Sifted for Service

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Sifted for Service

2 Chronicles 32:1-31

In one way or another, we are all being sifted by the circumstances that God allows to come our way. Sifting is never comfortable, because it exposes the chaff in our lives. And every bit of chaff is destined for unquenchable fire. The Lord will go to any lengths to uncover this debris and consume it. We rarely know where it is lurking until God exposes it and then gives us the opportunity to deal with it.

King Hezekiah was given such a chance at the pinnacle of his astonishing career. He had just witnessed the Lord bringing about a spectacular victory over Sennacherib and the Assyrian hosts. After that, God healed him from a mortal illness, and then Hezekiah was also offered a supernatural sign that actually drove the shadow 10 steps backward on the sundial. (See Isa. 38:8.)

On the heels of these miracles, emissaries from Babylon approached him with flattery. Would Hezekiah resist giving in to pride, or was he too consumed with his own importance? The sacred record reads, “In the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon ... God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chron. 32:31). As a result of this test, the chaff of self-importance was revealed.

Do you ever feel abandoned by God? Worse still, do you sometimes feel as if you are being sifted by Satan? Yes, the enemy sifts, but remember that Jesus Christ is praying for you. Furthermore, the winnowing fork is in His hand, so not a hair of your head will perish (Luke 3:17; Luke 21:18).

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2 Chronicles 32:1-31
1 After these acts of faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, and thought to break into them for himself.
2 Now when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem,
3 he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him.
4 So many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream which flowed through the region, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?"
5 And he took courage and rebuilt all the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall and strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number.
6 He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,
7 Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him.
8 With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
9 After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem while he was besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah and against all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,
10 Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, `On what are you trusting that you are remaining in Jerusalem under siege?
11 Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria"?
12 Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn incense"?
13 Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands able at all to deliver their land from my hand?
14 Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed who could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand?
15 Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?'"
16 His servants spoke further against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah.
17 He also wrote letters to insult the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, As the gods of the nations of the lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand."
18 They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city.
19 They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men's hands.
20 But King Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed about this and cried out to heaven.
21 And the LORD sent an angel who destroyed every mighty warrior, commander and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned in shame to his own land. And when he had entered the temple of his god, some of his own children killed him there with the sword.
22 So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.
23 And many were bringing gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem and choice presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.
24 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign.
25 But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.
26 However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.
27 Now Hezekiah had immense riches and honor; and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuable articles,
28 storehouses also for the produce of grain, wine and oil, pens for all kinds of cattle and sheepfolds for the flocks.
29 He made cities for himself and acquired flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great wealth.
30 It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did.
31 Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

Isaiah 38:8
8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps." So the sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

Luke 3:17
17 His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Luke 21:18
18 Yet not a hair of your head will perish.