Keep Praying!
I am reading today in Isaiah. And the story I read today, I read somewhere else. Two other places! It is found in II Kings 18-19 and in II Chronicles 32 as well as here in Isaiah 36,37: so that means that this inspired word of God was written three times! And as I read it, I am reminded to pray, no matter how big my problem is!
King Sennacherib of Assyria was taunting the Israelites, and he was bragging about all the kingdoms he had already destroyed. He did not know the God of Israel but was insulting Him anyways. And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sought the Lord. This is what I noticed that he did:
1-Hezekiah told his people not to answer the King of Assyria’s messenger, who was taunting them as they sat on the wall. And they did as the king said: ‘But the people remained silent, and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, ‘Do not answer him.’’ (Isaiah 36:21) Today it occurs to me that it is good not to have to ‘set the record straight’ every time we do not agree with someone, or if we are being challenged. We do not need to fight these battles! And we make things worse every single time we answer before we pray.
2-Hezekiah acknowledged the problem and spread it out before the Lord. He literally took this hateful letter from the king of Assyria and spread it out before the Lord. And he began to pray. He acknowledges that God alone is God! Over all the kingdoms of the earth! And that He made everything. Lately, the fact that God is invisible has been on my mind a lot. So, when I pray, I remind myself that He is the Only true God, immortal, eternal, invisible. He is our Helper! But our enemy wants us to focus only on what we can see, and what we can figure out on our own. And to be afraid.
3- Hezekiah admits that part of what the King of Assyria said was true. ‘It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.’ (Isaiah 37:18). But he reminds God that all these people trusted in gods that were not gods. And God reminds Hezekiah and the King of Assyria that he ordained that: ‘Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.’ (Isaiah 37:26). What King Sennacherib thought that he did by his own might, was done by God. His pride ended up destroying him.
4-Hezekiah humbly asks for God’s deliverance so that all kingdoms on earth may know that God alone is God! He does not trust in his own strength or get his own solution but asks God to save them. And this is the kind of prayer that honors God, and God sent Isaiah to Hezekiah with this response: ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, King of Assyria, this is the word of the Lord spoken against him:’ (Isaiah 37:21b)
So, this is what happened:
The Lord defended Jerusalem and saved it for his sake and the sake of his servant David: immediately after telling Hezekiah what he was going to do, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. So, Sennacherib broke camp, went back to Nineveh and stayed there. And one day, while he was worshipping his man-made god ‘Nisroch’, his sons came and murdered him. End of story.
This was a massive miracle and was written 3 times in the old testament to encourage us to pray! To honor God with our lives and pray when the enemies of God want us to give in to them. Do not align with those who have no regard for God – ask Him to deliver us from them.
