In 2 Kings 18-19, 2 Chronicles 32 and Isaiah 36-37 is found one of my favorite stories.  The mighty Assyrian army came and surrounded Jerusalem demanding surrender and tribute, or death.  Now, I could spend all night talking about this story, but for now I want to focus on one point.  The Assyrian king sent threatening messages to Jerusalem, and at one point the field commander shouted in Hebrew for the people not to trust God to deliver them, but to surrender  and live.  He then promised to take them to "a land like" their own. Every day the world calls to you and me.  "Stop clinging to your obsolete God."  (That one should sound familiar.)  "Play by our rules."  "Why make it hard on yourself?"  Our enemy, the devil, would love nothing more than for God's people to just eat the king's food (Daniel 1) or to bend our knees in allegiance to anyone other than the one God.  What about those other "Christians" at work or at school who cheat "just a little", or let unwholesome talk come out of their mouths?  Surely God would understand if we just did what we had to do to make them happy and moved along.  Well, in this instance King Hezekiah refused to bend to the Assyrian king's threats.  He instead took the message physically to the temple and spread it out before the one God who created the king of Assyria and prayed for the Lord's deliverance.

If you have trusted God for the salvation that He provided through His Son Jesus, then you have been made free.  The free people of God will never bend their knees to another.  Like Peter said in John 6:68 "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."  We, the bride of Christ, will never kiss the enemy.  We will live here in this world as the ministers of His mercy as He saves lives through our obedience to His Holy Spirit.

Gentlemen, we are the fence posts established by God in our homes.  There should be a hero in every home.  Every one of our kids should be able to rest assured that Daddy hangs his entire world on the Word of the Lord.  I don't want a land “like” my own.