Words That Strike Fear

“Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.” – 2 Kings 19:14

What’s going on with coronavirus can be a bit confusing. At the start, it was easy enough to follow developments at the public health department where Dave works. He remained both realistic and calm, giving me the sense that the people who knew what was going on seemed far less worried medically than the people who didn’t. But as the situation evolved, it became clear that there’s a level of generalized anxiety and fear, and all kinds of social, economic, and legal factors playing into various policy decisions, that make it all complex and sometimes confusing, quite aside from a purely medical standpoint. 

I made the mistake of reading one too many news articles the other day, and could suddenly understand the fear and panic I hear from moms at school or people buying out face masks. It’s difficult to face something uncontrollable, potentially (however unlikely) deadly, and essentially invisible. What does one do? How far does one go? Suddenly it’s difficult to sort out precautions coming from real knowledge and care for others, and those driven by fear and anxiety.

When the field commander for the Assyrian army, called the Rabshakeh, attacks Judah, he doesn’t do so with physical weapons. He uses words. The Judean envoy, realizing how dangerous he is, ask him to not speak in the “language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall” (2 Kings 18:26), but he does, and what he sends over that wall are words to strike fear. You should be afraid of me, he says. You should doubt your king; don’t listen to your king; you are being deceived; I can offer you more; God cannot deliver you; look at the evidence around you! And the Assyrians keep speaking even from a distance, the second time sending a letter to King Hezekiah along the same lines: don’t trust God; He is deceiving you; look at the evidence.

There is one common thing in how Hezekiah reacts both times: he seeks God’s word. And, save for an expression of grief and lament, it is the first thing he does. He does not gather the latest statistics, read the news, consult neighboring nations, or even sit and fret on the words themselves. The first time, he sends for the prophet Isaiah. The second time, he went and spread his troubles before God himself. He talks to God, and before he shares his struggles, which he does, he acknowledges God’s sovereignty and power. And when God ultimately answers, there is no mistaking that power: He sends an angel to strike down 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. The Assyrians woke the next morning surrounded by corpses.

I don’t know why it is so much easier for me to read article after article, than to simply stop and pray to my sovereign God. The recognition of elements beyond my control is but an invitation to go to the God who can both deliver us from fear and give us wisdom. Hezekiah, the king, the person who is supposed to have all the answers, who is surrounded by advisors, does one simple thing. He takes the fearful letter, and he spreads it before the Lord. We too can take our troubles, however frightening or uncontrollable, and spread them before God in prayer. We have a God who answers. As Isaiah reminds us, “Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard” (2 Kings 19:6).