This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” – Isaiah 37:30

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 10, 2013): Isaiah 37

Near the end of the American Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman fought a battle we simply remember as his “March to the Sea.” The idea behind the March was that Sherman would take his 62,000 men and March through Georgia. What is amazing about the March is that from November 15, 1864 when the March began until December 21, 1864 when Sherman took control of the port of Savannah, Georgia, Sherman was without any way of gaining supplies for his troops. It is thought that an army might be able to carry a week’s supplies on it backs and maybe another week’s supplies with large carts (or in current day equipment - trucks) to carry the supplies, but to supply an army of this size for just over a month was impossible without an adequate supply line – something that General Sherman did not have.

But then again, that was never Sherman’s idea. Sherman’s idea was to take 62,000 men and live off of the land, while creating as much damage (a scorched earth policy) as possible to the land that they were travelling through. Sherman called this harsh tactic “Hard War” or “Total War” and many of his contemporaries did not think that this kind of war was possible. But when Sherman appeared in Savannah just over a month later, he had proved his critics wrong. The message that Sherman sent to President Lincoln after the fall of Savannah offering the President the city as a Christmas Present has become legendary. Sherman estimated that he and his troops had caused $100 million dollars’ worth of property damage during their month long walk through the Georgian countryside.

Isaiah’s prophecy about what the Hezekiah will eat over the next three years has been confusing for some. The question that is raised is why Judah could not live off of what they had planted during the second year. But the simple matter might be that the Assyrians had fought a “Hard War” as they moved through Judah. Living off the land and creating damage as the Assyrians moved through Judah, there would have been nothing left after the defeated Assyrian army returned for home. The people would have been forced to live off of what the land would give to them. But it is quite possible that the entire infrastructure of the nation would have been destroyed by the Assyrian army and in the second year, as well as needing to secure Judah’s borders, the nation would need to be rebuilt – and once again Judah would need to live off of the land. But according to the promise of God through Isaiah, during the third year life would once again return to normal. The people of Judah would return to the cycle of planting and harvesting. But until then, God would provide.

It is the promise of God that we all need to hang on to. Sometimes we can plant and harvest, sometimes we can provide for ourselves, sometimes our relationships work, but there are times when they we know that they just don’t. And it is in those moments that we need to cling to the promise of God that he will do the impossible - and provide what it is that we need.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 38 & 39