I hate bullies. Cancer is a bully. Mental Illness is a bully. Chronic health issues – bully. Systematic poverty – bully. Racism – bully. They are bullies because they have ravaged and destroyed so many lives that we begin to think there is nothing that can be done about it. We become intimidated when we hear their name.

King Hezekiah faced a bully. The King of Assyria had destroyed many nations. He boasted of his great conquest. Nations trembled in fear before him. Now he was threatening King Hezekiah and the nation of Judah. Like most bullies, he began by threatening King Hezekiah. He taunted King H by saying what he had done to others and what He was going to do to him. He caused fear to rise in the heart of King H.

But instead of shrinking back, King H. prophesied his outcome:

““Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him.” (‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭32:7‬ ‭NIV)

Then King H. sat back and allowed God to fight his battle. He trusted that this bully facing him was no match for his God. God had given King H. a promise, “Tell the King of Assyria, I know where he lives.”

Our God knows where cancer lives. He has mental illnesses’ address. Poverty, racism, they are all going down because greater is He that is in us than he that is authoring sickness, poverty, and disunity.

I refuse to fear bullies. I refuse to tolerate bullies in my life. What God did to the King Assyria, he will do to the bullies I face.

“King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword.” 2 Chronicles‬ ‭32:20-21‬ ‭NIV‬‬