Thursday, October 1

Today we're focusing on II Kings 18:28-37 from the daily lectionary reading. In this passage, we continue the story of Assyria's attempt to conquer Jerusalem. Earlier in the chapter, we were told the Assyrians had captured Samaria and taken the Israelites into exile, and now they are on a march to overtake the region of Judah. In yesterday's reading, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent his troops and a delegation of spokespersons to give the people of Jerusalem a choice: surrender to us and live in peace in our land, or be conquered by us and "eat (your) own dung and drink (your) own urine" (25). The Assyrian continues his discourse to the people of Jerusalem, saying, "Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern" (31). Doesn't this sound a little too good to be true? It reminds me of the promise made by Satan to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when they were tempted to eat the fruit: "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). And you know how that turned out. We'll learn in the next couple readings what the Israelites decide, but as objective observers we read this passage and scream to ourselves, "Don't believe him!" But let's be real; don't we deal with the same struggles in our lives? You may decide to copy a friend's homework answers because you were lazy and forgot to do the assignment yourself. "I really want to do good in this class," you say. When you sell out to get a selfish result, you sell out on your faith. That's what the Assyrian king was trying to get the Israelites to do: sell out their faith in God. Pray today that the Lord will help you recognize when you're guided more by your selfish desires than by the Holy Spirit.