"Thus says Hezekiah: 'This is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth." (2 Kgs.19:3, & Is.37:3).
Strength is defined as the quality or state of being physically strong . The synonymous word for strength is 'power'. Within the context of this submission, both words will be used interchangeably to drive home the crux of this message. Power, then is defined as the ability to do work. This is looking at power from its scientific definition. It then means we all require, at all times, power to carry out our daily activities. Nevertheless, life is more than what we can put into it physically, to get the desired results. On the flip side is the spiritual undertone.
Simply put, strength or power to bring forth is the power to overcome, subdue, rule, dominate, succeed, excel and ultimately breakthrough.
Within the framework of our discussion today, we are going to look at strength / power, from the spiritual perspective. Summarily, our text above is the extent to which king Hezekiah was pushed to seek divine help having been threatened by the overrunning armies of Sennacherib. The mere news of Sennacherib impending invasion of his territory made him develop cold feet. To Hezekiah, it was a physical war that he could not in any way match or withstand, at least judging by human reasoning, Sennacherib's force and overwhelming resume of past conquests!
His (Hezekiah's) use of the figurative language of lack of power / strength to bring forth children at the point of birth / delivery, expressed his overwhelming fear. Hence, his choice of words, such as 'TROUBLE, REBUKE & BLASPHEMY' was carefully crafted out of fear. It was a cry of agony for what seemed a hopeless situation. Did we notice here that even kings do need help at times?
However, by the time prophet Isaiah took the matter to God, the battle shifted from the physical to the spiritual. King Hezekiah before now, out of sheer ignorance, also saw the battle as one to be fought and won in the 'physical': army for an army. The mere thought of this made him jitter since it was obvious that Sennacherib, aside from bing trained in guerrilla war, had a more skillful and fortified army. With this in my mind, he gave in, even before the commencement of the battle.
He forgot that the words of the Everlasting KING in 2 Chr.20:15 "do not be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's."
The battles of this world are not ours. They are God's. Hence the power or strength to bring forth victory in life situations: marriage, business, ministry, vocation, academics etc, is of God. Hence, Hannah prayed "by strength shall no man prevail." (1 Sam.2 :9).
Beloved, we live in a world where the spiritual controls the physical. Little did Sennacherib realize he was contending with a Higher Spiritual Power. To accomplish His destruction of Sennacherib, the Higher Spiritual Power sent a word to prophet Isaiah "surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." (Is.37:7). Meaning, in a spiritual battle of this nature, all it takes for the assailant to be destroyed is to be 'motivated' by a 'spirit'. Eventually, God made good His word as Sennacherib was murderd by his son while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god (Is.37:37).
The same 'spirit of destruction' was at work when Ahab was to die a miserable death. Against the word of God from the mouth of Micaiah the son of Imlah,a notable prophet in his days, Ahab went and perished in a battle against the king of Syria. In this case of Ahab, it was a 'lying spirit' from the mouths of all his prophets that propelled him to his doom, "so he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets...and the LORD said 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so." (1 Kgs.22:22-23).
PRAYERS: The LORD will permit a lying spirit to encourage my enemies and attackers to self-destruction .
LORD, do not permit evil spirits to prevail against me. Amen!
Think of Goliath as well.. (1 Sam.17), he found protection in his bronze helmet, coat of mail, bronze armor and a bronze javelin. Everything bronze! He was encouraged by his intimidating stature and his 'undeclared' / 'unpublished' resume as a champion. Together with his followers, he was oblivious that this was the LORD' s battle and David needed no stress to add him to the list of 'animals' he had killed. Imagine a champion dying like a chicken! It almost took too long to know that 'Goliath was all brawn and no brain.' He threatened Israel for forty days and forty nights, until David dared him. For me, this was technically eighty days of ransom, since what cannot be done in the morning should possibly be good in the evening. But with the Israelites at the mercy of Goliath, all activities were put on hold. "And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening."(1 Sam.17:16). Essentially, the battle of this world dominates as long as we permit them. Period! And we can see from the above that one of the tactics the evil powers use is FEAR.
Friends, life is spiritual. Hence, we need more than the physical strength or power to bring forth: to overcome these array of battles. The battles of this life are as well not obvious to the eyes, but the fact remains that the effects of such battles are OBVIOUS for those who care to see and contend with them accordingly, in the place of prayers or spiritually. For example, reason for barreness in marriage may not be known, (regardless of medical diagnosis), but the world knows when a woman is barren! This is just one of many battles we have to fight and overcome. The windstorm and waves that surged to consume Jesus and His disciples were invisible to the eyes, yet, it's aftermath would have been visible to the eyes, if they had succeeded "and a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling"(Mk.4:37). It was the power to bring forth, resident in the LORD, that saved the day. You and I need this power to overcome this evil world. The power to bring forth deserted Peter that night, on the sea, when it mattered most for him to make ends meet, but for the LORD !( Lk.5:5). He was to go home in shame. The power to bring forth delivers from shame.
PRAYERS: LORD, give me the power to bring forth. Power that will cause the forces of this world to obey me.
LORD, let the power to bring forth deliver me from shame. Amen!
It does not matter how physical the effects of the battle contending with us might be, the truth remains that, there is always a spiritual force behind such activities. This is one major truth what we need to address in this piece. The spiritual forces driving the physical activities are not to be taken for granted. We need to rise up against them. To this end, it is imperative that we take a clue from the intelligence report in Eph. 6:12 "for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities , against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Beloved, it is my utmost desire that our coming to this world will not be in vain. The fact that life is full of spiritual afflictions cannot be overemphasized . Hence, it is essential that we become more sensitive to things happening in our lives / nations, contrary to the plans of God for us. With the LORD on our side, we are overcomers. Stay faithful and in faith, in the place of prayers. Victory is ours . Amen.
© 2023
Olusegun Emosu
The Redeemed Christian Church Of God,
Rehoboth Parish,
1879, S Stonemountain Lithonia Rd,
Lithonia GA 30058
www.wordontheglobe.com
404 644 4127.
April 21st,2023