Sermon Tone Analysis

Many people cry out to the Lord in their time of desperation.

We hear of things like “jail-house conversions”

People who have no interest in walking with the Lord know to call out to Him when their child is sick, etc.

Hezekiah is not one of those kinds of people who only turn to the Lord when a crisis hits.

As a matter of fact, Hezekiah was a good and godly King who led the people of Judah toward National Revival.

And his leadership was not simply lip-service to the faithful and to the Lord, while privately living as a scoundrel.

He was the real deal.

In Isaiah 36.1 we read.

Here’s the story:

Sennacherib is choking off Judah.

He has defeated most of the nations around Judah.

He has conquered most of the major cities of Judah.

Jerusalem is feeling the squeeze.

Hezekiah is feeling the squeeze.

Don’t forget, Isaiah has been prophesying for decades that Assyria would not succeed.

All the way through the reign of Hezekiah’s evil father, Isaiah has consistently warned against idolatry, allegiances with other godless nations, etc, while at the same time encouraging people from the King down to follow God.

Nobody listened.

Then Hezekiah became King and sought the Lord.

In chapter 36 Sennacherib sends a delegation to meet with Judah’s delegation and demands surrender with the promise that the transfer of power will be as painless as possible.

The Assyrians go so far as to say that God will not be able to help any more than the idols of other nations had helped them before Assyria conquered them.

Times are bleak.

The days are desperate.

Things seem hopeless.

In chapter 37 we learn how Hezekiah responded to the crisis.

AND WE GAIN INSIGHTS ON HOW TO HANDLE OUR OWN CRISIS AS PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE LORD.

Realize the seriousness of the problem

(I have seen many people deny reality in the name of faith.)

The name it and claim it crowd will chastise you for identifying REAL problems.

All of us have probably had someone in our lives say “oh don’t say you’re sick… speak your healing”

IT IS NOT A LACK OF FAITH TO IDENTIFY THE REALITY AND SERIOUSNESS OF PROBLEM!

Trust Godly Counsel

Full of faith

Familiar with Scripture

Faithful Track-record.

Seek God in Personal Prayer

Prayer gets talked about more than practiced.

It’s good to seek other godly people to pray.

By the way stop this silliness: “Seeking prayers, good vibes, and positive thoughts”

We don’t need good vibes, and happy thoughts.

This is not some Bob Ross painting project.

We need people praying who know the Lord and who can touch heaven.

BUT WE NEED TO PRAY OURSELVES.

If you have a crisis and the first thing you do is post some passive aggressive ambiguous post about needing prayer on FB and then you don’t pray about it yourself....

We learn some things about praying from Hezekiah

He exalted the Lord in his prayer

He explained the problem to God

He even brought a letter from Sennacherib with him to “show the Lord”

It’s not that God didn’t know what was going on.

Hezekiah NEEDED to talk to the Lord about.

The song says “tell him all about your problems”

He expected God to move

For Judah’s good and for God’s glory.

Hezekiah prayed bold, big prayers

BTW believing that God would move was based on the fact that Isaiah had spent a lifetime declaring that Assyria would not take Judah.

In other words, Hezekiah’s confidence in God was not based on a whim, a demand, or wishful thinking, but on the WORD OF GOD.

Let God be God

Principles to live by:

God will always do what His Word Promises

God will sometimes move to do things beyond what His Word promises

God will never go against His own will to answer yes.

God will not always obligate Himself to undo your mess, or override the consequences of sin, either yours or someone else’s.