Be Desperate in Prayer
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Text: 2 Kings 18-19
Introduction
Attention - Desperate times call for desperate measures - The Greek Physician and Philosopher, Hippocrates
Need
Main Idea: When Confronted with Impossible Circumstances Run Desperately to the God of the Impossible!
Interrogative:
There is a record in the Old Testament about a king who desperately needed God to intervene in a no-win situation. Would God help this king and his people? Would God step into this desperate situation?
Maybe you are in a difficult situation right now. Maybe you are feeling hemmed in with no real solution. Maybe you are feeling hopeless and frightened. What is your first step in this kind of situation? Do you think through all of your options? Do you get out your strategic plan or your financial calculator? Do you call your friends? For counsel and encouragement. What do you do when there is no obvious solution? To your desperate situation.
Hezekiah, the king of Judah, the southern Kingdom of Israel his first knee jerk reaction was to pray not just any prayer but a desperate prayer for deliverance a desperate prayer that he believed God would say yes to
so let's first take a look at Hezekiah and his situation so we can better understand why he prayed such a desperate prayer to the only person who could do anything about it - God!
Transition:
1. Wanted: A Godly King (18:1-12)
There were no godly kings in the northern Kingdom of Israel. There were 19 kings, and out of all of them, they all did that which was wrong in the eyes of God. The Southern Kingdom Judah had 20 kings, and eight of those kings were good. Hezekiah was one of the 8.
How did he demonstrate himself to be godly? Take a look at the text with me...
1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) 5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.
Hezekiah Stood His Ground
7 And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
Further in the text/story, we will see how Hezekiah did not serve the King of Assyria
By the way, here a map of Assyria compared with Judah...
Show map
And, Hezekiah was all about purging the land that was started in Joshua’s time...
8 From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.
He was acting like his great grandfather David! Purging the land of impure items and people...
Trouble is Brewing in the North
9 In King Hezekiah’s fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. 10 At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. 11 The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes. 12 This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.
The Northern kingdom (Israel) which included Samaria was taken by the Assyrians. Why did this happen to the norther kingdom of Israel? Verse 12 makes it quite clear...
“because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.”
Side note of application for us. God is a merciful God, but there comes a time when He lifts His hand of protection and allows tremendous difficulty against His Chirldren to get their attention, and grow them in sanctification.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
God is more committed to you being holy than you are!
So in Hezekiah’s 4th to 6th year Israel (the Northern Kingdom) was under the judgment hand of God.
I’m not certain what Hezekiah was thinking or feeling at this time, but I’m sure it caused him to consider the idea that they might be next!
Which leads into the next point in the record of 2 Kings...
2. Even Godly Kings Face Trouble (18:13-16)
The time eventually came! Assyria invaded Judah!
Hezekiah is now 14 years into his reign as king, trouble hits, and it becomes very difficult for king Hezekiah admits his decision to the king of Assyria and pays up on his tribute to the king hopefully, this would appease king Sennacherib
What is a tribute? It’s like paying money to a bully so they won’t bother you. Hezekiah wasn’t paying tribute to the bully king of Assyria. New king, same bully attitude...
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 16 At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
This is a significant problem. Perhaps King Hezekiah is thinking about what took place 10 years ago to the northern kingdom?
It certainly seems like Hezekiah is backpedaling on his decision to not pay tribute. Maybe he though the king wouldn’t notice? But Sennacherib did notice and it was a very big deal to him.
But, Hezekiah did everything within his power to appease King Sennacherib.
He admitted he was wrong to the king.
He promised to make it up to the king of Assyria.
He promised to pay more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold.
He even stripped the Temple of God to pay his debt to the king.
Hezekiah knew that he and Judah were in the crosshairs of Sennacherib. His hope was by taking these extraordinary steps, the king of Assyria would relent from his threats and leave Judah alone.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for Hezekiah. The king of Assyria was just getting started.
Which leads to the next phase of this intriguing story...
3. There is Trouble, and There is Desperation (18: 17-37)
Hezekiah’s situation is about to get desperate.
Hezekiah's gesture of paying tribute did not appease king Sennacherib. In fact, the King sent some powerful leaders and his army to bring a public threat to the King.
17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 18 They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.
This impressive leadership entourage (supreme commander, chief officer, and his field commander) along with a large army were sent by the king to intimidate Hezekiah so he would just give up without any resistance.
They called for Hezekiah to come out, but he sent his leadership entourage out to receive the message from Sennacherib.
A Real Threat!
Take a look at the threat that comes from Sennacherib.
“It’s not a threat, its a promise!”
19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 20 You say you have strategy and military strength—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 21 Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 22 And if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? 23 “ ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 24 How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 25 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’ ”
This is a prime example of “Talking Smack”!
“Hezekiah, you have no basis for confidence...”
Your military strength is nothing compared to ours.
Your dependance and hope on Egypt is misplaced because it was not strong at that time and could not be depended on.
Your God is impotent and incapable of saving you from our massive military might.
You are better off borrowing 2000 horses from my master the king. Assuming you even have the riders to ride them!
What’s worse is that your God told me to march against you!!
The threat gets worse verses 26 through 35 and there is no place for Hezekiah to turn there is nothing he can do he is exhausted all of his resources.
Hezekiah’s servants beg Sennacherib’s leadership envoy to not speak in Hebrew but Aramaic. That request did not go so well...
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.” 27 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?” 28 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 31 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death! “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ 33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 35 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
Do you see what is happening here? The Assyrians are in it to win it. They are determined to take over the Southern Kingdom, Judah, like they did the Northern Kingdom, Israel.
What was the result of this verbal smack down?
The People Stand in Obedience and Hezekiah’s Staff Dispirited!
36 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.” 37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
Friends, if there was a time when things didn’t look good for Hezekiah and the southern land of Judah, well, this was it!
Although the people stood strong, Hezekiah’s right hand men had thrown in the towel. This was way bigger than them and any potential resources they had.
By the way, have you ever been in this place? Have you ever been hemmed in with no place to turn? Facing a seemingly impossible situation?
What did you do?
I know of a situation where there was a young woman raised in a Christian home who was determined to marry someone who was not a believer. Not a great plan....
The young woman was my wife, Angie and the woman praying was Trudy Veltman, my mother-in-law. She said I didn’t stand a chance because of all the people praying for me...
When difficult times come, prayer should be our immediate response...
This leads us to...
4. Desperate Times Call for Desperate Prayer (19:1-19)
Chapter 19:1 sets off this chapter as a chapter of desperate prayer and a definitive answer from God
Hezekiah Positions Himself for Prayer and Repentance
1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord.
Hezekiah Sends His Staff for Prayer Support
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 point 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! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’ ”
More Threats from Assyria
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 Cushite king of Egypt, 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 handed over to 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 forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?”
A Powerful Prayer of Desperation!
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: “O Lord, 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, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. 17 “It is true, O 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 men’s hands. 19 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.”
Notice the components of this prayer after he spread the letter out in the temple. There is a sense here that he is praying over the mercy seat which is the throne of God!
Hezekiah’s prayer...
Praise
Hezekiah recognizes the God of Israel is sovereign over all including all kingdoms.
Hezekiah’s prayer recognizes as the creator of all things which gives Him authority over all things.
Request
Lord, don’t ignore the direct insults you are receiving from Sennacherib.
Lord, these enemies of yours are quite impressive. They have accomplished much.
They have destroyed the gods of their enemies(not really gods). Don’t let them destroy your reputation! Step up, Lord and show them who you really are. You are no church of wood, you are the supreme, all powerful God of the universe.
As fierce and impressive as they are, Lord, would you deliver us from them.
Praise
Why? So everyone will know that you are God and that you will be glorified accordingly.
What can we learn from this prayer of faith?
Application
Review
5. God Always Answers His People’s Prayer (19:20-21; 35-37)
God may not answer in such a dramatic form as he does with Hezekiah, but he always answers his people
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: “ ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you. The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men 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 Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.
Explanation
Illustration
Argumentation
Application
Review
Conclusion
Visualization
Reiteration
Action
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