One of my favorite stories in Scripture is in this week’s Scripture reading – found in II Kings 19:14-19 – Hezekiah’s Prayer.
I love the picture of Hezekiah going before God with the enemy’s threat and putting it before him.
Have you ever felt like the enemy is coming at you? Like it’s just one thing after another – he’s weaving lies and threats that are very believable – that you find yourself not just believing but agreeing with – and these lies end up informing how you make decisions and the life you live RATHER than that being influenced by your faith in the most High God.
What Hezekiah does in this passage is a powerful picture and invitation for us.
- He brings the threat before God
Hezekiah 19:14
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.
Hezekiah physically goes to the temple of the Lord and lays out the actual letter from his enemy before God. That’s where to take our attacks, threats, fears – to God. That’s where to run. We live in a day and age where we’re tempted to try and figure it out – depend on our own strength and human strategies – and once we’re out of options – that’s when we send up a prayer.
But running to Jesus is the first thing we should do. Take whatever it is: the status of your marriage, a difficult child, haywire finances – bring them before the Lord. Maybe even kneel down in your house and put the physical papers that represent your situation before the Lord and then…
- He worships God
Once Hezekiah is in God’s presence, He starts out by worshiping Him. Acknowledging how big God is:
II Kings 19:15
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.
Something happens in us, in our perspective when we’re in God’s presence, worshiping Him. The enemy seems loud and scary until we come before our all-powerful and awesome God. He alone is God! He made the heavens and the earth.
- Petition God
Then Hezekiah makes his case:
II Kings 19:16-18
16 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
17 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 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. 19 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.”
Hezekiah brings the threat he is under before God – and He’s kind of saying – Lord it’s your reputation on the line. In coming after us, these guys are essentially coming after you. And they feel powerful because they have destroyed ‘gods’ in the past – but these weren’t really gods at all – You alone are God – so deliver us.
Hezekiah has a realistic picture of his threat – these guys have succeeded before – but he also has a grand view of the God He’s crying out to.
- Our lives are for God’s glory.
Hezekiah is calling on God to deliver them – so that all the kingdoms of the earth may that He alone is God.
God is invested in our story and He wants to show up in powerful ways for His own name’s sake.
So the next time you encounter a threat from the enemy of your soul – try out Hezekiah’s prayer. Better yet, write your own.
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