Faithful Prayer
It is interesting to look around the world at those who have assumed positions of power and wield it in a fashion that indicates they believe they are beyond reproach and will rule forever. Eventually, they all fall and come to the realization that they are not infallible and their power is only temporary. Ultimately, they and we recognize that there is a power that is higher and everlasting. In 2 Kings 19:14-20, 29-31 we see that king Hezekiah prayed to God to act to defend His own honor. Hezekiah had faith that God wouldn’t allow anyone to mock Him or usurp His sovereignty and authority over all kingdoms and all creation. I pray that when we are faced with the attacks of the enemy, we would demonstrate the same faith in God that king Hezekiah had. And when we seek God’s help, we would desire not only our deliverance, but for God to get the glory! Amen.
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. (2 Kings 19:14-16) Upon receiving the letter from the Assyrian king, King Hezekiah straight away took the threat from the Assyrians and laid it before God. He acknowledged God as Creator and His sovereignty over all kingdoms, including Assyria. Hezekiah asked God to see and respond to the disrespect that the Assyrians had shown for the God of Israel by their actions and threats.
“It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God.” (2 Kings 19:17-20) Hezekiah saw the Assyrians defeat other nations because they worshiped gods made by human hands, not the living God who was the Creator of everything. So Hezekiah prayed to God to deliver Israel not for Israel’s sake, but so that all nations would know that He alone is God. God’s purpose in your blessing is so that everyone will know that He is God.
“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. Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. “The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (2 Kings 19:29-31) The prophet Isaiah returned to Hezekiah with God’s answer to his prayer. Because Jerusalem had been under siege for a long time by the Assyrians, nothing had been planted in the land. But the sign that God gave Hezekiah was that Jerusalem would be able to eat and sustain itself from whatever was able to grow by itself for the next 2 years. This would give the soil time to recover so that it could yield crops. In the third year, crops could be planted and harvested to feed the people. And although the Assyrians had taken a significant number of people from Judah as captives (over 200,000), God promised to grow and prosper Judah’s population again from the remnant that was left in Jerusalem. God would multiply the food and the people, because of His “zeal” (divinely jealous concern for His people).
Faced with the existential threat of the Assyrian king and his army invading Judah and taking her citizens as captives, king Hezekiah went to the only place he trusted to save him and his people… He went before the Lord and prayed! He prayed that God would act to show His sovereignty as the one true and living God. Hezekiah had faith that God could turn the Assyrian army back and defeat them. So, he went before the Lord and beseeched Him to make the Assyrians and everyone else know that He alone is God and is over all kingdoms and all creation. God responded to Hezekiah’s faith and trust in Him. God sent word through the prophet Isaiah that He would indeed turn the Assyrian army back and make them return to Assyria defeated. And God would bless His people by multiplying the people and the food in Judah from the remnant left in Jerusalem. What attack has the enemy launched against you that you are trusting God’s deliverance from? Have you shown faith in a faithful God? Are you praying not just for yourself, but so that God will get the glory? In Hezekiah’s prayer, we see his faith in God for his situation and a recognition that when the enemy comes against God’s child, he is also challenging God! The perfect response to that challenge is the recognition that the battle doesn’t belong to you, it’s the Lord’s! And your correct response is to go to God with faith filled prayer!
Blessings, Rev. Glenn
