2 Kings 19:14 (AMPC), “Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And he went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.”

When King Hezekiah made a decision to place his trust in the Lord to protect and provide for His people, he had to put his money where his mouth was. He had to break away from the wicked alliances his predecessors had made with some terrifying kingdoms. When the enemy kingdoms received his decision to stop paying them, they did not hold back their threats, and those threats were not empty! Verses 10-11 relays the terrifying letter Hezekiah received from the King of Assyria: “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?” The Assyrian king continued to boast in his letter of all the kingdoms, and there were many, who were utterly destroyed because they broke their contracts with the Assyrians and chose to trust in their gods to save them. For Hezekiah, there was no backing away now. He had made his choice and was powerless to save himself and his people from this merciless enemy. His only hope was the Lord God of Israel. Which is why he immediately went before the Lord, spread the letter out before Him and invited Him to intervene. Praise God! Making a deliberate choice to obey God and trust exclusively in Him is exactly what He has always been known for responding to! God certainly took full advantage of the opportunity to prove Himself strong on behalf of His people! You could say, He did a great job of demonstrating His fierce protection over His people, and His power to destroy anyone who threatened their well-being! He gave a very strong and detailed message, through the prophet Isaiah, a far more foreboding threat than the one the Assyrian king had sent. Then in a single night, an angel of the Lord single-handedly killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers camped outside Jerusalem’s walls. In the morning the Assyrian king and what was left of his army fled in terror. Shortly after this, his own sons killed him while he was worshipping his pagan god. Understand, no matter how hopeless your situation, no matter how devastating the threat of the enemy may seem - because of your covenant with God - a threat is all it is. Cast that care on the Lord and place your full trust in Him and His Word. This will release faith into your heart so you can be strong and confident to resist the devil - and see him flee from you in terror!