The Relationship Between God and Man....

The relationship between God and man is an interesting one. Man abuses his privileges, takes God for granted, then complains and blames God for his troubles. Man in fickle. God knows this, yet He still extends His grace to us. It’s humorous that man can act so confidently arrogant, as if he is God Himself. Man thinks he accomplishes great tasks, conquers many mountains, and deserves praise. In actuality, God has written out HIStory long before you and I are born. What does God want from us? To be honest with ourselves, to go to Him with all things, and to realize He’s in control and accept it. Here in Isaiah chapter 37 we see two contrasts in response to God’s sovereignty. King Hezekiah, who of all the Kings of Judah was most like King David, throws himself at the mercy of God and cries out for help (from Him). King Sennacherib (on the other hand), king of Assyria, arrogantly mocks God, and thinks he can conquer Jerusalem, gets his eyes opened when an angel from God kills 185,000 of his troops. When he arrives home, his own two sons kill him. These two reactions to God help paint a clearer picture of the type of attitude and outlook on life God wants us to have. We can pursue God, trusting Him in all things, not fretting over “things”, or we can forget God, thinking we are “in control”, only to find out that we are dead wrong (stumbling through life). These two views are more common than you think. They only vary in degrees. The bottom line is that God is in control, we are not. Your attitude toward this will either lead you towards Him or away from Him. To me, my response is to pursue Him daily. If I fail in my pursuit, then I fail trying to know Him. This is all I know. And it’s what I will continue to do the rest of my life. The alternative isn’t an option for me. It a lie. If I were to deny this truth, I would live my life pretending. I’m not a pretender. Are you?

14 After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: 16 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, You are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 17 Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open Your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.18 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. 19 And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all–only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. 20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance 21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 the Lord has spoken this word against him: “The virgin daughter of Ziondespises you and laughs at you.The daughter of Jerusalemshakes her head in derision as you flee. 23 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?Against whom did you raise your voice?At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?It was the Holy One of Israel!24 By your messengers you have defied the Lord.You have said, ‘With my many chariotsI have conquered the highest mountains–yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.I have cut down its tallest cedarsand its finest cypress trees.I have reached its farthest heightsand explored its deepest forests.25 I have dug wells in many foreign landsand refreshed myself with their water.With the sole of my foot,I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’ 26 “But have you not heard?I decided this long ago.Long ago I planned it,and now I am making it happen.I planned for you to crush fortified citiesinto heaps of rubble.27 That is why their people have so little powerand are so frightened and confused.They are as weak as grass,as easily trampled as tender green shoots.They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,scorched before it can grow lush and tall. 28 “But I know you well–where you stayand when you come and go.I know the way you have raged against Me.29 And because of your raging against Meand your arrogance, which I have heard for Myself,I will put My hook in your noseand My bit in your mouth.I will make you returnby the same road on which you came.” 30 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true: “This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,and next year you will eat what springs up from that.But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.31 And you who are left in Judah,who have escaped the ravages of the siege,will put roots down in your own soiland grow up and flourish.32 For a remnant of My people will spread out from Jerusalem,a group of survivors from Mount Zion.The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armieswill make this happen! 33 “And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “ ‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem.They will not even shoot an arrow at it.They will not march outside its gates with their shieldsnor build banks of earth against its walls.34 The king will return to his own countryby the same road on which he came.He will not enter this city,’says the Lord.35 ‘For My own honor and for the sake of My servant David,I will defend this city and protect it.’ ” 36 That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185 ,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.38 One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria. Isaiah 37:14-38