Scripture
14After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: 16“O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 17Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God. Isaiah 37:14-17
Observation
Instead of taking the threats personally, Hezekiah took it to prayer. Instead of letting the list of demands level his faith Hezekiah leveled up by laying the list down before the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. King Sennacherib wanted Hezekiah to feel small but he took the problem to his big God. His enemy wanted him to bargain and beg but Hezekiah chose to bow before the one who created the heavens and the earth. Instead of focusing on the list from his enemies and becoming emotionally fatigued he focused on the Lord and was filled with faith. This was the Lord’s response: “21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22the Lord has spoken this word against him”. Notice, the Lord said, “because you prayed…”
Application
Where we want to go in person we must first go in prayer. Before we panic at the overwhelming list of loss and limits, we must lay that list down before the Lord. We all have a list. We wake up with one every single day and we just let our circumstances add to it throughout the day. It starts out with:
You didn’t spend enough time with the Lord, your spouse, your family
You shouldn’t have looked at that site last night. You promised yourself you wouldn’t.
You aren’t ready of today’s meeting at work
Your boss is out for your head
Your co-worker is out for your position
You don’t even know if there will be a job if Covid continues
What are you going to about your kids who won’t have school in the Fall?
What if you get sick? Who will provide for your family?
Why did you yell at them? Why are you so angry all the time?
They haven’t seen you all day and all you want to do is hide away in your room. What king of a parent/spouse are you?
You didn’t need that extra drink, that extra helping, that extra online purchase but you did it anyway
Why did you just lie right now? Do you really think God is going to help you when you do things like that?
The Accuser has been helping us write our lists since snake in the days of Adam and Eve. This is just today’s list. If we don’t lay this down before the Lord then tomorrow’s list will be twice as long and doubly hard to let go. Just like Sennacherib, the enemy doesn’t have to come up with new threats, he just keeps repeating the same ones over and over until we believe they are true. Let’s choose to lay down our list before the Lord every day so we start with a clean slate. His mercies are new every morning after all.
Prayer
Hezekiah’s prayer is my prayer today: “Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby.” (vs. 3) I know You are birthing something new in this season and I need Your strength to see this through. I lay my list before You Lord and I seek Your face and I’m reminded of how much bigger You are than anything I’m currently facing. You are my protector, provider, my rock, and shield. There are so many words coming at me from so many directions, but Your word is what holds me and upholds me come what may! You will fight for me as I put my trust in You!
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