Quieting the negative voices
Do you have times in your life that there are negative voices all around you? Maybe your family or friends or co-workers? Or maybe, even your own inner monologue? I know I do. I have more negative conversations in my head than anywhere else. I might replay a visit with a friend or a conversation with my husband and so often this inner dialogue starts up and is clouded with negativity. Before long, I’m feeling discouraged and beaten down assuming there are problems that haven’t been spoken but I imagine must be true.
King Hezekiah had a similar situation. (2 Kings 18-19, 2 Chronicles 32 and Isaiah 36-37) He had lots of negativity swirling around him and yet he was able to stamp out the negative voices. I think we can learn a lot from him. 2 Kings 17 tells us that Hezekiah was born to King Ahaz. Ahaz was an evil king that did not follow God. And although Hezekiah was not raised to fear God, once in power, Hezekiah changed everything and turned his kingdom of Judah back to the Lord. 2 King 18:5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. Six years into his reign Assyria took over Israel. Remember, Israel is family to Judah and is a neighboring country. So now the Assyrians are neighbors to the kingdom of Judah. Assyrian’s were know for their brutality. They were vicious in war and their savagery was their strength. They would not be nice neighbors to have. I’m sure Judah would have been living in a heighten state of awareness having Assyria as a neighbor. And wouldn’t you know it, Assyria surrounded Judah a few years later to attack them.
Hezekiah hears that Sennacherib, Assyria’s king, was invading their land of Judah. Hezekiah makes preparations for the coming invasion. First he tries to pay the Assyrian’s to leave. But rather than leave, the Assyrians, lay siege to Jerusalem. They block all movement outside the city walls and basically wait for Judah to be flushed out. Sennacherib sends his officials to Jerusalem’s city wall to relay a message to Hezekiah and more pointedly, the people of Judah. The officials began to share the king’s message but they didn’t share it in their own language of Aramaic, they shared it in Hebrew. Judah’s language.
Picture the scene, with all of Judah on the walls, ready to battle. Men standing shoulder to shoulder to defend Jerusalem. Men behind them ready to back them up incase one was injured. There would be many men listening to the officials from Assyria. The message they relayed was meant to cause Judah to quake with fear. The official reminded the people that King Hezekiah had rid the land of idols. Hezekiah had removed all alters and places of worship to any other god, cleansing the land. The official questions Judah’s expected protection from God. He tells them that Hezekiah messed up and removed the altars that would have allowed the gods to be appeased. But then he goes on to say how Assyria has conquered many lands, regardless of what god they served and this time would be no different. No god had been strong enough to fend them off. Lastly, he questions Hezekiah’s motives to stay and fight rather than surrender. He tells the people that Hezekiah has deceived them. If the people would surrender to the Assyrian’s their lives would be great and they would live in abundance. He continues to insult God and the people of Judah for trusting Hezekiah. Scripture tells us that the people of Judah were afraid, but Hezekiah had instructed them to stay silent regardless of what was said.
What Hezekiah did next is the key to crowding out the negative voices. He immediately goes to pray with his closest administrators. Isaiah 37:16-20 “Lord Almighty, 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. 17 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.18 It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 20 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.“
The beauty of his prayer was, his focus. Yes, he was afraid. He admits part of the words of the officials was true. What’s amazing is the beginning wasn’t filled with anger or fear but rather a reminder of who God is. The reminder wasn’t for God but really for Hezekiah. Reminding himself who God is. God is Lord over ALL kingdoms on earth, not just Judah but Assyria too. Hezekiah spent moments worshiping God. Precious moments. There’s an army spewing lies and hate on Judah right now and Hezekiah takes time to come into God’s presence with praise and worship. Then he speaks truth about the situation. And ends leaving it in God’s trustworthy hands.
The times we are surrounded by negative voices, we might get rushed to defend ourselves. Trying to prove others wrong. Or maybe we surrender to those negative voices and let it sink deep, taking it to heart and believing it. Sometimes we want to do both, surrender and fight. If it’s an inner dialogue maybe we realize it’s not true but we can’t stop the on-slot of thought. Maybe we have heard others speak those words to us so many times and now we save them the task and say it to ourselves. Maybe we just have negative thoughts and we aren’t sure where it came from but because it’s there we give it validity. Whatever the form it comes and whatever response is, God wants to give you peace in the midst of it.
Our first response anytime negative voices assail us needs to be turning to God. And not just turning to complain, tattle or beg but rather, remind ourselves of who God is. He is God above all things, all people, all circumstances we might find ourselves in. He is in control of all situations and able to deal with anything that comes our way. We don’t have anything that we encounter in our minds our in our world that He is not able to address for us. We often forget that He is so great and we are tempted to defend ourselves, fighting to remove the enemy. We might try to think our way out of negative thoughts or situations. But God’s desire is for us to rest in His ability to save us.
Just like Hezekiah we need to come before the Lord, first, reminding ourselves who He is. How great He is. How powerful He is and what He is able to do and what He has done in the past. Then we can address our fears following it up with trusting that God can and will handle it. I think for me personally I often get stuck in the “addressing my fears” part and forget to trust God with it. It’s a conscious effort to move from fear to faith. The other hard part is trusting God with the results. Hezekiah had no idea how God would deliver them. Maybe they would still have to fight and maybe it would take a long time for the deliverance. Hezekiah didn’t qualify what he wanted God to do but instead he left it to God.
One of my favorite responses in scripture is when God says, “I heard your prayer”. (Insert happy sigh) I love knowing my God listens and hears my prayer! And when we see that response in scripture it’s followed by God responding. In Hezekiah’s case, God defeats the army of Assyria during the night and Hezekiah doesn’t even have to leave the city. For us God responding to these negative voices can take on many different faces. In our relationships, we can find courage and the words to share our feelings with the person. We can ask if our fears are real or imagined. It may also be an answer to pray that a person is removed from our circle so we no longer have to see them. Or maybe He just brings peace to a situation. In respect to our minds, we find strength to not repeat these words over and over. Maybe we have courage to get counseling to figure out why we say these things to ourselves. And in either case God can and does heal instantly. We just have to leave it to God to decide the very best way to deal with the situation.
One final note, Hezekiah didn’t keep repeating the negative words. He didn’t focus on the fear that had come upon hearing the words. He simply chose to turn his eyes to the one true God who could and did save him. Today, I am praying that for you and for me, when those negative voices come, that we will immediately turn to the Great Defender. Filling our hearts with peace as we take time to remember who our God is. And trusting Him to defend and save us.
