Q1. The Battle Is the Lord's

[WinstonY]

Question 6.1

                 Hezekiah’s act of laying the enemy message before God in the temple   is a kin to the Christians who lay their problems before Christ at the foot of the cross.  In each case the problem is brought before God and God is allowed to deal with the problem in his own way and his own time.  It is not to be said that those who bring forth their problems before God have done nothing.  For example, Hezekiah has made the military preparations necessary for his situation bit it would not be enough.  The Syrians would overwhelm the city .   The problem needed God’s action and  Hezekiah  brought the problem to God to be dealt with.   Isaiah sends world to Hezekiah that the problem would be solved. 

                The underlying principle is that we should work to achieve a valid goal but ultimately we are to place everything in the hands of God.

                This story of Hezekiah teaches us that when we face what seems to be an insurmountable problem we are not alone “we believe in God  who  created and is creating” and in this creating we believe that the God who created us and loves us is with us in our time of trial.  We are not  alone, he leads us beside the still waters. 

                When we do not lay our problems before God, then we are  in fact believing that we are alone.   We believe ultimately that God is not all powerful and that we alone are responsible.  In fact we do not believe in a gracious God who is  wanting to provide us with grace and love. 

                When the principle of giving our problems to the Lord is broken, the battle becomes our  not the Lords.

 

WinstonY

[Old Jerry]

I think that the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy’s message before the Lord is to point out that it is the Lord’s battle and not his. He has done everything that he could and not it is time to turn it over the Lord.

 

The underlying principle illustrated here is that we are not God and there for we should not try to play God and let the Lord take care of the problem. We can apply this principle to our own lives when we pray and lay out all of our problems before the Lord and doing our part and letting the Lord do his part. When we don’t apply this principle then we are under constant stress and things don’t turn out the way that they should.

 

 

[Craig]

Q1. (Isaiah 37:14) What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy’s message before the Lord? What is the underlying principle illustrated here? How can we apply this principle to our own lives? What happens when we don’t apply this principle?

 

 

Hezekiah realizes that the Lord is being insulted not him and that the battle is the Lords and not his own.  So he takes the letter to the Lord and presents to it to Him.  

 

The underlying principle that is illustrated here is that we are not God and we must recognize when the battle is God's to fight  and let Him fight it.

 

When we don't apply this principle we can become discouraged, depressed, defeated, and disillusioned.  We must let God be God in our lives and in our ministries.

 

 

[GoRaysXD]

Q1. (Isaiah 37:14) What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy’s message before the Lord? What is the underlying principle illustrated here? How can we apply this principle to our own lives? What happens when we don’t apply this principle? 

 

Hezekiah realizes that the Lord is being insulted not him and that the battle is the Lords and not his own.  So he takes the letter to the Lord and presents to it to Him.  

 

The underlying principle that is illustrated here is that we are not God and we must recognize when the battle is God's to fight  and let Him fight it.

 

When we don't apply this principle we can become discouraged, depressed, defeated, and disillusioned.  We must let God be God in our lives and in our ministries.

 

[wifee]

1a)Hezechariah had made all the military preparations he could, and recognised Sennacherib’s field commander’s demand to surrender Jerusalem, as an attempt to reduce the people’s trust in God “Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me”.,an insult to God and belittling Hezechariah’s trust in God.He knew without God he would be defeated, that God needed to act,as God had been insulted,not just human battle but spiritual and sought God’s help in saving people of Jerusalem.

there is a greater power with us than with “our challenger”. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." (2 Chronicles 32:7b-8a). We need to seek the Lord when we face challenges, not just try and resolve them ourselves if so we will be overwhelmed with worry.He wants to bring victory for us, when we ask his help. Without him we will not succeed.

c)Always aim to seek the Lord’s wisdom and help in everything, then we will stay on his path,make right decisions and be victorious in Christ’s strength.Day of prayer brings amazing results!

d)We go off track, get discouraged and led off course.

 

[JoanG]

Herekiah is telling the Lord that this is what is being said. He is telling the Lord that he has done all he could do, now the Lord needs to fight the fight. He was handing the problem over to the Lord. We need to hand things off to the Lord and God. We can not do it all by ourselves. We must give control over to God.

 

We need to stop causing chaos in our lives. We can not play God with everything, We need to give up trying to do it alone. God is here for us. He is here to answer our prayers and to help us through our lives.

[Commissioned]

 

Q1. (Isaiah 37:14) What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy’s message before the Lord? What is the underlying principle illustrated here? How can we apply this principle to our own lives? What happens when we don’t apply this principle? 

 

The significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy’s message before the Lord shows that he knew that the suituation was beyond his ability to resolve so he presented it to the one that he knew could solve the problem.  The underlying principle illustrated here is that when faced with an insurmountable situation we can rest assured and have confidence that our omnipotent God can take us through.  In our own lives we too can apply this principle by recognizing that in every situation we can trust God to bring us out victorious. When we don’t apply this principle we find ourselves creating bigger problems for us and those who depend on us.

[Krissi]

I'd like to read what was actually written in the message to Hezekiah. Perhaps it doesn't matter. Whatever it was that Sennecherib wrote, Hezekiah interpreted it as an insult to God. I love Hezekiah's response, how he went to the temple with the letter and read it aloud as if he were conversing with God. Then he prayed and asked God to pay attention to what he had read -- "Open your eyes .. listen."

In the largest of pictures, the underlying principle that the battle is God's, not ours, surely holds. In my daily life, I try to give or submit my battles to Him. As I grow in Him, the degree to which I am able to submit "my" battles to Him grows. I am learning to submit battles I could have won by myself, that is, battles which in a prior life would have been successfully dealt with without prayer or submission. Now, even these battles are His, or should be.

It's the attitude of releasing our own abilities to Him that could be the greater principle. Yes, all battles are His, but only if we make them thus. We can choose to fight our own battles, often successfully, or we can choose to submit those battles to Him before we fight them or before He fights them for us. For me, this is the crux of the issue: Are all God's battles to be approached passively, as if we can't fight them alone or shouldn't fight battles ourselves?, OR, are we to be proactive and strong, submitting our strength to Him, letting Him guide our strong arms as we fight?

 

 

[crissy464]

Hezekiah could approach God directly, since he had a relationship with God he didn’t need Isaiah to act on his behalf. The spreading of the message  was between Hezekiah and God

God has the authority over us Hezekiah is only a servant
It is the Lord’s battle, and we are to let Him fight it. 

Try to solve things on your own

We’ll lose control
 

[Anna Rogers]

Q1. (Isaiah 37:14) What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy’s message before the Lord? What is the underlying principle illustrated here? How can we apply this principle to our own lives? What happens when we don’t apply this principle? 

I think the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy's message is that it represents him giving the whole problem to God. He did what he had to for protection: securing a water supply, blocking off water to the enemy, strengthening wall and adding weapons. The rest was up to God.  I think God is less likely to solve our problems when we hold on to part of it or keep taking it back. When we give a problem to God it is no longer our business what happens. If we find ourselves thinking about it, we must immediately give it back to God and not think about it. Not applying this principle causes worry which is a sin. 

[Katy]

Q1. Hezekiah brings the letter he has received from his enemy who wants him to surrender Jerusalem into his hands, into the temple and spreads it out before the Lord. He reads it to the Lord and commits the whole situation to God because Hezekiah knows that the battle belongs to God and Hezekiah trust God although he is under pressure from all sides. 
The underlying principle is that we must allow God to be God and to fight His battles. That doesn’t mean we do nothing we do all we can and then commit the situation to the Lord and trust Him to bring about a resolution. He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us.

We can apply this principle in our own lives by praying about the situation and putting it into God’s hands . We can lay it all out before God just as Hezekiah did. We must then leave it in God’s capable hands and not try and solve the situation ourselves. This is insulting to God. It is the same as saying that we can do better and that we don’t trust God. When we don’t apply the principle we flounder all over the place and  make  bad mistakes.