Homily: June 25, 2024, Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time (God Alone)

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 “Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

The Assyrians had already encamped themselves near Judah, ready to march into the city and take over the nation, like how they had already taken over the other ten tribes of Israel. Only Judah and Benjamin were left.

This statement is from the letter which the Assyrian king Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah, king of Judah. It did not just warn Judah that they were coming to take over Judah by force, but was also mocking that the God of Israel will be helpless and a fake.

What should King Hezekiah do in such a situation?

It was a fact that the Assyrian army was huge, Judah was simply too small to fight them.  Logically, it would make sense to surrender to Sennacherib to avoid bloodshed and accept the disgrace and the capture. All the neighboring countries had already lost to the Assyrians.

In our own life, have we also faced such situations before? Stuck and unable to move forward, when decisions are not so straightforward, complications confuse us, and we can’t even figure out what would be the right move next. What should we do? Who can we turn to for wisdom and help?

King Hezekiah, without hesitation, brought the letter up to the temple and spread it out before the Lord, surrendering not to the enemy but to His God, seeking His direction and appealing to Him to show His power to the Assyrians, “Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

Indeed, God alone is almighty and powerful. He alone decides life and death, and when He chooses to defend His people, He does not need a big army to work. That very night, the angel of the Lord went and struck down all the hundreds of thousands of men in the Assyrian camp.

With that, He declared to the world that He is the true, powerful and living God. He alone decides that “I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.”

We do believe and acknowledge that God is almighty and powerful, Lord of heaven and earth, Master and Creator of us all. But do we even trust to let Him take control of everything in our life, everything that happens to us?

When we are stuck in our situations as King Hezekiah was, do we turn to Him to let Him fight our battles for us? And fight it the way He wants?

Is He the director and we the servant, or are we the director and He the servant?

Throughout the salvation history of church, God has always been the same. The same God of King Hezekiah is with us today, and nothing is impossible for Him, yet His plans are not ours. Do we trust Him enough to be God, and we His servants?

Our beloved Heavenly Father, we surrender our whole life to you, take charge, take control, we trust in you. Amen.


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