Isaiah 33:13-36:22 Have you ever been falsely accused? I can remember several times in my life when people have accused me falsely. Nothing hurts worse. You know in your heart that you did nothing wrong. Yet if you try to justify yourself to your accuser, he usually refuses to accept what is true about the situation. Every day of our lives we deal with a false accuser. His name is Satan. He continually accuses us, and unless we are on the alert, we can easily fall into condemnation.
In our reading today we see how Rabshakeh was sent by the king of Assyria to accuse Hezekiah. Rabshakeh tells Hezekiah he is barking up the wrong tree if he is putting his trust in God. He actually is mocking God’s power. He speaks all of this in the Hebrew tongue in earshot of all those who are on the wall. Eliakim, Shebna and Joah ask Rabshakeh to speak in the Syrian language instead of the language of the Jews because they did not want those on the wall to hear his accusations. This did not bother Rabshakeh at all; he wants all of those on the wall to hear what he has to say. He downgrades Hezekiah to his own people and says Hezekiah is trying to deceive them. He says that Hezekiah lied to them when he told them they would defeat the Assyrians. King Hezekiah told all who heard these accusations not to answer them, so they held their peace.
We can learn a lot from this little story. When others accuse us falsely, we can rest assured that Satan has inspired the accusation. Because we know we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and wickedness in high places, we do not have to reply to the accusation by defending ourselves. The Lord is our defender, and it is better for us to remain silent. We can silence our enemies in the most effective way when we remain silent. This is what Jesus did when He was accused. The moment we begin to defend or justify ourselves, we are not allowing the Lord to fight our battle. Instead we are trying to fight it ourselves. If we keep silent when accused, this really annoys our accuser because he has no more material to accuse us even more.
I had the experience one time of being accused of being a false teacher. I later found out that the person accusing me had accused almost every speaker of being a false teacher when they shared at the group she attended. This person sent me a blazing letter, so I wrote one back. Then another letter came that accused me of even more, based on some of the things I wrote in my last letter. Finally, I heard in my spirit, “Keep silent. Do not write her again.” This finally silenced her judgmental, critical, accusing spirit. The accuser always wants us to defend ourselves, but we need to allow the Lord to be our defense. He will justify us if we will let Him, and the enemy will be put to flight. Remember, in quietness and confidence will be your strength.
READ: Isaiah 33:13-36:22; Galatians 5:13-26; Psalm 64:1-10; Proverbs 23:23
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