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Day 37 – Standing Firm 2 Kings 18:9-37 Many times throughout our lives people will do their best to bully us into doing something we know is wrong. The first account of such bullying was in the Garden of Eden when Lucifer convinced Eve to take and eat the fruit God told them not to eat. He told her it was good for her, would make her wise, and she would know good from evil. We’ve been taunted by kids on the playground, letters in the mail trying to sell us something we never knew we needed and supposedly can’t live without, and solicitation phone calls. There are so many ways people try to bully us. Rabshakeh was an agent of the king of Assyria. His sole purpose was to convince the people of Judah it was in their best interests to turn themselves over to the king of Assyria and become his vassals. He taunted them until Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah asked him to speak to them in the Syrian language so he wouldn’t persuade the men on the wall to disobey the king. It only made Rabshakeh taunt them even more with the many defeats of the nations around them, and they would be like them if they didn’t listen to what he said. When we give in to the bully’s in our lives, we become their slaves. They call the shots in our lives not us. We need to be aware of what bullies are trying to do to us in order to avoid becoming slaves to a way of life that will not be beneficial to us. Hezekiah had given an order to the people not to listen to Rabshakeh, and the people obeyed. Though they heard what Rabshakeh said, they did not heed his ultimatums. As Christians we need to be aware of what Satan will try to tempt us with. His temptations will always be on our weakest points, leading us back into the lifestyle we had before we said ‘yes’ to God and accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. Satan will do his best to convince us our salvation wasn’t real and follow it up with the many times we did fall back into our old way of life. We need to remember the King’s instructions and stand firm against our enemy. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (KJV) Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah went to the king because the words of Rabshakeh were more than they could handle, but not more than Hezekiah could handle. We need to remember to go to Jesus, our King when temptations come our way. We cannot handle them alone, but He will handle them for us. Let’s pray: Father, thank you for giving me the means through Your Son, Jesus, to stand against Satan’s temptations, knowing that I cannot face Satan alone, but Jesus will fight for me. Help me to go to Jesus whenever temptation comes my way. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 6 November 2015 by Valerie Jean Routhieaux All scripture is King James Version, edited by me into common English. Image courtesy of Pixabay