In The Face of Adversity

Life has a way of bringing challenges when we least expect them. Some difficulties are minor inconveniences—a flat tire, a disagreement with a friend, a temporary setback at work. But then there are those moments when adversity crashes into our lives with such force that we find ourselves completely overwhelmed, facing circumstances far beyond our ability to control or fix.

The question isn't *if* adversity will come. It's *when*. And more importantly: **Where will you turn when it does?**

Three Paths in which to take

When faced with overwhelming difficulty, we essentially have three options before us:

First**, we can turn to God—seeking His wisdom, His strength, His direction. This should always be our first response, the automatic reflex of our hearts. Yet if we're honest, it often isn't.

Second**, we can look to other people—seeking human solutions, worldly wisdom, the counsel of those around us. There's nothing inherently wrong with seeking advice, but when we elevate human wisdom above divine guidance, we've stepped onto shaky ground.

Third**, we can try to handle everything ourselves—relying on our own strength, our own understanding, our own resources. This path of self-reliance may feel empowering at first, but it often leads to exhaustion and disappointment.

A Kingdom's Costly Mistake

The people of Judah faced exactly this kind of crisis. Under King Hezekiah's leadership, they made a bold decision to stop paying tribute to the dominant superpower of their day: Assyria. This was actually the right choice—refusing to bow to oppression and foreign control. But it came with consequences.

Assyria wasn't going to simply accept this loss of revenue. Having already conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, they would inevitably turn their military might toward Judah. The threat was real, imminent, and terrifying.

Here's where the story takes a tragic turn. Hezekiah was a godly king who had instituted spiritual reforms throughout the land. He had torn down idolatrous altars, reopened the temple, and called people back to worshiping the God of Israel. Yet when faced with this national security crisis, he didn't turn to God first.

Instead, he turned to Egypt.

The irony is almost painful. Egypt—the very nation that had enslaved the Israelites for 400 years—became their hoped-for savior. Judah spent enormous sums of money, depleting their national treasury, to secure an alliance with Egypt against the Assyrian threat.

God's response? "Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame. Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace." He called Egypt "Rahab the do-nothing"—a nation that could promise much but deliver nothing.

And that's exactly what happened. When Assyria attacked, Egypt was quickly defeated. All that money, all that hope, all that trust—wasted on something that couldn't save them.

The Sin of Misplaced Trust

What makes this story even more sobering is God's declaration: forming an alliance, but not by my spirit, heaping sin upon sin."

When we put our trust in something or someone other than God, we are sinning. That's a hard truth to swallow, especially when our choices seem so reasonable from a human perspective. Military alliances, financial security, human wisdom—these aren't inherently evil things. But when they replace God as our primary source of hope and help, they become idols.

The people of Judah had a deeper problem than just one bad political decision. Their hearts were rebellious. Even though Hezekiah had reformed the outward expressions of worship, the people's hearts still clung to false gods. And when prophets like Isaiah tried to speak truth to them, their response was essentially: "Stop being so negative. Tell us nice things. We don't want to hear about judgment or repentance."

Sound familiar? How many people today choose churches based on whether the messages make them feel good rather than whether they speak truth? How often do we want God to affirm our plans rather than seeking His plans for us?

The Path to True Strength

Buried in the midst of God's warnings to Judah is one of the most beautiful verses about finding peace in chaos:

**"In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength."**

Think about that for a moment. Rest. Quietness. Trust. These don't sound like strategies for facing an overwhelming military threat, do they? Yet this is exactly what God prescribed.

The apostle Paul understood this principle deeply. When he prayed three times for God to remove his "thorn in the flesh," God's answer wasn't deliverance—it was sufficiency. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

When Paul was weak, then he was strong. Not because weakness itself is powerful, but because weakness forces us to rely entirely on God's strength rather than our own.

This is the paradox of faith: **True strength comes not from our striving but from our surrender.**

A Voice Behind You

One of the most striking images in Isaiah's prophecy is this: "Your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"

Why is God's voice behind them? Because they've run ahead of Him. They've charged forward with their own plans, their own solutions, their own wisdom—leaving God in the dust, calling after them, trying to redirect them back to the right path.

How often do we do the same thing? We make decisions, form plans, take action—and only later (if at all) do we stop to ask God what He thinks about it all. We get so far down the wrong road that God's voice seems distant, faint, coming from somewhere behind us.

The invitation is to stop. Turn around. Listen to that voice. Let God lead from the front rather than calling after us from behind.

When All Else Fails

Eventually, Hezekiah did turn to God—but only after everything else had failed. After Egypt was defeated. After he'd stripped gold from the temple to pay off the Assyrians (repeating his father's sinful pattern). After the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem with no hope of escape.

In that moment of absolute desperation, Hezekiah finally cried out to God. And God answered. That very night, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were struck down. The impossible became possible—not through military might or political alliances, but through the power of God responding to genuine prayer.

The story has a happy ending, but think about all the unnecessary suffering, shame, and loss that could have been avoided if only Hezekiah had sought God first.

Training Our Hearts

Here's the honest truth: seeking God first won't always be your natural inclination. It certainly wasn't for Hezekiah, and it probably won't be for you either. We're wired to problem-solve, to take action, to control what we can control.

But we can train ourselves. We can develop patterns and habits that make seeking God our default response rather than our last resort.

Start small. When a decision needs to be made—even a seemingly minor one—pause and pray. When someone shares a problem with you, let your first response be, "Let's pray about this." When anxiety creeps in, turn to Scripture before turning to your phone or your own spinning thoughts.

Over time, these small acts of intentional God-seeking create a pattern. And that pattern becomes the foundation you stand on when the really big adversities come.

The God Who Waits

Perhaps the most stunning truth in this entire story is found in one simple verse: **"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you."**

After all their rebellion, their rejection, their misplaced trust—God still longed to show them grace. He still waited, ready to help the moment they turned to Him.

This is our God. Not a God who gives up on us when we blow it. Not a God who turns His back when we make foolish choices. But a God who pursues, who waits, who longs to be gracious.

There is nothing too hard for Him. No adversity too great. No situation too hopeless.

The question remains: **When adversity strikes, where will you turn?**