When time stands still and it seems all is lost, everything we know is tested and questioned, and we can do nothing to change the circumstance, we wait.  But in the wait, we actively pray humbly and honesty to God who we know—knows!  The wait involves knowing God and listening to what He has to say with an obedient trusting heart.  In the wait, we continue to do what God tells us to be and do as his servants for His glory.

Like Paul preaches; we might be perplexed but we know God is not confused.  So, as we wait for outcomes—we go to God. Then trust and obey what He says. 

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” –Paul, the apostle mocked, beaten and thrown into prison frequently for preaching Jesus crucified and risen from death to redeem us. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10

To the Corinthian church gone wild; Paul compared the glory of Moses’ old covenant to the glory of Christ’s new covenant, which is far better. He explained that when someone turns to the Lord, they find freedom and reflect God’s glory. He noted that God’s light shining in our hearts is a treasure for the world to see. As we gaze upon the Lord’s glory, his Spirit frees us and transforms us more and more into his likeness. 

Therefore, life circumstances become less “crushing” when we look at them from God’s point of view by His power living in us.  “How will His glory be seen in this?,” we must ask, with a follow up question; “what will we learn from this?” Our prayer in the wait becomes, “May your glory be seen in the outcome of this temporary situation and may your glory be seen in me as I walk through it with You.” “Show me the way to go, and I will follow.”

God knows exactly what is happening to and around us. He walks with us through it all. “

We now resolve the “cliff-hanger” in King Hezekiah’s story.  (Rewind chapter 18, if necessary.) 

2 Kings 19

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ² He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³ They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

⁵ When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ 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.’”

⁸ When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

⁹ 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: ¹⁰ “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.’ ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹² 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? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

¹⁷ “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ 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.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall

²⁰ 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. ²¹ 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.
²² 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!
²³ 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.
²⁴ 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.”

²⁵ “‘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.
²⁶ 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.

²⁷ “‘But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me. ²⁸ 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.’

²⁹ “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. ³⁰ Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.
³¹ 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.

³² “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. ³³ By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord.
³⁴ I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”

³⁵ 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! ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁷ 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.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

With God all things are possible!  God knows our circumstance; but He wants us to know Him.  “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10. Let go and know Me, says God. I am God and what I say happens.

King Hezekiah knew that he needed a word from the Lord, so he sent his officers to Isaiah the prophet and asked him to pray and seek God’s help with him. (By the way, this is the first mention of Isaiah in 2 Kings.)  Are you singing with me, “I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered…”  The king had one great burden on his heart: that the God of Israel be glorified before the nations of the earth. Sennacherib had blasphemed the Lord, and

Hezekiah asked God to act on behalf of Judah, not for their sake but for the glory of God’s great name. God listens to prayers like this!

We learn that when the outlook is bleak, try the up-look. That’s what King Hezekiah did when he received the blasphemous letter from the king of Assyria. As I wrote yesterday of our perplexing lawsuits, we laid those letters before the Lord and had to trust Him to work these matters out in His will in His way.  He did.  He always has and always will. Focusing on the Lord and His greatness helps put our problems in perspective.

When all looks scary and hopeless, God provides what we need when we need it most in ways beyond our imaginations! God promised that He would deliver His “remnant” from their enemies and that they would “take root” and become fruitful again. Not only would Sennacherib never enter the city, but he wouldn’t even shoot an arrow at it, attack it, or build a siege mound next to it! When the Lord wanted to wipe out 185,000 enemy soldiers, all He had to do was send one of His angels.  This is our God! This is the same God who sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.  Jesus could have called ten thousand angels to rescue Him from this cruel and excruciating pain and suffering—but He did not. God’s love for us held Jesus on that cross of humility and shame so that we could be set free from the punishment of our own sins.  When we think of the price paid in full for our freedom, our current circumstances pale in comparison.  Sigh.  Read this again with grateful praise for the One who suffered much to set us free. Get a grip on all that God has promised by believing in Jesus.  Point the way to Jesus for others who struggle and stew in their problems. Paul urges us…

“So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25, MSG

Lord, May your glory be seen in us today. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you teach us by your power in your Name for your glory, Amen