2 Chronicles 32:8 "With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah."
King Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings of the nation of Judah and obviously a great leader. In this passage he is encouraging the people to not be afraid of the Assyrian king nor his multitude of people. (King Sennacherib had laid siege to Jerusalem) Hezekiah did not simply say not to be worried but gave them a viable reason to relax. He told them that the Assyrians were simply "arms of flesh" when the captain of their army was the Lord God and He would fight their battles. They rested in his words.
Hezekiah knew that his people needed to be reminded of the fact that God is their protector. One of the main things leadership provides for the follower is focus. Often it is not the circumstances that spell defeat in our lives it is the lack of focus on our part. Leadership (parents, pastors, coaches, bosses, husbands, moms and dads, etc.) needs to constantly re-focus the sight/mind of the follower upon the basic truths of God's Word. Most believers know the right answers but often the circumstances distract them from what they know to be true.
Leaders should be very careful of criticizing followers when they fail and should be more encouraging in helping them to set their sights on God. It is the leader's responsibility to provide an atmosphere of safety (rest from worry) in order to help the follower prosper. This was Moses' great challenge in leading the people out of Egypt and to the promise land...he had to constantly re-focus their attention off of their fears and back on God.
By the way, God did in fact destroy the Assyrian army once again freeing His people and the great city of Jerusalem from impending destruction.
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