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And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 180,000 in the camp of the Assyrians." - 2 Kings 19:22&35
My fate is intertwined with the LORD's. I know that I am just as unfaithful as the nation of Judah when they faced it's marauders the Assyrians. I deserve the taunts and the heckles. But God won't have it. For his reputation is all mixed up with mine.
It's weird how God does this. It's strange this sort of love. That he would take up my cause and make it his own really doesn't make too much sense. I'm not better off than the Assyrians, and Judah's king Hezekiah had to be aware of his nations unworthiness when he took his nations threat into the house of God. He had to know that he wasn't better off. His nation was just as arrogant, unfaithful and idolatrous.
Yet he knew something about God so he went, and there he rolled out the scoll of the Assyrian's taunt. From here God does the rest, wiping out 180,000 of the invaders.
Do I believe that God cares that much about me? Or has my sin and unworthiness clouded my understanding of God's covenantal faithfulness, in which our fates are bond together.
It all seems to good to be true. That a God would make my cause his own is out of character for gods. But there you have it. This is the God of Israel. And when the clouds of condemnation and disaster gather, I am sure glad he's mine as well.
