By Staff
We sense a great need to negotiate and manipulate our way through life. We seek influence, sponsors, and any help available to advance our agenda. In all this posturing, we tend to leave God out, or ask Him along after we think we have a plan.
King Hezekiah of Judah sets us a good example in how to deal with threats and pressures that come against us.
In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 36, the king of Assyria invaded Judah, took many cities, and threatened to capture Jerusalem. The messenger of the king of Assyria came to Jerusalem and stood in the hearing of all the people on the city wall and derided King Hezekiah, his people, and his God.
The threat was real. The armies of Assyria had already captured great portions of Judah and were poised to raze Jerusalem. King Hezekiah had his envoys on the wall listening to the challenges of the Assyrian, but had instructed his people not to answer (Isaiah 36:21).
The envoys of Hezekiah returned with the bad news: Jerusalem would soon lay in ruin and there was nobody to deliver. Hezekiah's response was to put himself before the Lord by tearing his clothes in a demonstration of grief. The next thing he did was to put on sackcloth as an act of humility. Then he went into the house of the Lord (Isaiah 37:1).
It is always right to take everything to God. He is the only help there is.
As Hezekiah waited before the Lord in the house of the Lord, he sent the envoys to the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 37:2).
Old Testament prophets were direct spokesmen for God. We have no such human instruments in our day. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our advocate, intercessor, and mediator. We go straight to Him in prayer.
Isaiah sent word back to Hezekiah, "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me" (Isaiah 37:6).
The first response of God to us as we carry our burden to Him is almost always, "Do not be afraid." God then pointed out that the insult was not to Hezekiah, nor to Jerusalem, but to God Himself. God declared in Isaiah, chapter 37, verse 7, that He would take care of the king of Assyria.
The king of Assyria was not finished making threats against Jerusalem. He sent a letter to Hezekiah outlining the list of conflicts of the Assyrian army and the futility of standing against such power.
When Hezekiah received the letter, he took it straight to the house of God and laid it out before God. Then Hezekiah prayed (Isaiah 37:15-20). Hezekiah approached God from a position of helplessness and dependence, and appealed to God to defend His glory against the heathen insults.
God always knows all our circumstances, yet He greatly desires that we rehearse them before Him. God loves to be treated as . . . God. God likes to be the first stop and the last stop in our lives as we move through circumstances.
God then did something remarkable. He sent the angel of the Lord into the camp of the Assyrians and killed 185,000 of them in one night (Isaiah 37:36). The king of Assyria looked at all his dead soldiers, packed his gear, and went home (Isaiah 37:37).
God dealt very effectively with Hezekiah's circumstances. Hezekiah did not raise a hand nor speak a word to the Assyrians; his only dialogue was with God.
What should we do when we don't know what to do? Take everything to God. He can handle all our circumstances.