Deer Hunting Reading

More from my reading in the deer stand: A Mighty Fortress by T. M.Moore

Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he,
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

In these days before the election, stocks tanking, people losing their homes due to losing their jobs - this passage from the book reminded me that there is not situation that is hopeless for God’s children. He can reverse any situation for His glory. So, before you go on read this passage 2 Kings 19:32-37.

Isaiah prophesied during a time of great uncertainty and instability in Judah. The Assyrian threat was never very far away, although God would graciously and miraculously spare His people under Hezekiah’s leadership. Just when all seemed lost and Jerusalem appeared ready to succumb to an Assyrian siege. God sent an angel of death among the invaders, causing them to retire in humiliation and defeat. Bryon powerfully captured this event in his poem, The Destruction of Sennachrib (1815):

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold.
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold. (not LSU)
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the marrow lay wither’d and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass’d
And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill,
And their hearts bot once heaved, and forever grew still.

And there lay the steed with his nostrils all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, and the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their walls,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal:
And the might of the Gentile unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

If you read a little longer in 2 Kings you will be delighted to see how God notices our tears and is more than willing to answer the prayers of his people! Be encouraged - God is still on the throne even when we feel or actually are surrounded by an army much stronger than we ever thought. Be encouraged!