Isa
37:14-20 (ESV) Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers,
and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it
before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 "O Lord of hosts,
God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone,
of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your
eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent
to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste
all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For
they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they
were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the
kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord."
NOTE: Hezekiah
receives a letter from the King of Assyria which essentially says, 'No other
nation or gods have stopped us, do not trust your God to do any better'
(heavily paraphrased version of Isa 37:9-13). Hezekiah does the right thing. He
immediately goes to God. He lays it out before God. He prays the truths of
God's word. Of course the latter requires a knowledge of God, otherwise our
prayers are just wishful thinking. But Hezekiah does know God. He knows how
great God is. He knows that the God of Judah is the God of the Universe and is
not in any way like other gods, in fact, other gods do not even exist. On the
basis of his knowledge of the REAL God, he makes his request, "… save us
from his hand …" It is a great prayer--simple, thoughtful, knowledgeable
about God, and honest--the best kind of prayer. And it is answered in a
miraculous way. Does God always answer miraculously? No, but He does always
answer in the best way for our good. Sometimes it takes a while to see it, but
he promises it (Rom 8:28). We might view his "good" differently than
our idea of "good," but it is good.
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