Psalm 53 is an example of what happens when someone disbelieves in the Living God.
Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! (Psalm 53:1, NLT)
The background for Psalm 53 is found in 2 Kings 18 and 19. Sennacherib, King of Assyria, had surrounded Jerusalem with his armies. The King of Assyria then sent messengers to Hezekiah, King of Judah, saying …
Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 19:10, NLT).
Uh, oh. Do we get the feeling that it’s not going to end well for Sennacherib?
Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to God (Psalm 53:4, NLT).
After Hezekiah received this threatening message from Sennacherib, he did what we should all do when confronted by overwhelming enemies and seemingly certain defeat …
Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God (2 Kings 19:15-16, NLT).
Amazing! Do we get the feeling that it’s going to end well for Hezekiah?
We always win our battles when the Lord fights them for us. What foes do we have now? Are we in despair? Have our adversaries mocked our faith?
Do we still have hope?
An emphatic “Yes!” when the Lord stands by our side against our enemies.
Terror will grip them, terror like they have never known before. God will scatter the bones of your enemies. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them (Psalm 53:5, NLT).
In 2 Kings 18 and 19, the Hebrew word for “trust” is mentioned about ten times. The story of Sennacherib vs. Hezekiah is about who trusts the Living God! I say “Living God” because the many non-living gods of other defeated nations were of no help against the Assyrians.
But they hadn’t yet challenged the Living God.
So, the story didn’t end well for Sennacherib …
That night the angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead bodies. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, left and went back to Nineveh and stayed there (2 Kings 19:35-36).
But how did it end for Hezekiah?
Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel? When God restores his people,
Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice (Psalm 53:6, NLT).
For us today, as in the time of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, trust in the Living God is the difference between victory and defeat.