TAKE IT TO THE LORD

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to ourchristianwalk@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”

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.

“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.”

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:

“‘Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said, “With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest parts, the finest of its forests.
I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
“‘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.
Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.
“‘But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me.
Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.’
“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.
“Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria:
“‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.
By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord.
I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”

That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

2 Kings 19:8-37

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In the early verses of 2 Kings, Chapter 19, the Lord sends a simple message to Judah’s King Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah.

“Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.”

As Chapter 19 continues, we see in our scriptures that the Lord’s promise comes to fruition.

Our passage starts out with more of the same rhetoric from Asyria’s King Sennacherib. Continuing to try and sway Hezekiah and the people of Judah to surrender to him, Sennacherib sent the following message:

“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”

If only Sennacherib had known of what the Lord had in store as stated through Isaiah.

So what did Hezekiah do when he received Sennacherib’s message?

He turned to the Lord…an action that reflected Hezekiah learning from a prior mistake. You’ll recall that earlier Hezekiah had received a warning from Assyria’s king and sought to pay him off. There was no consulting God then and as we know, Sennacherib only came after Hezekiah and Judah with more fervor after receiving the riches from Hezekiah.

This time around, Hezekiah went straight to the Lord as he should have the first time.

How many times have you made this mistake? You’re up against difficulty and rely on your own decision and will to address the problem, never considering that you should consult God. And in those times, you learn that things didn’t work out when you tried to be in control. I’m convinced God allows us to try to go it alone so we can understand just how much we can’t do it without Him. I know I’ve had to learn this important lesson…just as Hezekiah did.

Back to the scriptures where we find Hezekiah in the “temple of the Lord” where he spread out the message from Sennacherib before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed saying:

“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. 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.”

Note the important aspects of this prayer for they show us the proper ways we should come before the Lord when we call on Him:

1. Hezekiah acknowledged God’s sovereignty.

“…you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”

Indeed we serve a God who has promised that nothing is impossible through Him. This is because He is omnipotent and reigns over everything. He made it so He is the Master of it. We can never forget this in life…that God is the Master over everything in it.

2. Hezekiah asked for the Lord to enter into relationship with him and the problem at hand.

“Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.”

What an awesome assurance and peace we can gain from knowing the all powerful Creator God who is over all the kingdoms of the earth loves and cares about us enough to listen to our pleas. He’s only a prayer away.

3. Hezekiah knew that the Lord could and would deliver him from his problem, doing so to reveal His glory.

“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.”

Knowing that we have an Almighty God who cares for us so dearly leads to a faith and hope that He will care for us in times of need, every ready to display His power and show His glory. What a peace we have when we fully understand this…the peace that Hezekiah surely gained in his time of trouble.

So how did God respond to Hezekiah’s plea? He sent the following message via His prophet Isaiah:

“I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:

“‘Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said, “With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest parts, the finest of its forests.
I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
“‘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.
Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.
“‘But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me.
Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.’
“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.
“Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria:
“‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.
By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord.
I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”

Sennacherib made a fatal mistake in mocking God. The king who thought he was greater than all was about to experience the power of the One who was and is truly greater than all.

For we read that during the night, “the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp”…a startling wake up call for the survivors who woke up amidst dead bodies the next morning. This led to Sennacherib leaving the camp and returning to Nineveh…a town you’ll recall from the account of Jonah’s life. It was here that the Lord made good on His promise…and Sennacherib lost his life at the hands of his two sons while worshiping in the temple to a false god. The king of Assyria who had mocked the God who gave him life now fell at the hands of that same God’s judgment.

Hezekiah’s prayers were answered…all because he chose to take it to the Lord. And the good news is that the same can happen for us. Thanks be to God for that certitude.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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