Do not listen to Hezekiah

A not so obvious lesson on leadership.

First the situation. You are the king of Judah, you have spent the last decade rebuilding your city after decades of such a brutal war, that even your bigger Northern neighbours(Israel) have been wiped out. Now, on their way to your city is an army so strong, not even the mighty Egypt your nemesis is able to withstand them. And this is all because you refused to pay a treaty the previous king, your father, negotiated and agreed to.

Well, obviously you have some genius plan on how to defeat this huge army, why else would you terminate a treaty arrangement that guaranteed some peace? Well, our king in this story had no such plan, no genius military strategy or superior alliances. His plan was to pray to the same God that have allowed them to be defeated and captured multiple times in the past.

Everyone, meet King Hezekiah and his situation — the Assyrian Army.

You probably think (and I will have to agree), the king’s move seems rather stupid. But then again, if you are going to follow God, you will be doing quite a bit of stupid. As I once heard, if everything you do makes sense from the human point of view, then it’s a sign you are yet to operate at the supernatural level.

But the point of this story isn’t about the king that took actions based on a principle — No nation serving the Most High God, should be paying treaty to enemies, nor is the story about his eventual triumph (one night an angel of the Lord went out and killed all 185,000 soldiers (2 kings 19:35). In human history, it is recorded that a disease wiped out the Assyrian army).

This story is about something that happened somewhere in the middle of that situation. You see, the Assyrian army did succeed in destroying many cities in Judah, and with each city that fell, they got closer to Jerusalem (the capital city of Judah). With each city that fell, Hezekiah’s faith shook, and he eventually sent payment for treaty to the Assyrian king, even striping the temple of God off its gold and silver, to pay for it.

And that is something I can relate with a lot as a believer in God. How many times do we believe that God will deliver us, bless us, save us, protect us; but yet with each passing day, the situation seems to get worse and you are forced to give in and evaluate alternatives?

As a leader in your business and even your family, how many times do you make a decision based on the word of God, but things continue to get worse and the situation looks dire; then you are forced to consider alternatives?

But the biggest message here is actually for the members of a group; when situations are getting worse and your leader still insists on waiting for God, would you really wait with him/her or would you recommend an alternative?

But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the other nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? (2 kings 18:33)

Would you listen?