Overcoming an Irresistible Force

Good evening everyone and a big thank you to Rachel and Lynn for bringing us these very long chapters with quite a few tongue twisters in them.

Not an easy reading, but well done. It was great to read, I think, the whole passage and hopefully we'll be able to get at least a bit of an overview of it this evening.

I wonder when you're reading prophecies in the Old Testament whether you sometimes wonder, well, how did it work out?

So the prophet is printing God's judgment on Moab or one of the other nations, Edom, one of the other nations around Israel or on Israel and Judah themselves.

And you think, well, what actually happened? Here are the prophecies, what actually happened?

Now, if you have a good study Bible, it will probably tell you, at least tell you a bit about it.

But it's not often that in the book, in the prophecy, you also see the fulfillment.

And to some extent, that's what we're getting in these chapters of Isaiah this evening.

If you've been following over the last number of weeks when we've been going through the book,

you undoubtedly recognize that Assyria has been the big power that Isaiah has been prophesying about.

The one both which would be used as God's instrument and also would be judged by God.

And the question then is, well, what happened to Assyria and to his king?

And that is what is largely given to us in chapters 36 and 37.

It forms kind of the end of the first section of Isaiah.

So the chapters up till now, the big power which the Israelites are having to worry about has been Assyria.

When we go into the second part of the book, the big power is Babylon.

And Isaiah is looking forward to the captivity of the Israelites and all the things that happened then and afterwards.

And chapters 36 to 39 kind of act as a hinge in the middle of the book.

36, 37, look back.

38, 39, look forward to the exile in Babylon.

And they both serve to give some kind of historical substance in the midst of all the prophecies that Isaiah gives.

Here is what happened.

These chapters have two kings.

I think it's worth taking just a few minutes to remind ourselves of the two kings that feature here.

The first is Hezekiah, the king of Judah.

Now, if you remember the history of the kings of Israel and Judah, all the kings of Israel were bad.

They were all evil.

Most of the kings of Judah also were evil, but there were a handful of good ones.

And of the good ones, Hezekiah was arguably the best.

I think only Josiah would be a rival in that.

Hezekiah was definitely a good, godly king.

He was the one, as referred to in the passage in chapter 36, he was the one who got rid of all the shrines around the country,

which instead of being used to worship God, were used for idol worship.

He was also the king who reinstated the Passover.

The Passover, which had been neglected for many years, reminding the Israelites of the exodus from Egypt.

It was in the time of Hezekiah and at his initiative that it was restored.

And we see quite a number of instances of Hezekiah showing a real faith in God.

Now, that's not to say it's perfect.

We'll see that this evening.

We'll see it again next week when I think it's great.

It's taking us through the following chapters.

But Hezekiah was a good, godly king, albeit king only over a relatively small nation state in terms of world powers in that day.

Judah was pretty insignificant and no more powerful than half a dozen others that surrounded it in the area.

Second king is this man named Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.

A few years ago, Andrew Marr did a quite ambitious television series, which he called The History of the World.

And the second program in that was called The Age of Empires.

And he started with the story of Sennacherib.

He described him as an empire-building maniac, ruthless to the old, merciless to the young.

And that is a pretty good description of the man we have here.

He was a pretty nasty piece of work.

He was cruel.

He was evil.

He was in many ways the total opposite of Hezekiah.

But he was very, very powerful.

Perhaps because it's so long ago, we perhaps don't realize just how powerful Assyria was in its time and for a very long period.

I think the Assyrian Empire was maybe the longest lived of all the ancient empires.

And Sennacherib was a very powerful king.

Let me just take a second because I think there's relevant background to what we're going to be looking at this evening to talk a bit about the early years of Sennacherib.

So we're going to put a couple of maps.

Sennacherib's campaign.

So concentrate at the moment on the one on the left.

This is the Middle East.

You probably can recognize the shapes of the land.

The Middle East in about 700-odd BC.

I don't know how much you can read there, but the red circle up near the top is Nineveh, which was the capital of Assyria.

And down in the bottom left, the kind of green, is Judah and Israel.

But the key point is the empire was huge.

The kind of green area is what it looked like immediately after the capture of Samaria.

Remember, 725 BC, Samaria was captured by Assyria.

Its people were carted away, and that was the end of the old kingdom.

It then spread under Sennacherib and successors and eventually ended up down in Egypt.

Sennacherib became a king in 705 BC.

At that point, as well as the empire he directly controlled, there were lots of states like Judah, which weren't part of the empire, but were paying tribute to him.

In other words, they were paying kind of protection money.

So the Israelis were saying, if you pay us regularly a large proportion of your GDP, then we won't come and attack you.

And there were lots of nations like that at that point.

King changes in the empire, and what happens?

The states that have been paying tribute to him think, ah, here's our opportunity.

New king, he's going to have lots of things to occupy him for a while.

He may have some rivals in his own country.

We'll stop paying tribute to Assyria.

And that's what Judah did, and what a lot of the other nations around about did.

They kind of had mutual defense treaties saying we'll help each other.

And they also brought in Egypt, down in the very bottom left of the map, Egypt, which was the great power in that part of the world in their day, although nothing like as great as Assyria.

So what happened then was that Sennacherib fairly quickly established himself.

And the first thing he did was go down to Nineveh, which is a bit below.

Babylon, rather, is a bit down below Nineveh there to sort out some problems there, because that was a real threat to him.

And then he went on the rampage through the lands to the west.

And when he reached Judah, which was about 701 BC, as you'll see in the map on the right, he went down the right-hand side of the land.

And as it says in our passage, he captured all the fortified cities.

And eventually, in the center of passage again, he came to a place called Lachish.

Now, Lachish is significant because when Sennacherib was attacking Lachish, he got his court artists out and he said,

I want you to draw what happens.

In all the gory detail, I want to have what happens so we can put it up as an example to others.

And so Andrew Marr, when he was talking about Sennacherib, it was the siege of Lachib that he particularly looked at,

because that's what we know about.

It was quite stark what happened.

They built huge siege ramps.

They built massive battering ramps, tore the walls down, went on the rampage through the city.

The leaders of the people were killed publicly in particularly gruesome ways.

We won't go into detail about that.

And those who were left were carted away, and then the city was burned to the ground.

That was what Sennacherib did.

That was the way he acted.

And it's almost a kind of early form of shock and awe.

If I do this to this city, then the next one I come to, maybe they'll give in more easily,

and they'll realize that they can't trifle with me.

And so having been to Lachish, he turns his attention to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, of Judah, rather.

So on one hand, we have this good, but rather powerless in the world's terms, king Hezekiah.

On the other hand, we have this really powerful, really cruel king, Sennacherib.

And it's a totally unbalanced contest.

In human terms, there is no way that Hezekiah can stand up to Sennacherib.

If he allows the city to be besieged, he is really just delaying the inevitable.

Sennacherib will win, and will make an example of Hezekiah and others.

And then, as he's done with other cities, he'll cart everyone away into exile.

And that's the background that we have in chapter 36.

Sennacherib focuses attention on Jerusalem and saying,

this is the next one I'm going for, and this is the big prize in terms of Judah,

because this is where Hezekiah is.

Now, he's a bit of a problem.

Jerusalem was a lot more difficult to take than the other cities.

The way it was built, it was built on a hill,

and it's very difficult, even with a siege, to take it.

Alongside that, Hezekiah knew this was going to be coming.

And Hezekiah had taken quite a lot of steps to both fortify Jerusalem

and to secure his water supply,

the water supply being the thing that you really need if you're under siege.

He built some clever tunnels and so on to make sure that was still there.

So this wasn't going to be a quick win for Sennacherib.

And it appears that he thought,

well, let's try and get it without having to fight.

Let's see if Hezekiah and the Jews will give in.

They've seen what we've done elsewhere.

Let's see if they'll give in, and we can just take the city,

and then we can head back to Babylon,

to Nineveh, rather, having done our job.

And that's what's happening in chapter 36.

Sennacherib has sent his envoys,

and their job is to persuade the Jews to give in without a fight.

And it's very clever the way they go about it.

It's a mixture of kind of half-truths and distortion of the truths,

and some things which are pretty close to being blatant lies.

But it is very much trying to persuade the Jews that they have no chance,

and they should give in without a fight.

So let's just talk about a few things that's happened.

I've called it tempting voices.

So Sennacherib's representatives come,

and Hezekiah sends some people out to meet them,

and they start having a conversation.

And Sennacherib's representatives say,

Egypt, you can't rely on Egypt.

Egypt is just a splintered reed of a staff.

Lean on it, and all that will happen is we'll go through,

and we'll pierce your hand, and we'll wound you,

but it won't help you at all.

Probably right.

I'm not sure that Egypt would have come,

to any great extent, to the defense of the Jews,

but very much trying to say,

you have no strong allies.

Second thing they said is that Hezekiah has removed the high places and altars.

True, he'd done that.

We said that earlier.

But they were saying,

because Hezekiah's done that,

your God's not going to help you.

You've taken away the places where you worship Him,

so He's not going to be pleased with you,

and He's not going to come to your aid.

Not true.

Hezekiah, in taking down these altars,

had taken away the places of idol worship.

It had been a good thing that he'd done.

Third thing that they said was,

well, we could give you lots of horses.

Let's make this a bit more of a fair contest,

and even at the moment,

why don't we give you 2,000 horses?

Only problem is,

you've not got any riders to go on them.

You're so weak, you're so inadequate, you Jews,

that even if we give you an advantage in the battle,

you still couldn't do it.

You still wouldn't be able to win.

And then the final thing they say at this point

is that the Lord has sent them.

We're down to verse 10,

if you're following in the passage.

As Sennacherib said,

actually, this is God's will

that I should take your city.

God is judging you.

Judah, you've done lots of bad things,

you've done lots of evil things,

and God will judge you for that.

Well, there's a half-truth there,

because a lot of what we've read about in Isaiah

was about God judging his people

for going against him.

But he had always promised

that there would be a remnant

who would enjoy his grace.

And there was no way that God had sent Sennacherib

with the purpose that Jerusalem should be destroyed.

So four lies, half-truths,

call of what you like,

said to Hezekiah's envoys

that had been sent out.

Now, at this point,

the people who Hezekiah sent out

are beginning to panic a little bit.

Not just because of what the messengers

from Sennacherib are saying,

but also because they can be heard

by the soldiers and others

who are guarding the wall.

Because they're speaking in Hebrew,

which was the language of the common people,

and they were worried

there could be a revolt here.

If these people on the wall hear it

and are really terrified by what happens,

then perhaps they will turn against Hezekiah

and we will end up conceding.

So they say to the messengers

that come from Sennacherib,

look, can't you talk in Aramaic?

Aramaic being the kind of trade language

which the common people wouldn't know,

but rulers would.

And that just provokes Sennacherib's envoys

even further,

and they start speaking to the guards on the wall.

And the things they say are,

well, Hezekiah can't deliver you.

Hezekiah, he's just weak.

How can he possibly deliver you?

Then they say,

actually, you'll be much better off

if you give in.

If you give in,

you will get all your harvest back.

You'll be able to come with us to our land,

which would be exile

and take away in disgrace effectively.

But it'll be much better.

You'll have new wine.

You'll have corn.

Everything will be fine.

In any case, they say,

your God can't deliver you.

He's not powerful enough

to stand against Sennacherib.

And here's the evidence.

All these nations round about,

they had their own gods.

And what good did it do to them?

They're all destroyed.

They've all been beaten.

So again,

there's the powerful voice coming

to the guards on the wall

and saying to them as well,

look, there's no point.

Just give in.

That's their credit.

They don't.

They all remain silent.

And the ploy doesn't work.

Let's have a bit of application for that.

But doesn't that remind you

of the tempter's voice of Satan tempting us?

Whether it's through inward voices in us

or it's through people outside

who are saying things to us

and arguing against us,

we hear lies and half-truths all the time.

So people saying,

all religions are equally useless.

What good did any religion do?

So we've got the new atheists

who perhaps not quite as strong

as they were a few years ago

but certainly have a lot of influence

over many people.

And essentially their take on the world

is religion is bad.

It just leads to war

and bad things happening.

Religion is useless.

And a lot of people might say that to us

if we talk to them about our faith.

Or when we're tempted,

we might have this thought

that the devil would plant in,

well, it'll be better.

I'll enjoy it.

I'll be happier if I do this thing

even though I know it's not

what God would really want me to do.

After all, doesn't God want me

to enjoy my life?

Well, if I do this,

I will enjoy it.

Sometimes even gets to the extent

that it is an accurate messenger said,

almost of thinking,

could this be God's will?

Is this what God wants?

And tempting us to do something

and to throw doubts into our mind,

the way that Satan did with Eve,

to throw doubts into people's mind

about what God's will is

and what God wants for us.

And then the two that I think

are most powerful as the devil attacks us,

God can't help you

and you're not strong enough.

As we face temptations,

at times do we feel that.

I just can't cope with this.

I know it's wrong.

I know I shouldn't be doing it.

But I can't help it.

I'm not strong enough.

I will have to give in to temptation.

And perhaps like the messengers here,

the thought is almost,

well, I could give in quickly and easily

and then it'll all be over.

Or I could hold out for a long time,

but I'll still end up giving in

and it will be worse for me overall.

These are the kind of temptations,

perhaps, that we sometimes feel

in our daily lives,

whether coming from outside,

from people who would be attacking the gospel,

or coming from inside,

from the voice of the devil inside us,

seducing us and wanting us to think

we're better off if we do what we know is wrong.

But it's all lies.

And as in these chapters,

God very clearly made it apparent to everyone

that he was powerful,

that he could save them

from the predicament they were in.

So we should know that there is no temptation

that faces us that we shouldn't be able to overcome.

One of my favorite verses in the New Testament

from 1 Corinthians 10,

God is faithful.

He will not let you be tempted

beyond what you can bear.

And then it says he will always provide a way out.

And if at times we feel,

I've just got to do this.

I just can't resist it.

It's too strong.

The temptation is too strong.

I'm too weak.

Not even God can protect me from it.

We need to look at verses like this

and say God can protect me.

God is stronger than the devil.

And if I trust in the Lord,

I can resist the temptation.

I can overcome in the way ultimately

the people of Judah did here.

Yes, we will be tempted.

Yes, we will be tested.

At times it will be really, really difficult.

We'll almost feel I can't bear this.

And yet God will not let us be tempted

beyond what we can bear.

There is always a way out.

There is always a way to overcome

the wiles of the evil one.

So I think it's the key lesson from chapter 36.

Now chapter 37 is very long.

We're not going to go through it in great detail.

You'll be pleased to hear.

But let me just talk through

a few of the key points from it.

I've called it take it to the Lord.

Take it to the Lord in prayer, of course,

from the old hymn,

What a Friend We Have in Jesus.

And that's what happens in chapter 37.

In chapter 36, we have the devil at work

trying to persuade the people of Jerusalem

that they can't win.

In chapter 37, Hezekiah realizes

the only way he can overcome

is through the Lord's strength.

And he does a number of things.

The first thing is he sends people

to consult Isaiah.

Now Isaiah, for many years,

had been Hezekiah's advisor,

confidant,

someone who he knew he could go to

and could trust.

So in this time of greatest difficulty,

of greatest trial,

he sends to Isaiah.

And gets a very positive message back.

Don't be afraid.

This is verse 6.

Don't be afraid of what you have heard.

These words with which the underlings

of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

Listen, when he hears a certain report,

I will make him want to return to his country

and then I will have him cut down with the sword.

So they go to the prophet,

they go to the spiritual advisor,

and God speaks through him

and speaks a very positive message.

Good listen there for us.

If we're really struggling with something,

if we're not sure what to do,

if we think things are going to be too strong,

too powerful for us to cope with,

one of the things we definitely should be doing

is finding someone we can trust

and seeking their help and their guidance.

Perhaps an older Christian,

perhaps someone who we know is particularly godly,

perhaps someone who's been through difficult times

themselves and can help us in our situation.

But when things are hard,

when times are bad,

it's good that we can know

that there are others round about us,

in our church, possibly elsewhere as well,

who can give us wise guidance

and can pray for us

and can help us to know

what is the best way ahead.

So Hezekiah consults God's servant.

Secondly, it happens

is that Hezekiah very directly seeks God's help.

So yes, here and in the past,

he's gone to Isaiah

and looked for Isaiah to pray for him.

But actually, in this dire circumstance

that he finds himself,

he decides he needs to really get before God

and to pray himself.

So we're at the beginning of this section of the chapter.

We have Sennacherib,

or through his commanders,

coming back and saying,

well, no point resisting.

We're going to beat you.

Let's just, you give in

and things will be much better for you.

How can you prevail

when all the other nations round about

and their gods have proved powerless?

So a bit of a repetition of some of the stuff

from chapter 36.

But then the key verses in the chapter

are verses 16 through to 20.

Hezekiah's prayer.

And this is one of the great prayers,

I think, of the Old Testament.

It's a prayer of desperation,

and at the same time,

it's a prayer that really recognizes

how great God is.

So verse 16,

Hezekiah recognizes God,

the God of Israel,

enthroned between the cherubim.

You alone are God

over all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made heaven and earth.

And whenever we come before God,

the first thing that we need to know

and realize is just how great our God is.

To recognize that before Him,

all of us,

even the most powerful people in our world,

are absolutely helpless and weak.

He is the God of heaven.

He is the maker and the sustainer of our world.

He is the one who raises up kings

and who takes them down again.

And in our own personal circumstances,

He is the one who is powerful to help us.

So we need to recognize God's greatness.

Second thing in Hezekiah's prayer,

I've called we need to guard God's reputation.

Verse 17,

Give ear, O Lord, and hear.

Open your eyes, Lord, and see.

Listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent

to ridicule the living God.

Hezekiah shows that he is jealous

for God's reputation

and that people should know

just how great God is.

I wonder sometimes whether that's something

perhaps we are lacking a bit in

as we live as Christians.

Yes, we recognize God's greatness.

But there are so many things going on

around about us

that we seek to belittle God

or to say He's insignificant

or He doesn't exist

or He doesn't matter.

We should be jealous

for God's reputation

and we should be praying,

Hallowed be your name.

That is really what

that bit of the Lord's Prayer is about.

It is about God's reputation

and how that is maintained

in our world.

So that's verse 17.

Verses 18 to 19

is proclaiming God's uniqueness.

So he said,

Yes, it's true, Lord.

The Assyrian kings have laid waste

all these people on their land.

They've thrown their gods

into the fire.

But they were only gods

of wood and stone

fashioned by human hands.

And Hezekiah said,

I know that you are not a god

like that.

Their gods were powerless.

It was no good them trusting in them

because they didn't really exist

except in a way

that had been made

into an idol.

You, God, are unique.

You're the only true God.

And again, as we come to God in prayer,

we need to recognize God's uniqueness

and how much he sits above

everything in this world

that he is all powerful.

And then finally, in verse 20,

Hezekiah seeks God's glory.

Now, Lord, our God,

deliver us from his hand

so that all the kingdoms

of the earth may know

that you, Lord,

are the only God.

When we pray,

is our primary objective

that God may be glorified?

Yes, there are things

we would love God to do.

Yes, there are things

we need in our lives

and our Heavenly Father

wants us to come

and to ask for them.

But what is our key motivation

as we ask?

It shouldn't be our comfort

or our ease.

Rather, it should be

that God will be glorified

as he works among us,

as he works in our lives,

that people will see

what God does

and will give glory to him.

And ultimately,

Hezekiah says,

that is why I am praying

this prayer.

Yes, it's so that Jerusalem

can be spared,

so that my life can be spared,

which is in great danger.

But ultimately,

it is so God may be recognized

as the only true God.

Now, it's worth taking

a few minutes with that prayer.

It's such a great prayer.

We're taking time

to walk through it.

We're not going to walk through

the rest of the chapter

in any detail.

21 to 35,

our God speaking through Isaiah,

speaking first to Sennacherib

and pointing out the futility

of what he's doing.

Speaking also later on

to Hezekiah

and saying to him

that things are going to be okay.

You will be preserved

and more than that,

there will be a sign

you will even have enough food

to eat despite the great

siege that's been going on,

despite the Assyrians

and all they've done.

There will be,

in the first couple of years,

wild food to eat

and after that food

that you've sown.

And the key message here

is that Hezekiah

needs to trust God's word

and to believe

what has been told to him.

And then finally at the end,

I put this,

recognize God's work.

So we have what finally happened.

Get there in the end.

There's a plague

in the Assyrian camp.

The angel of the Lord

goes out

and puts to death

185,000.

Sennacherib at that point

gets really discouraged

and thinks there was

no point going on

and he heads back home

and the city is saved.

And then the final verse

is about 10 years later

that Sennacherib

was killed by his sons

as Isaiah had prophesied.

So as Hezekiah

took it to the Lord,

the Lord acted,

the city was saved

and ultimately

the evil one

was done away with.

So a good outcome

to a very difficult situation

for Israel.

But just to finish,

let me reflect

on what has happened

over the longer period.

Why was Israel,

why was Jerusalem

and Hezekiah

in such a mess?

And the answer is

because they had tried

lots of different things

to break free

from the Assyrians

and all of them had failed

and it wasn't until

right at the end

when Hezekiah prayed

that God acted.

So Hezekiah for many years

had paid tribute

to the Assyrians.

He stopped that for a while

but then when Sennacherib

came and attacked,

Hezekiah offered

to restart

paying the tribute.

I think at that point

Sennacherib

wasn't very impressed

and wanted to make

an example of him.

Hezekiah tried to form

an alliance with Egypt.

Now Isaiah had warned

against that

but Hezekiah

in an attempt

to bolster

his position

and to give him

some kind of defence

against Assyria

had tried to form

an alliance with Egypt

and as Sennacherib's

messenger said rightly,

Egypt turned out

to be a broken reed.

It was no good

at all.

Hezekiah,

as I said,

prepared for a long siege.

He got things in place

so the city could hold out

for a reasonable period.

Now to be honest,

unless Sennacherib

got a bit fed up

and went away,

there was no way

ultimately they could hold out

but Hezekiah

had done these things

and thought

by doing this

I can maybe

make things okay.

And then he tried

to negotiate

a settlement.

I think that's what's happened

in chapter 36

when his people go out

to meet with

Sennacherib's people.

They're hoping

they'll be able

to negotiate

some kind of settlement

that the Assyrians

will withdraw.

And all of these

fail.

And it's only

at the last minute

when Hezekiah

is in absolutely

dire straits

that he turns

to God in prayer

and he sees

the answer

to his prayers.

You wonder

what would happen

if right at the beginning

Hezekiah

had brought it

to the Lord.

Perhaps none of this

would be in our Bibles

because God

would have acted.

And I think

it's quite significant

that God

allows Hezekiah

to come right

to the edge

before he acts.

To get to that point

of desperation

when Hezekiah

recognizes

there's nothing

he can do

in this situation

but throw himself

on the Lord

and seek

the Lord's help.

If Sennacherib

had been killed

in one of the other battles

or if he'd been killed

back in his own

city of Nineveh,

then that might have

been a cause

for rejoicing

for the Israelites.

But it wouldn't have

strengthened their faith

in the Lord

or their understanding

of the importance

of bringing things

to God

in prayer.

And what a really

important lesson

that is for us

when things are difficult

when times are hard

what do we do?

Do we look for

lots of solutions

of our own?

Do we try to work

things out

and think,

yes,

if I do this

and I do that

and I do the other,

that might work

and that might make

things better

for me?

Or is the first

thing we do

to come and to bring

it before the Lord

in prayer

and to seek

His help

recognizing that

only with Him

and through His power

can we really prevail,

can we find

the solutions

to all the issues

in our lives?

I,

and I'm sure

you as well,

can think back

in situations

where if the first

thing had been prayer

and yes,

after prayer

there may all be

actions that the Lord

directs us in,

but if the first

thing is prayer

then God will bless

us much more quickly

than if we wait

till we're in a dire

situation

and almost as a last resort

we bring it to God

in prayer.

As the hymn says,

Oh what peace

we often forfeit

Oh what needless

pain we bear

all because

we do not carry

everything

to God

in prayer.

Let's go away

with that thought

in our minds.

It's a

kind of strange

passage in many ways

in some ways

quite interesting

but in some ways

quite foreign to us

and yet it has

these very important

lessons

lessons about

how we deal

with temptation

and make sure

we don't

give in

to the tempter's voice

but particularly

lessons about

how when we are

in any kind

of difficulty

we should bring it

to the Lord

and we should

leave it with him

knowing that he is

much more powerful

than we are.

Let's pray together.

Father we thank you

for your word to us

this evening.

We thank you

for this account

of your dealings

with your ancient people

and of how you

demonstrated

how much greater

you are

than even the

greatest powers

in our world.

We thank you

that when Hezekiah

prayed

you answered

in wonderful ways

and you rescued

him

and your people.

Help us

in our lives

not to give in

to the snares

of the tempter

not to be taken in

by the deceiving

words that we may hear

but when we face

difficult situations

to know that

you are able

to protect us

through them

and to bring

them to you

in prayer.

Thank you for your word.

We thank you

for the privilege

of meeting together

as your people.

We commit ourselves

to you now

in Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.