2 Kings 19:20
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. (King James Version)
As I read these scriptures I could relate to the message that Hezekiah (King of Judah) sent to the prophet Isaiah, “This is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to birth and there is not strength to bring forth”.
There is not a doubt in my mind that everyone feels this same way sometimes. We get in desperate places in our lives where all that we can hear is the enemy spuing out threatening’s, and filthy lies. In our own selves we do not have the strength to deliver.
The Assyrian’s had taken all of the fenced cities of Judah, so king Hezekiah tried to appease Sennacherib (king of Syria) with silver and gold from house of the Lord, and from his own treasury. The lesson here is that “We can’t strike a deal with the enemy”.
I can see it in my mind, A great host of the Assyrian army surrounding the city of Jerusalem. The Jews wanted Rabshakeh (Assyrian chief officer) to speak to them in the Syrian language so the men on the wall (warriors) would not understand, but the enemy doesn’t work that way. Fear is his weapon. He stands outside of the walls our lives trying to make us think that he has the power to make us drink our own piss and eat our own dung (2 Kings 18:26-27).
The Power of Prayer came alive to me as Hezekiah sought the Lord and sent a message to Isaiah the prophet asking for prayer that God would intervein on their behalf (2Kings 19:1-5). I love God’s answer, “Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor; and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land” (2Kings 19:6-7).
The enemy doesn’t give up easily. Hezekiah was standing on the Word of the Lord, so the next threat came in the form of a written letter. Here again, I see the Power of Prayer. Hezekiah took the letter to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord (2 Kings 19:10-14). How Awesome a Privilege to be able to go into our prayer closets and just lay everything out in front of our Lord!
This is not just a story from some random book. It is the written Word of God. It is food for the soul, and strength for the inner man. Make no mistake, this is spiritual warfare (this journey). When James said, “Faith without works is dead” he was saying that we still have to Walk in Covenant with God (lifestyle) (James 2:17) (2Kings 18:11-12). When God’s people pray, he listens (James 5:16). He is the Only one who has the Power to Deliver, and His Word Always Stands (2Kings 19:7) (Kings 19:36-37). The same God who killed 185,000 Assyrians in the middle of the night because he heard king Hezekiah’s prayer is still on the throne, and We Win! Amen
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