taunts for what they are. They’re just trying to demoralize us into surrender because if we don’t surrender and You are our only strength and we have put all our hope in You, and we have prepared well, well then, the enemy walks in fear. It may taunt, it may try to demoralize, but it will be wiped out completely and thoroughly in the end. Help us to rest in that today Father because some of these battles are big ones. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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Community Prayer and Praise:
The light of the father resides
within us all
calling relentlessly with a __ call
return to the father give your very best
to the stranger as well as your neighbor your first fruits and nothing less
encourage your brother because he bears God’s light to
let your words be honest faithful and true
live in harmony with nature and all things living
be quick to confess and even quicker at forgiving
be temporal seeking the eternal
fleshly be seeking the spiritual
and as you transcend your morality and values you’ll reach the place that is
ethereal
joined with all mankind in universal praise
back with the father once again the ancient of days
what a wonderful picture of things yet to come
back with her father all men not just some
but in the meantime father as we work towards that place
please give us daily more mercy and grace
more oil for our lights more Holy Spirit
so when you speak to us father we have no choice but to hear it
because sometimes our lights start to flicker and they even grow damn
because they’re locked behind our fleshly shells imprisoned within
but the darkness will never overcome and extinguish the light
inevitably all men try to do what is right
help us to be more loving to really care about our brothers
to truly let our little light shine and join with all others
because all of us have the light of God dwelling within
calling to us relentlessly come back once again
blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Sherlock Washington and Kim and also Dean Smith and Kim. Thank you both for your support and your love and once again, Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all.
My name is Gary, I live in northern Idaho and I am calling to enlist the DAB prayer family. I have been recently diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and it’s evidently been around me quite a while because it has progressed to a lot of my skeletal system and the Lord has recently orchestrated everything to get me to a hospital, to the medical center coeur d'alene Idaho where everybody is being the hands and feet of Jesus. So, He’s using everybody, and He’s even given me the opportunity to follow the great commission. So, He’s placed me in the right place, but I am enlisting the prayer warriors of the DAB and to the praying army. Alright? So, I do love and appreciate you guys. I’ve been listening mostly for the last six years. I’ve been through the bible most of the time with these past six years and I’m going through it with you again. Today is the 28th of July. The 20th of July is when I received the final diagnosis. I had suspicions before but now I absolutely know the Lord of heavens armies is on my side and we are…we have established a beachhead against the enemy and we are fighting back tooth and nail. There’s no way I am throwing in the towel on this. I have thrown down the gauntlet and I am fighting side-by-side with Jesus to vanquish this enemy, kick it back to where it came from and be cancer free again. I say again because I went to cancer 40 years ago and I’m here 40 years later to tell you about it, cancer free from that cancer.
Hello, my beautiful Daily Audio Bible brothers and sisters. This is Suzanne calling from Albuquerque. Well, I’m calling today because I’m scared. I…oh…I didn’t go to the doctor when I should have because I had changed…got on affordable care and it was such a mess that I just…anyway the bottom line is I happen to have an ovarian cyst and I finally went to the doctor and they find it’s grown to 7mm and it’s fairly large at this point and I’ve got some pain in that area and I’m scared. She’s…she wants to…I don’t know what they’re going to do but she’s…they got me in there right away as soon as I told her what was going on and then she called on Saturday and they’re gonna send me to a gynecologist and I’m really worried about the medical bills and I should be more worried about my life. I am worried about my life. I just had…I’m just scared and I’m just asking for your prayers. Yeah…I’m…usually when I get scared it’s…it’s…there’s no reason to get scared but, you know, it always turns out good but, you know, anyway I’m just asking for your prayers. I’m worried and I’m scared, and I just have a lot of more…a lot more things I wanted to do with my life. So, please lift me up in prayer about this and I just really hope that it’s all going to be okay and that I’m gonna be okay and I’ll be around for a while longer. Okay, thank you. Oh and the…Angel thank you so much for lifting me up in prayer and all of you who haven’t called in, I know you’ve been praying for me. There’s a gentleman that I think you thought that I was…
Hi, this is Victoria Soldier just calling tonight to pray with some of the DABbers. I will pray with Demetrius. I want to pray with the lady that has insomnia. I want to pray with the man with the five kids and who’s gone through with his family. And I want to pray with Cherry, and I want…and I mean I just want to say hi to Cherry and other people of God. Gracious Father, we lift You up, we magnify Your name. Lord we ask You to touch Demetrius, let him know that You are the one that’s carrying him, let him know that You love him so much that You are right there if he’d only trust You. Oh Lord don’t throw in the towel but throw the towel on prayer. Throw the towel on the floor and begin to pray until something happens. Oh Lord You let him know that You’re right there, that You are a God that can do anything but fail. You’re an almighty God and an awesome God. Lord I ask that You touch his mind, that You touch him and let him know that You’re there. Oh Lord let him know not to quit knocking but to continue on and see what the ends going to be. It says they that wait upon the Lord, He shall renew their strength. He shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not faint and whatsoever things they doith, they shall prosper. But the ungodly are not so because there’s only one time for them. Lord I just asking to touch the brother with the kids. Lord You have Your way. May You Have Your Way, Lord. You bless him to be that man, that husband, that father. Lord You work it out Lord, in the name of Jesus. Lord help him to trust You and know that You are able to do anything but fail. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus you need to be able to take your rightful place where God can flow through you and flow through your family continue to have Your way in the name of Jesus. Lord You touch the lady who’s going through…
Good morning DABber’s, this is Walta the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. I’m calling today for our sister who called in. Her son is facing a charge, he might go to jail. __ God is not gonna let that happen. I think his name is David. I’m not sure. And I know he’s been given…he’s given his life to Christ. And, so, sister, I want you to know that I’m praying for your son right now. I’m standing in the gap for him and praying that God will offer favor, will give him favor in the name of Jesus and that this will just be part of his testimony I pray. Also pray for our brother who walked his dog and God pulled off, I guess on his bike and he ended up breaking a bone in his shoulder. And I pray for recovery, full recovery in the name of Jesus. Family today I am praising God because 2014, 2015 was a year that from 2014 between 2014 and 2015, I did not know I would ever see my son again, my younger son. My ex-husband had taken him to Romania and refusing to send him back to the United States. And, so, I stayed away from my boy for like 11 months praying that he would return. My DAB family prayed to for him to return and in 2015 July, my son, I think is was June, he was brought back to me and this year I’m celebrating his 12th birthday in a day or so on the 30th of July and I just want to praise God for answered prayers. And he’s such a wonderful son. Se is an A honor’s student, a Boy Scout, just a great boy all around and I just want to thank you all for praying for me that time and I just remember God’s mercy’s and his grace and praising god for having my child. Love you guys. Talk…