Trusting in God! -- 2 Kings 18:30; 19:1-3, 5-7, 14-16, 19
Trusting in God! -- 2 Kings 18:30; 19:1-3, 5-7, 14-16, 19
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 11, 2018
Cancer has claimed the lives of many. Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and even siblings have been struck with this disease. When diagnosed there is fear, frustration, and wondering why. Often family and friends are called, church family and fellow Christians are asked to pray. For those who know the Lord there is comfort in friends and fellow believers praying for you. One such person I knew who was told she had cancer told me later that she found comfort in the Psalm, “I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalms 121:1-2 NIV)” In times like these trusting in God gives us comfort and strength.
The Assyrian King sent his supreme commander to the gates of Jerusalem. There he delivered a message to Jerusalem and her king. His words were designed to undermine their confidence and to encourage them to oppose Hezekiah’s decision to resist. He claimed Hezekiah and their God did not have the power or ability to deliver the city! Soon they would be besieged and the defenders would “eat their own filth and drink their own urine”! (v. 27) In the midst of a dire situation Hezekiah asked his people to trust God. Could they place themselves in God’s hands and trust him? Let’s find out…
READ: 2 Kings 18:30; 19:1-3, 5-7, 14-16, 19
At Sennacherib’s threat, Hezekiah sent word to the prophet Isaiah to pray for those in Judah who had not been conquered. Isaiah told the king to trust in the Lord and not to be afraid because God would protect Jerusalem. No matter the circumstances we are asked to…
I. Trust in the Lord! (2 Kings 18:30)
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.’
1. Hezekiah was one of the best kings Judah ever had. He destroyed pagan worship and defeated the pesky Philistines and unified the people to worship the Lord and him only. Assyria marched down from the north and utterly defeated Israel to the north and took captives back to Assyria. Soon, they turned their eyes toward Judah and King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had tried to unite the surrounding nations to stand up against Assyria but it did not work. They destroyed every city and army sent against them. In order to save his nation and his people he decided to pay tribute to Assyria. He stripped the gold and silver from the Temple and his own palace to appease the Assyrians. It did not work. Bullies always want more. So “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.” The field commander mocks Hezekiah and the Lord God. He derisively tells them “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.” (v. 25) He meant that his king was his god and his god told him to attack them and he would succeed. So this supreme commander mocks the people behind Jerusalem’s walls by telling them, “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.’” This commander’s threats were very real. The army he commands could utterly destroy Jerusalem and take all of its population as prisoners back to Assyria. What were they to do? This commander did not know Hezekiah or the Israelite people nor did he know God. Because their king was such a godly man and because he asked them to, they were willing to put their lives in the hands of God. They were willing to trust in the Lord!
EXAMPLE: We were on vacation and took a rail tram up a steep mountain grade to reach some caverns, my mother immediately wanted off. The park ranger noting her discomfort remarked, “Don’t worry Red (she had red hair) it’s only one scream to the bottom!” She began to chuckle and not be as afraid. When unexpected difficulties occur, the Bible reminds us that our best recourse is to place our trust in God. It was in a tumultuous time when invasion threatened his country that the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit, discerned this powerful promise from the Lord: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isa. 26:3). It was during this same time that Hezekiah learned to be willing to trust in the Lord!
One way to show we trust God in dangerously threatening times is to publicly announce our trust. Sennacherib’s field commander warned Hezekiah’s officials they had no chance. But Hezekiah believed in the Lord and declared his confidence that God would help them. A sincere public testimony of faith in the Lord and his power can encourage others and it often begins with…
II. Admitting our weakness! (2 Kings 19:1-3)
When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 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.’”
1. Hezekiah might have been a king but he was also just a man. He loved his nation and he wanted to honor God but what could he do? The largest and most aggressive army known to man was at the gates of his capital city! They had marched across the landscape like locusts devouring every city and army they faced! Hezekiah does the one thing he should do, he turned to the Lord! Often when we have nowhere else to go we will go to the Lord. Why is that? Shouldn’t we always seek the Lord and speak to him daily? Yet far too many of us wait until things get really bad before we meet with God in prayer or seek his face. Hezekiah did try to honor God but now his nation was in the midst of horrible circumstances. So, “When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD.” Sackcloth was a garment of coarse material often made from goat or camel hair and worn as a sign of mourning or anguish. Hezekiah was showing God his mourning for his nation! Though the king was strong in faith, he also was aware of his weaknesses and the weaknesses of his nation. Therefore he dropped all he was doing, prepared himself to fast and to seek the Lord, and went to the temple to pray. Hezekiah also sought the Lord’s help by going to the Lord’s prophet for prayer support. At the king’s command, Eliakim, Shebna, and the elders of the priests all put on sackcloth and went to Isaiah the prophet. Have you ever had an overwhelming experience where you keenly felt your weakness? Did you admit your weakness or did you try to cover it up? Hezekiah immediately uses three words to describe his weakness: “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.” He was like a weakened mother giving birth to a baby and had absolutely no power to deliver it; he was unable to save his people only God could! In admitting his inability to save his nation or himself Hezekiah shows us what needs to take place in our lives when we desire God to act in our lives. It begins in admitting our weakness!
EXAMPLE: A few years ago our Men’s Group undertook a rigorous hike. It was tough, beautiful, and long but each of us had brought enough water to refresh ourselves and stay hydrated. There is a good reason the Bible refers to God as the spring of living water and refreshing restoring the soul. In John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian arrives at the foot of a steep ascent called the Hill Difficulty, “at the bottom of which was a spring… Christian now went to the spring and drank to refresh himself, and then began to go up the hill.” Perhaps the difficult hike you face is a rebellious child or a serious medical diagnosis. The challenge seems more than you can endure. Before you face your difficulty, come to God with all your weakness, weariness, helplessness, fear, and doubt. Then drink deeply of his power and strength. God knows your circumstances and will supply strength, comfort, and relief. He will give you strength to go on but it begins in admitting our weakness!
The Assyrians had Judah between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.” Sennacherib’s commander had presented a convincing argument based on the facts and background that he knew. His error was underestimating God’s power. He did not know God and could not understand his power. However Hezekiah did and therefore in trusting God he…
III. Willingly asks for God’s help! (2 Kings 19: 19:5-7, 14-16, 19)
When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, 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. 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.’”… 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. 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. 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…. 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.”
1. Hezekiah immediately sends his officials Eliakim, Shebna, and leading priests from the temple (v. 2) to Isaiah the prophet to ask him to pray for Judah in the face of Sennacherib’s threat. When they get to Isaiah we learn that God is already in control of the situation. And this is just as true today. “When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, 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.”’” God encouraged the king not to fear the blasphemous words of Sennacherib’s “underlings.” He may have been a supreme commander in Assyria but he was nothing to the Lord. God had a personal message to the king of Assyria, “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.” God would send a thought into Sennacherib’s mind that would cause him to call off his threat against Hezekiah. That thought was a rumor that the king of Ethiopia, was marching out to fight him. When Sennacherib heard that report, he decided not to invade Jerusalem. When “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.” Hezekiah could not believe it! God was not only God over Judah but also Assyria! As Creator and Sovereign God, he had the authority and power to deal with Assyria. Hezekiah asked for the Lord’s help, asserting he knew God had the power to deliver Jerusalem. Hezekiah cries out to God “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. 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…. 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.” Hezekiah made the petition for himself – he wanted the whole world would know the living God because of his answer! At the beginning of his prayer, the king referred to the Lord as the answer to his need. Hezekiah willingly asks for God’s help!
EXAMPLE: God does not answer all prayers of faith in the manner that he answered Hezekiah’s. But he does hear every prayer and respond according to his will. That night, the angel of the Lord went among the troops in the Assyrian camp and put to death 185,000 men. When Sennacherib saw all the dead bodies the next morning, he broke camp and went home to Nineveh and stayed there (vv. 35-36). God delivered Hezekiah in that threatening situation because he put his trust in the Lord and willingly asked for God’s help!
Conclusion:
Trust in the Lord! Admitting our weakness! Willingly asks for God’s help!
----
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 11, 2018
Cancer has claimed the lives of many. Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and even siblings have been struck with this disease. When diagnosed there is fear, frustration, and wondering why. Often family and friends are called, church family and fellow Christians are asked to pray. For those who know the Lord there is comfort in friends and fellow believers praying for you. One such person I knew who was told she had cancer told me later that she found comfort in the Psalm, “I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalms 121:1-2 NIV)” In times like these trusting in God gives us comfort and strength.
The Assyrian King sent his supreme commander to the gates of Jerusalem. There he delivered a message to Jerusalem and her king. His words were designed to undermine their confidence and to encourage them to oppose Hezekiah’s decision to resist. He claimed Hezekiah and their God did not have the power or ability to deliver the city! Soon they would be besieged and the defenders would “eat their own filth and drink their own urine”! (v. 27) In the midst of a dire situation Hezekiah asked his people to trust God. Could they place themselves in God’s hands and trust him? Let’s find out…
READ: 2 Kings 18:30; 19:1-3, 5-7, 14-16, 19
At Sennacherib’s threat, Hezekiah sent word to the prophet Isaiah to pray for those in Judah who had not been conquered. Isaiah told the king to trust in the Lord and not to be afraid because God would protect Jerusalem. No matter the circumstances we are asked to…
I. Trust in the Lord! (2 Kings 18:30)
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.’
1. Hezekiah was one of the best kings Judah ever had. He destroyed pagan worship and defeated the pesky Philistines and unified the people to worship the Lord and him only. Assyria marched down from the north and utterly defeated Israel to the north and took captives back to Assyria. Soon, they turned their eyes toward Judah and King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had tried to unite the surrounding nations to stand up against Assyria but it did not work. They destroyed every city and army sent against them. In order to save his nation and his people he decided to pay tribute to Assyria. He stripped the gold and silver from the Temple and his own palace to appease the Assyrians. It did not work. Bullies always want more. So “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.” The field commander mocks Hezekiah and the Lord God. He derisively tells them “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.” (v. 25) He meant that his king was his god and his god told him to attack them and he would succeed. So this supreme commander mocks the people behind Jerusalem’s walls by telling them, “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.’” This commander’s threats were very real. The army he commands could utterly destroy Jerusalem and take all of its population as prisoners back to Assyria. What were they to do? This commander did not know Hezekiah or the Israelite people nor did he know God. Because their king was such a godly man and because he asked them to, they were willing to put their lives in the hands of God. They were willing to trust in the Lord!
EXAMPLE: We were on vacation and took a rail tram up a steep mountain grade to reach some caverns, my mother immediately wanted off. The park ranger noting her discomfort remarked, “Don’t worry Red (she had red hair) it’s only one scream to the bottom!” She began to chuckle and not be as afraid. When unexpected difficulties occur, the Bible reminds us that our best recourse is to place our trust in God. It was in a tumultuous time when invasion threatened his country that the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit, discerned this powerful promise from the Lord: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isa. 26:3). It was during this same time that Hezekiah learned to be willing to trust in the Lord!
One way to show we trust God in dangerously threatening times is to publicly announce our trust. Sennacherib’s field commander warned Hezekiah’s officials they had no chance. But Hezekiah believed in the Lord and declared his confidence that God would help them. A sincere public testimony of faith in the Lord and his power can encourage others and it often begins with…
II. Admitting our weakness! (2 Kings 19:1-3)
When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 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.’”
1. Hezekiah might have been a king but he was also just a man. He loved his nation and he wanted to honor God but what could he do? The largest and most aggressive army known to man was at the gates of his capital city! They had marched across the landscape like locusts devouring every city and army they faced! Hezekiah does the one thing he should do, he turned to the Lord! Often when we have nowhere else to go we will go to the Lord. Why is that? Shouldn’t we always seek the Lord and speak to him daily? Yet far too many of us wait until things get really bad before we meet with God in prayer or seek his face. Hezekiah did try to honor God but now his nation was in the midst of horrible circumstances. So, “When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD.” Sackcloth was a garment of coarse material often made from goat or camel hair and worn as a sign of mourning or anguish. Hezekiah was showing God his mourning for his nation! Though the king was strong in faith, he also was aware of his weaknesses and the weaknesses of his nation. Therefore he dropped all he was doing, prepared himself to fast and to seek the Lord, and went to the temple to pray. Hezekiah also sought the Lord’s help by going to the Lord’s prophet for prayer support. At the king’s command, Eliakim, Shebna, and the elders of the priests all put on sackcloth and went to Isaiah the prophet. Have you ever had an overwhelming experience where you keenly felt your weakness? Did you admit your weakness or did you try to cover it up? Hezekiah immediately uses three words to describe his weakness: “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.” He was like a weakened mother giving birth to a baby and had absolutely no power to deliver it; he was unable to save his people only God could! In admitting his inability to save his nation or himself Hezekiah shows us what needs to take place in our lives when we desire God to act in our lives. It begins in admitting our weakness!
EXAMPLE: A few years ago our Men’s Group undertook a rigorous hike. It was tough, beautiful, and long but each of us had brought enough water to refresh ourselves and stay hydrated. There is a good reason the Bible refers to God as the spring of living water and refreshing restoring the soul. In John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian arrives at the foot of a steep ascent called the Hill Difficulty, “at the bottom of which was a spring… Christian now went to the spring and drank to refresh himself, and then began to go up the hill.” Perhaps the difficult hike you face is a rebellious child or a serious medical diagnosis. The challenge seems more than you can endure. Before you face your difficulty, come to God with all your weakness, weariness, helplessness, fear, and doubt. Then drink deeply of his power and strength. God knows your circumstances and will supply strength, comfort, and relief. He will give you strength to go on but it begins in admitting our weakness!
The Assyrians had Judah between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.” Sennacherib’s commander had presented a convincing argument based on the facts and background that he knew. His error was underestimating God’s power. He did not know God and could not understand his power. However Hezekiah did and therefore in trusting God he…
III. Willingly asks for God’s help! (2 Kings 19: 19:5-7, 14-16, 19)
When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, 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. 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.’”… 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. 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. 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…. 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.”
1. Hezekiah immediately sends his officials Eliakim, Shebna, and leading priests from the temple (v. 2) to Isaiah the prophet to ask him to pray for Judah in the face of Sennacherib’s threat. When they get to Isaiah we learn that God is already in control of the situation. And this is just as true today. “When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, 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.”’” God encouraged the king not to fear the blasphemous words of Sennacherib’s “underlings.” He may have been a supreme commander in Assyria but he was nothing to the Lord. God had a personal message to the king of Assyria, “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.” God would send a thought into Sennacherib’s mind that would cause him to call off his threat against Hezekiah. That thought was a rumor that the king of Ethiopia, was marching out to fight him. When Sennacherib heard that report, he decided not to invade Jerusalem. When “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.” Hezekiah could not believe it! God was not only God over Judah but also Assyria! As Creator and Sovereign God, he had the authority and power to deal with Assyria. Hezekiah asked for the Lord’s help, asserting he knew God had the power to deliver Jerusalem. Hezekiah cries out to God “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. 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…. 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.” Hezekiah made the petition for himself – he wanted the whole world would know the living God because of his answer! At the beginning of his prayer, the king referred to the Lord as the answer to his need. Hezekiah willingly asks for God’s help!
EXAMPLE: God does not answer all prayers of faith in the manner that he answered Hezekiah’s. But he does hear every prayer and respond according to his will. That night, the angel of the Lord went among the troops in the Assyrian camp and put to death 185,000 men. When Sennacherib saw all the dead bodies the next morning, he broke camp and went home to Nineveh and stayed there (vv. 35-36). God delivered Hezekiah in that threatening situation because he put his trust in the Lord and willingly asked for God’s help!
Conclusion:
Trust in the Lord! Admitting our weakness! Willingly asks for God’s help!
----
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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