Lindsay Wood had just returned home from Bible study with her 15-year-old son Caleb. When her son went to take the garbage out, an intruder broke into the house and cut her throat. Though most would have screamed and shown panic, Lindsay remained calm and used the encounter as a chance to minister to her attacker. In considerable pain and bleeding, she pulled out her Bible and taught her attacker from it for the next hour. At the end of the hour, her attacker apologized and allowed her to live. Lindsey received 20 stitches and survived. When the investigators looked into the attack the situation only worsened as it was uncovered that Lindsey's son, Caleb, did not take out the garbage by chance, but he had hired the attacker, 16-year-old Miguel to kill his mother. Lindsey's reading of the Bible changed Miguel's heart. Lindsey also chose to pray and forgive her son for his part. When this went to court, she appeared on behalf of both of them and pleaded for a lighter sentence. It's hard to fathom this level of calmness and forgiveness in the face of such an act, but Lindsey placed herself in her Master's hands, God. We read in Romans 8:31-32, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" That day God did indeed give Lindsey peace, calmness, and wisdom in the face of this chaos.

The people in Jerusalem were facing annihilation at the hands of the Assyrian army. In every way the people in Jerusalem were unmatched. The numbers, weapons, experience, etc made this attack humanly impossible. While the other nations surrounding Judah had either been destroyed or taken captive, those in Jerusalem refused to budge. The Rabshekah, or Commander in Chief, of the Assyrian army in front of the men assembled on the walls of Jerusalem launched a real and credible threat." When the leaders of Judah asked the commander to not speak in Hebrew to spare the men from hearing, he responded in Isaiah 36:12, "Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?" He then went on attack their nation, their leader, Hezekiah, and their God. Despite this real threat, notice the reaction of the men in 36:21, "But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him". From this scene we move to the king Himself, who didn't panic but brings the situation to Isaiah the prophet. After a temporary stay, the commander returns and issues a letter to go along with his threats. Hezekiah does what we should all do when confronted like this in 37:14, "And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord." Then Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance in 37:15-20. Soon after Hezekiah's prayer, God's response of victory came through the prophet Isaiah. What can't be missed in all of this, and what must have unnerved the commander of the Assyrian army was the calmness, peace, and faith of this entire group from the men on the walls, to the nation's leaders, to the religious leaders, and the prophet.

So important is this story for us to understand that it is repeated word for word in three different areas of the Bible: Isaiah, 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles. How many of us would have responded as Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem did that day? How many of us would respond as Lindsey Wood did to her attacker and then her son? We read in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Time and time again we will see this in Scripture in these men of faith. Faced with impossible situations, even when death is imminent there is both a peace and calmness. We see this in Jesus when confronted with His final days, culminating in the cross. We see this in Stephen in Acts 7, being confronted by the religious leaders and facing death by stoning, in 7:55-56, "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" As he was being stoned to death, he asked God to forgive those killing him in 7:60. We don't know when and if we will be confronted with situations like these. If we go through life unprepared and without faith, we will panic and place all of our trust in our abilities and our ability to maneuver through the situation. If we go though life abiding in His Word, in prayer, in fellowship, then our eyes and our faith and our trust is in Him and not on anything else. This is how we live the life of victory that God has already given us, through His Son who has already conquered both sin and death. How we respond often reflects whether or not we truly believe this.