5. Make the sacrifices to remove the distractions necessary to focus on God.
Hezekiah did not just make temporary and surface level changes like we so often do. We resolve to do something that we stop doing after a couple of weeks. Rather than making a resolution, he made a covenant with God. He committed himself and his actions to God.
Rather than getting a new cable box for the fifth from the inside and then the outside. Some of us try changing the external without a willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to be changed internally.
Jesus came to change us internally. This can be a painful process, but it is the process that leads to genuine peace.
So, if Hezekiah was successful in all that he did, then everything went well for him, right?
Not exactly.
Hezekiah faced some tremendous challenges in his life. Two of those moments were shared multiple times in the Bible. The story of Hezekiah is in 2 Kings 18, 2 Chronicles 29 and Isaiah 36. Hezekiah’s life was remarkable! Hezekiah had two moments in his life when his prayers created a new future!
Like the new Star Trek movies or the TV show LOST, Hezekiah was able to create a better alternative reality because of his relationship with God.
Let me explain:
The Assyrians came back to do damage to Judah, just as they had done to Israel and to the neighboring Samaritans. Hezekiah had been able to buy time in the past from the Assyrians the last time they attacked. Literally, he gave them gold and silver to maintain some semblance of freedom. This time seemed different. Fear was rampant.
The Assyrians had never been defeated, and the field commander reminded the people of this. He shouted out threats. He promised destruction and tried to entice Hezekiah’s top men to betray him. He shouted so that all the people of Judah could hear:
“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me … . Choose life and not death! Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’” —2 Kings 18:31-32
The field commander for the Assyrians shouted out in the language of the people: Don’t trust other nations to help you, don’t trust your king and don’t trust your God. Even more confusing, the field commander even went on to claim:
“The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.” —2 Kings 18:25
Some of us are in places of leadership where we are opposed by external forces. Others of us face opposition from within. We have field commanders who oppose us even though they are supposed to be on our side!
You can imagine how tempting that would be for the people of Israel. Who should you believe? Your King and the Assyrians both claimed God told them to do two things that contradicted each other. Plus, the Assyrians had never lost! Why would this be any different?!
The people remained quiet, and Hezekiah turned to the Lord for help. He had made a covenant with God. He had surrendered himself and his decisions to God. Hezekiah tore his robes and put on sackcloth (a sign of desperation to God and to those who saw Him). He went to the Temple, and he prayed. The end of his prayer included this line:
“Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God.” —Isaiah 37:20
Hezekiah had come to the place where he asked God to answer his prayer, not just to help him and not even just to help his people, but to help others he didn’t know.
Sometimes, our prayers aren’t answered because we aren’t desperate enough. Other times, our prayers aren’t answered because they are too self-centered. Do you pray for others?
Do you pray for your enemies? Do you see how God wants to do good in your life AND through your life?!
