God who Speaks to us even through Non-believers

[Isaiah 36:1-10]

                Do you think that God can speak to you through non-believers?  Do you think that God rebukes you through them?  There is a good example in the Book of Jonah.  When we look at Jonah 1:2, God commanded Jonah “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me" (NASB).  But “But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD” (v.3).  “Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up” (v.4).  You see, since Jonah didn’t “Arise”(v.2) to go to Nineveh, God’s violent storm “arose”(v.4).  God was rebuking disobedient servant Jonah through His violent storm.  And look at the sailors’ response: “All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship” (v.5a).  But guess what Jonah was doing?  Look at verse 5b: “But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep”.  Shouldn’t Jonah praying to God when the gentile sailors were praying their own gods?  What a rebuking scene this is for Jonah.  In fact, God was rebuking Jonah through the non-believer sailors.  Not only that, God reminded Jonah His commandment of “Arise, go …” (v.2) through the non-believer captain.  Look at verse 6: “The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.”.  You see, just looking at the Book of Jonah chapter 1, we can see that God was speaking to Jonah through the captain to get up (v.6), reminding His command “Arise” in verse 2.  And God was rebuking Jonah through the sailors who were crying out to their own god (v.5a) when he was sleeping (v.5b).  Shouldn’t Jonah cry out to God since he was the one who disobeyed God’s command and thus the violent storm arose?

When we look at the today’s passage Isaiah 36:1-10, we can see that God was speaking to the Israelites though king of Assyria Sennacherib’s (v.1) field commander (v.2).  God was using the non-believer, the Assyrian field commander, to rebuke the Israelites who were relying on Egypt more than God.  I want to think about in 3 things that God rebuke them through the Assyrian filed commander:

First, God was speaking to the Israelites “On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?”.

Look at Isaiah 36:4-5 - “The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah, " 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?  You say you have strategy and military strength--but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?”  Although King Hezekiah did not depend on Egypt, the Israelites were.  Actually, they were weighting between God and Egypt in terms of on whom you they rely.  In fact, they were relying on Egypt more than God.  That’s why God was rebuking them through Assyrian field commander by saying “On what are you basing this confidence of yours”(v.4), “On whom are you depending , that you rebel against me?”(v.5). I wonder how the Israelites felt when they heard these from the Assyrian field commander.  Maybe they were conscience-stricken because they themselves knew that they were trusting Egypt more than God.  But the Israelites didn’t listen to the rebuke and kept relying on Egypt (Isa. 28:9, 10).  They refused to listen to God’s rebuke and warning.  Are you listening to God’s rebuke today?  God is rebuking you through the Assyrian field commander not to rely on others more than God.  What must you do? Shouldn’t we repent our sins of trusting others more than God?

Second, God was speaking to the Israelites that depending on Egypt is like depending on “splintered reed of a staff”.

Look at Isaiah 36:6 - “Look now, you are depending on Egypt that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.”  Not only God asked the Israelites who they were depending on (vv.4-5), He also told them directly that depending on Egypt is like depending on the splintered reed of the staff (v.6).  What God was saying to the Israelites was that depending on Egypt is useless and worthless (30:5, 7).  Moreover, God was speaking to them that if they kept on relying on Egypt, it would pierce them and wound them (v.6).  Even now, God is telling you directly that what are depending on is useless and worthless if you are not depending on God.  And He is warning you that it will pierce you and wound you.  This reminds me Job 8:14 where the Scripture says that when we rely on other things or other people rather than God, that is like relying on the spider web.  We must not rely on the spider web, shouldn’t we?  How foolish that is!  We must solely rely on God!

Lastly, God was speaking to the Israelites that it was God’s will to discipline them through the Assyrians.

Look Isaiah 36:10 - “Have I now come up without the LORD'S approval against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it'" (NASB).  When God asked the Israelites on whom were they depending (vv.4-5) and directly told them that they were depending on Egypt instead of God (v.6), the Israelites were refused to repent and return to the Lord.  They refused to trust God quietly (30:15).  So God gave the Israelites warning through the Assyrian field commander that it was God’s will to destroy (or discipline) them (v.10).  God was going to use the Assyrian as the rod of His anger (10:5).  You see, God wanted to use the gentile nation Assyria to discipline the Israelites because they refused to listen God and obey His commands.  We must remember that it is God’s will to discipline us when we keep on disobeying Him.  Remember that when we refuse to repent our sins, it is God’s will to discipline.  And remember that because God loves us, He discipline us.

God is speaking to us today!  God is asking us ‘On whom we are depending?”  God is speaking to us directly that we are not depending on God, rather we depend on money, parents, this world, and so on.   What must we do?  We must repent our sins and depend on God.  If not, God will discipline us.

Wanting to rely on God than a spider’s web (Job 8:14),

James Kim