“Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him” (II Chronicles 32:7).

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts” (Proverbs 21:1,2). King Hezekiah, of Judah, was a godly king, “and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered” (II Chronicles 31:21). And so, when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded Judah to capture Jerusalem, he came up against a man in God’s favor.

Hezekiah prepared for battle as best he could by stopping the outside water flow and reinforcing the walls. He made weapons and stationed his troops, but most of all, he encouraged his people to be strong and courageous, for a test was coming and they needed to buttress their inner emotions to be ready.

Unfortunately for Sennacherib, his heart was also in the hand of the Lord, for he boasted of his military victories and despised the gods of all the nations. “Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?” (32:14). The harangue went on and on against God and his servant Hezekiah until Hezekiah’s and Isaiah’s prayers were answered by God. “The LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour . . .” (v.21). Sennacherib returned home in shame, and was killed by his own children.

Here is a riddle. When is less more? When a man’s heart is in accord with the Lord’s hand. KBC