Because You Prayed

Read

Isaiah 37:21,36 “Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria… Then 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!”

2 Kings 19:14 “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.”

Think

Which unresolved circumstance lingers due to your withheld prayers? Are you locked in unending combat with an unchanging situation, grappling perpetually with an unremitting issue? Do we, in our negligence, omit seeking divine guidance as the initial step? Hezekiah, reigning as the King of Judah, faced the fall of fortified cities, save for Jerusalem, leaving him besieged and isolated amidst hordes of enemy soldiers. Surrounded by the anxious populace, the prophet Isaiah and the praying monarch Hezekiah defied reliance on his military and turned directly to God as the Assyrian king's ominous threat loomed large.  

Miraculously, God responded. By morning, a scene of widespread devastation greeted them: 185,000 bodies. Ponder this—can prayer truly secure victories? Through Hezekiah's prayers, the seemingly invincible ruler of a vast empire was eradicated. If this account stood alone in the scriptures, the message would resound: God, omnipotent and omniscient, responds to the fervent cries of his people, becoming the impetus for his own deeds and orchestrating triumphant outcomes through the conduit of prayer.

Apply

Give God that situation in your life today, that you are trying to fight through on your own. Trust him with the outcome.

Pray

God, I ask for forgiveness for not turning to you first. Help me to remember your power and abilities and my weaknesses when I am tempted to try to tackle things on my own. In Jesus' name. Amen.