Isaiah 38:4-6: "Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: 'Go and tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.' ' "
Hezekiah was the king of Judah about 700 years before Christ. 2 Kings 18 tells us that this king, unlike many of his predecessors, "did what was right in the eyes of the LORD . . . (for Hezekiah) trusted in the LORD." Hezekiah removed the pagan shrines that his forefathers had constructed to worship, in defiance against the One True Lord.
To be sure, King Hezekiah had seen the mighty hand of God work supernaturally to protect His people against the mighty Assyrians. This was an army that was so indomitable that no nation had been able to stop its advances; and as the Assyrians entered the region of Palestine, its leaders arrogantly announced to Judah that it must surrender, for no nation nor its gods had been able to thwart the purposes of the mighty Assyrians. Hezekiah knew that his only hope for his people's deliverance was from the Lord. As the king tore his clothes in mourning, he approached the presence of the Lord at the temple, pleading that God would bring deliverance for his people, "so that all kingdoms on earth may know that the Lord alone is God" (2 Kings 19:19).
When God responded by destroying the Assyrian army in one night, it was a time of thanksgiving for the Lord's rescue; however, the celebration would be short lived, for in the next chapter, we find that Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. Only to reinforce the terminal nature of the king's illness, the prophet Isaiah visited the king and presented God's proclamation that the king should put is house in order, for he would die.
Hezekiah was not willing to acquiesce to such a declaration; he turned his face toward a wall and cried out to the Lord for deliverance. Hezekiah petitioned the Lord not to forget the king's unwavering devotion and obedience, and he asked that the Lord would rescue him from his pending demise.
Before Isaiah exited the middle court of the palace, the Lord instructed the prophet to return to the king and tell him that the Lord had seen Hezekiah's tears and heard his prayers. The Lord would heal the king and give him 15 more years of life.
Later, the king in a reflective writing about the ordeal would say, "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction . . . . The living, the living-they praise you, as I am doing today" (Isaiah 28:17a,19a).
We have a good word of instruction in this story, for we find that Hezekiah's healing was the Lord working responsively to the king's earnest prayers for deliverance. The Lord specifically instructed the king that his healing was predicated upon his offering of prayer to the Lord . . . implicit in this Divine dictate is the reality that had Hezekiah resigned himself to his demise and not offered a prayer to the Lord, he would have died. The king's prayer was catalytic in God changing the normal course of events (which could only have been changed by God's supernatural intervention).
Prayer is such a powerful resource for us today, and it is a great tragedy that we do not exercise this privilege of communing with the Lord consistently. James 4:2 tells us that we do not have because we do not ask. Let us recommit ourselves to seek the Lord first when we are faced with difficulties in life. Let us lay our burdens before His glorious throne and give Him the prerogative to intervene in such a way that will be consistent with His glorious will . . . which is ultimately the best result for us (see Romans 8:28).
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