Thought from today’s Bible reading from 2 Chronicles 32-33.
“After these acts of faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged and fortified cities, and thought to break into them for himself. Now when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him. So many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream which flowed through the region, saying, ‘Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?’
“And he took courage and rebuilt all the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall and strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number. He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ‘Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.’ And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah” (2 Chronicles 32:1-8).
Hezekiah was confident that the Lord would fight for them, allowing them to defeat the mighty Assyrian army. But with this faith in God, notice what he also does:
- Cut off the water supply to the Assyrian army
- Rebuilt the wall and strengthened the Millo
- Made a great number of weapons and shields
- Appointed military officers
- Gathered and encouraged the people
We sometimes hear the phrase: “God helps those who help themselves.” Hezekiah’s actions are an example of this. We must do what we are able to do, then put our complete trust in God. We cannot expect God to do for us what we can do for ourselves.
Tomorrow’s reading: Nahum 1-3
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
