It comes down to the question: What kind of god is God?
In a world where Assyrians exist, what kind of god is God? In a world where Assyrians not only exist but they attack God’s people, what kind of god is God?
Not doubt, it’s difficult for us today to grasp just what the threat of Assyria meant to the people of Judah that Isaiah was talking to. We don’t live in a world of warfare at our doorstep. In our time of “world religions,” we don’t easily get the idea of national deities that represented and protected individual countries.
And so it’s difficult to grasp the whiplash the people of Judah might feel about this words in Isaiah—that Yahweh was not only ruled over them, but also over Assyria and its gods, and that Yahweh might use *gasp* Assyria in disciplining Judah for it’s idolatry and oppression of the poor.
Just what kind of god is God?
This is a god who has never been shaken, never been threatened, never been beaten. Though Assyria may be people never to matched in history in its cruelty, torture, and oppression, and though it may appear to have the upper hand, God is ultimately in control.
What kind of god is this God? This is a god who is control. That’s what we mean when we say God is sovereign.
What is the “Assyria” you might be facing today? How could God be showing that he’s in control even over that?
Fiftyeight 
Isaiah 10:15 –
Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it?
Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?
As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up,
Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
Are we not tools of God’s creation?
The idea of idol worship is so obscure to our generation. We have departed from God so completely that even the perversion of worship is not understood. Philosophies/ Ideologies of today will seemingly explain so many things away, yet they tend to be replaced every 50 years. Failure to understand the origin of our creation and furthermore the recognition of our creator is the root of our misunderstanding. There is no substitute. Only through embracing a relationship with God do i begin to understand anything.
The Assyria of today? For me it is the undercurrent of beliefs spread through our culture and in the media. Embracing them may well become the rod to your destruction.
Colossians 2:8 – Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosphy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.