Hezekiah Fights For His Faith

This has been quite a time of meditation, that’s been very different indeed. It is at such times that I am visibly reminded and openly shown my total ignorance and lack of wisdom about the Ways of Almighty God, the all Wise. Listen to me, there is no way under the sun that I could have come up with this meditation, no matter how long, or how hard I studied this chapter. This I know beyond the shadow of a doubt. The Lord has given this to us in Grand Style! We are being taken through the whole chapter 19 of 2 Kings. Yes, all of it.

Hezekiah, King of Judah, has received a threatening letter from that powerhouse King of Assyria, named Sennacherib. This has Hezekiah very afraid, because this king’s history of destruction is well known. No one can refute, or pretend that it is not so. The Assyrians have not lost a battle yet. Today, Sennacherib has turned his attention to Hezekiah. What does Hezekiah do? He sends to the man of God, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, to ask him to speak to, the Lord your God, asking Him to rebuke the Assyrian king, and to pray for the remnant.

We are now going to look at Preparation, Adjustment and Celebration, as we divide the chapter into three parts, for our purposes.

Preparation: Why preparation? Because King Hezekiah is being forced to make preparations for his death, and the demise of his kingdom. That is the preparation the enemy wants him to make, for this enemy has never lost a battle yet, and Hezekiah is next. But what is Hezekiah’s preparation? His is the preparation to live and not to die. How does he do this, in the midst of a real threat? Hezekiah does three things.

He Focuses on Life – the Lord is Life.
He Finds the servant of Life – he finds Isaiah son of Amoz, The Lord’s earthly servant.
He Fixes his hope on prayer – he wants prayer for the remnant.

The enemy that is claiming victory, left right and centre, is giving you time to prepare for death, doom, gloom, defeat, and anything else that he can get you to believe from him or her. Instead, we are being encouraged to Prepare for Life in Christ Jesus.

Adjustments: The enemy is fierce and determined and when he hears of the preparations of Hezekiah, he becomes even more pointed and vicious. He sends direct word to shake Hezekiah’s faith and trust in God. He sends word, while on his victory trail, conquering and capturing cities, to tell Hezekiah that he should not let anyone deceive him with empty words. He tells him not to let anyone fool him to think that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. And all this enemy’s past and present achievements are highlighted to Hezekiah. This man’s faith is surely taking a beating. His trust is being bombarded and hit from all sides. Hezekiah has heard the words of the man of God, but the enemy of Assyria is persistent. Hezekiah must make adjustments. What adjustments? The enemy wants him to adjust his faith and trust in God. He wants him to alter his ways and accept the words of the enemy. He wants him to doubt, to disbelieve the Word of God given to him by the servant of God, and to believe the enemy’s lies. Hezekiah does make adjustments, but not unto death. He makes them unto life. He goes to the place of prayer, to the temple, spreads out before the Lord, that awful letter sent to him by Sennacherib, and prays to God. He turns to Life. He goes himself before God, still holding the words of Isaiah, son of Amoz. He prays earnestly and truthfully to God and ends with these words. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.

Celebration: While Hezekiah is praying, God is working, and sends a message to him by Isaiah son of Amoz. God has answered the prayer of Hezekiah with the promise that Jerusalem will not fall at the hands of that Assyrian bully. God did it all. The celebration was that of a God who can be taken at His Word. There is a great celebration also, for the Lord had sent His angel to destroy the Assyrian camp. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew. The Lord of Life, not death, had passed by for Hezekiah and his people.

The enemy comes to you, so that you will celebrate death. I say to you, celebrate life in Jesus. The enemy forces you, when you are not even aware of it, to prepare for death, in a variety of ways. You focus on the negatives, the things in your life that make you cast yourself down, when Jesus has come to raise you. You then begin to make adjustments to all the promises of faith. The Word of God tells you that you can have a life of victory, peace and forgiveness, but you find all kinds of reasons why this cannot be for you. In big and small ways, you rewrite the promises and continue to live the life of a spiritual vagrant, to the victory of the enemy. You too can be as Hezekiah and do all that will defy your Sennacherib.