A Call to Prayer – A Great Example From Hezekiah

As a pastor, I feel like every sermon could be turned into two calls to action – make sure you are reading your Bibles and keep praying. These acts of faith in no way help us earn or deserve our salvation, which is all of God’s free grace. However, it is easy to be slack in these two aspects of the Christian life.

Our basic duty in prayer is that we keep on praying and never quit. Pray without ceasing or constantly pray (1 Thess. 5:17). Jesus commanded to His disciples before His greatest moment of testing, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation…” (Matthew 26:41) In Scripture, however, we do see special moments of prayer. One of my favorite accounts of prayer is one that is recorded in three different Old Testament books. It is the account of Hezekiah in prayer in the face of an existential crisis that God’s people were facing as a powerful army of Assyria was licking its chops to destroy Jerusalem. (See 2 Kings 18-19; 2 Chronicles 32; Isaiah 36-37).

In the 2 Kings account, the leader of the Assyrian forces relayed a message to Hezekiah after the forces of Assyria were directed to fight against another opponent. Hezekiah was sent a threatening, blasphemous letter to not find comfort in the diversion of the Assyrian forces. Assyria would return, and what could the forces of Judah do in defending against that great power?

This is where the account focuses on how Hezekiah handled such a tremendous test. Hezekiah took the threatening letter with him and went up to the temple. There he spread the letter before the Lord. His prayer is a beautiful testimony of how we also must pray boldly in the face of great opposition.

“O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.” (2 Kings 19:15b-19, NKJV)

Hezekiah’s prayer is a great example of confessing God’s absolute sovereignty, the folly of idols, the threat of the enemy, and the great goal – that all kingdoms may know that there is only one true God.

We might not be facing the same existential threat as Hezekiah and Judah were facing, but truly we are entering into dangerous times.

The LORD has brought powerful storms that have resulted in great destruction and loss of many lives.

A Christian school experienced the horror of a planned attack leading to the loss of 3 precious children and 3 faithful staff members.

Criminal attacks on churches have been on the rise and continue to increase in 2023. According a recently released report by the Family Research Council, there have been 69 attacks on churches from January to March, nearly three times the number carried out against houses of worship during the same period in 2022.

We are witnessing history in our own nation with thirty-four felony charges brought against President Trump by Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg. Now I don’t subscribe at all to the idea that President Trump is like Jesus, but as U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) commented, this is the clearest example of Democrats weaponizing government against their opponents.

Attacks have continued against pregnancy centers across the US, and in Illinois our own government is threating to fine pregnancy centers in the name of “consumer protection.”

Are we surprised when we see God’s judgment on our nation economically and politically when we have forsaken His law and gospel?

Christian, unfurl these “letters” before our great God as you get on your knees in prayer. Above all, we seek not our own good or peace, but the advancement of God’s purposes. How God uses all things for His glory is something we will wait until heaven to fully appreciate, but that should not keep us from praying for it now.