2 Chronicles 32:1
After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.

“These things” are all the good and righteous things that Hezekiah did to help lead the people back to God, back to worshiping Him alone in the proper way.  He’d restored the temple and the courses of the priests and Levites.  He’d held the Passover.  He’d destroyed idols.  He was doing all of this out of love and obedience, so surely God would have been pleased.

So his life should have been easy, right?  Maybe that’s what we think sometimes, but that’s not always the way it works.  A trouble-free life is not the reward of our faithfulness to God because a very real enemy exists whose purpose is to destroy us and overcome us and the working of God in the world.  Often our times of revival will be followed by times of attack because Satan doesn’t like it when we are obeying God and following His Word and His ways, when God is being exalted and magnified.  He wants us to get off track.  He is threatened by those most faithful to God and those most fearless in committing their lives to Him.

So it is no surprise that Assyria comes to attack Judah and make war, to disrupt the good things that were happening, to potentially bring discouragement and doubt to the hearts of the people.  But in the end, those attacks became opportunities to magnify God even more as He worked to defend Judah in a miraculous way.  And when the enemy’s attacks hit us, it may just be that God is going to do something amazing on our behalf to show Himself mighty as He overcomes whoever comes against us.

When Sennacherib showed up at Hezekiah’s doorstep, Hezekiah didn’t get discouraged.  He didn’t lose heart or his faith in God.  But he was spurred into action, making preparations to defend his people and to fight back if necessary.  We do not have to be surprised when Satan comes along when we’re obeying God and serving Him and doing what we’re supposed to do.  And we do not have to fear, either.  We can face those battles because God goes before us in them.  So let us hunker down in the shelter of His wings and continue to trust our Almighty God whenever attacks may come.