When You're Up Against the Wall

Background to passage: The Assyrians were now into Judah, knocking on Hezekiah’s door. Ruthless, blood-thirsty, evil in their war, Jerusalem and Hezekiah were faced with the option to surrender or pray and wait for God to deliver them. This first time for desperate prayer in the face of certain death was all together, but the second was personal. Hezekiah faced certain death alone but also turned to desperate prayer.

Isaiah 37:14–20 ESV

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Isaiah 38:1–8 ESV

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city. “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.

Opening illustration: July 2, 1505, Martin Luther was caught in a thunderstorm where he was almost killed by a lightening strike. As he hid in fear, he prayed to a saint, then bargained with God to become a monk for salvation from the storm

Main thought: This morning I want to talk for a few about being desperate in our prayer

1) Let Reality Drive & Incite Passion

Explanation: Facing destruction of the city and the death and deportation of your people brings clarity to priorities. Facing death personally at 39, even by 8 century BC standards, makes you evaluate your life—what you have done that is lasting, what you will be remembered for, what kingdom priorities have been of first order.

2 Samuel 12:15–16 ESV

Then Nathan went to his house. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

Acts 21:13–14 ESV

Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

Illustration: Knox was telling me about this power-lifter that he met the other day. We all said that after watching that, we would just quit; but he said it would motivate him, because he knew he could get there one day. Numbers from Ed Stetzer’s article on trends in evangelicalism.

Application: When as a church or as individuals we face reality that will change our lives, raw emotion tends to flow. God made us emotional beings, but we should not be enslaved to emotions, especially those that are destructive.

We cannot ignore reality. Let it motivate you. Don’t be discouraged by struggles as a church. Know that God has not left us. He hears us. Let reality push you to strive harder toward the goal.

2) Let Foundation & Purpose Give Focus

Explanation: So, what’s the goal? In chapter 37, Hezekiah exalts God in his prayer and gives the foundation and purpose as the glory of God and His exclusivity among the nations as the One True God. In chapter 38, Hezekiah pleads with God to remember his faithfulness and the works that he had done. Maybe that there was more left to do, maybe just in pain that these things weren’t supposed to happen to a 39 year old king. So, his life was his purpose for this prayer

Either way, their foundation and purpose gave them focus. It reminded him of what’s truly important. It reminded king of the things that mattered temporally and eternally. Those things gave him focus.

Argumentation: Paul in Philippians 3:7–11 “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Illustration: Wilderness First Aid: “Ignore the painfully obvious,” first responders learn to act according to training, rather than letting emotion cloud their focus so that appropriate responses and care result in the best outcome.

Application: If we have struggled, or failed at our mission to make disciples, let the reminder of the mission help us regain focus. The HOPE strategy will help us ask the question about where we are, what our next steps are, how we can help others grow in their walk.

Remember disciple making in our focus. If we are not doing that, we must do something different. If we lose our focus to other things, and we fail at discipleship, get caught up in emotion, fear, and worry, we have missed the duty of utmost importance to the church. We must refocus, put the right thing back in the crosshairs, get our eyes examined, then let those things come together to accomplish the goal.

3) Let Passion and Focus Drive Us to Desperation

Explanation: When emotions came, when what was important came into view with clarity, Hezekiah knew how to pray. It wasn’t a blessing over the food. It wasn’t in the shower or driving to work. It was going to the church, stopping, going into the sanctuary and bowing down before the Lord. It was weeping, even wailing, for God to hear.

This was do or die, win or go home, leave it all on the field because there is no losers bracket that could give you another chance.

Argumentation:

Illustration:

We must harness our emotion. We must revive our purpose. We must come before the Lord with passion, passion to implement HOPE and make disciples. But this cannot happen without God. We must call out to heaven and ask him to come down. We must wear callous on our knees like James, the author of James and brother of Jesus. We must have nicknames like “Praying Hyde,” presbyterian missionary to India, late 1800’s.

There must be tears on our altars and in our prayer closets. The Lord must hear us. Their must be purity in our lives and passion in our veins. Can we pray like that? Will we be satisfied with prayer “as usual?”

Don’t let this be a January thing, persevere in this kind of prayer

Let this be based in a living, breathing, continuous relationship with God

Closing illustration: Regarding reading the bible for life change: “So when you read, you pause, you say, Oh, Holy Spirit, come, make this real in my life. Do whatever you have to do to make me humble, to make me authentic, to make me loving. That's the way you pray. It's real risky. Last night, just before we walked in to the service, a band of us, several of us, just gathered around in the choir room, downstairs, downtown, where I preached this last night. And we said, and there were mm-hmms and amens all around, as I said, Lord, whatever it takes, death, loss of job, cancer, whatever it takes, take away my hypocrisy. Whatever it takes in this church, whatever it takes, do it. Because we want to be real. We want to be Christian. We want to, we want these words in Romans 12 to become reality”

Recap