One King's Prayer

What is a king do do when his country is threatened by an army that has easily destroyed numerous other countries?

What should a king say to his people, when given the choice to surrender or to fight against impossible odds?

What would you do, as king, if your faith was publicly belittled by the invading king?

King Hezekiah of Judah was faced with such a scenario. His efforts to encourage the people to trust in God were ridiculed by the Assyrian King named Sennacherib.

Here is what Sennacherib wrote to Hezekiah:

"This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah.
Don't let your God, in whom you trust,
Deceive you with promises
That Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.

You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done
Wherever they have gone.
They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way!
Why should you be any different?

Have the gods of other nations rescued them --
Such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph
And the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar?
My predecessors destroyed them all!

What happened to the king of Hamath
And the king of Arpad?
What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim
Hena, and Ivvah?"

How did Hezekiah respond to such a threat?

"After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it
He went up to the Lord's Temple
And spread it out before the Lord.

And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord:
'O Lord, God of Israel
You are enthroned between the mighty cherubim
You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth
You alone created the heavens and the earth.

Bend down, O Lord, and listen!
Open your eyes, O Lord, and see!
Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance
Against the living God.

It is true, O Lord,
That the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations
And they have thrown the gods of these nations
Into the fire and burned them.

But of course the Assyrians could destroy them!
They were not gods at all --
Only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.

Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power
Then all the kingdoms of the earth
Will know that you alone, O Lord
Are God.'"

-- Hezekiah's prayer concerning the threat of foreign invasion (2 Kings 19:10-19)

So, how did God respond to Hezekiah's prayer?

You'll have to read the next blog entry to find out.