Isaiah 36:4-6 - On what are you basing your confidence?

36:4

“On what are you basing this confidence of yours?” In this episode we see the enemy trying to induce fear in the heart of Hezekiah. This something that the enemy does to all of us. Remember that Hezekiah has been seeking to introduce religious reforms, to make the nation more in line with God’s word. He had rejected the tactic of appeasing Assyria. When we turn and trust in the Lord the enemy will try to sow doubt in our minds.

36:5

In the things that the enemy uses to sow fear there will often be an element of truth in what he says. Hezekiah had made military preparations as well, and Assyria pointed out that this would not be sufficient to stop the Assyrian army. This was true, but the military strength of Judah was not the grounds for confidence. The Lord was the only ground for confidence. In our own lives there may be some peripheral things that we do that are reasonable things in themselves, but they are not primary. Only our trust in the Lord is primary.

36:6

Judah had dallied with seeking help from Egypt, something Isaiah had warned them would do no good.The Assyrian commander tells them the same. So some of the taunts of the enemy will have an element of truth in them. However, by this point Judah had given up looking to Egypt for help. The enemy will bring up past mistakes in order to weaken our confidence.