A King in Ashes
Hezekiah's prayer:
"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: 'Lord Almighty, the 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, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
"It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth my know that you, Lord, are the only God."
Isaiah 37:14-20
Growing up, I remember thinking my dad was obsessed with the History Channel. If it wasn't football season or time for the evening news, he was watching historical documentaries which I (of course) found painfully boring. I truly didn't get how listening to monotone scholars drone on about some war hundreds of years ago could be the least bit entertaining. History was probably my least favorite class in school too, mostly stemming from the fact that it involved a lot of rote memorization which I was horrible at. (And I still am. I can't find my phone most days, let alone tell you which year the Civil War started.)
However, as I've gotten older, my tune about the study of history has changed tremendously. It started my freshman year of college in a world history class of about 250 students. I was honestly dreading it; my hatred of history had carried through high school where most of my classes were taught by athletic coaches who all seemed obsessed with WW2 and refused to teach anything else. But from the first time my history professor clicked on his slideshow and spoke into his microphone, I was in awe of his passion and scope of knowledge about the world's earliest-known civilizations. I vigorously jotted down notes as I learned about how men went from creating crude tools and living nomadic lives to the first peoples that chose to stay where they were and develop civilizations based on agriculture and taking care of one another.
I also credit this class with pushing me to read my Bible more. Many times my professor would mention the name of a country or ruler I thought I had heard before in Sunday School, but was embarrassed that I couldn't recall the context. The newfound intrigue into history back then has carried me through college, and even to this day fuels my desire to be a forever learner. So when I sat down to read Isaiah 37 this morning and saw it was a historical narrative, I felt that thrill of learning something new stir deep inside.
In the previous chapter, Isaiah sets the scene where a field commander of the Assyrian king Sennacherib was sent to threaten Jerusalem, calling out the Israelite King Hezekiah in particular. The commander even goes so far as to tell Hezekiah's men that the Lord Himself sent him to destroy Jerusalem. He promised peace and plenty to those who turned from Hezekiah's command and followed Sennacherib instead. He tried every trick in the book to rook the king's men into a rebellion, "But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, 'Do not answer him' " (Isaiah 36:21, NIV).
We approach chapter 37 with bated breath, wondering how Hezekiah will respond. We hope he will turn to the Lord for the right answer, but know there have been plenty of kings before him who chose their own way and thus their own destruction.
Thankfully, Hezekiah chooses to remember who is really in control. In the very first verse we read, "When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord" (Isaiah 37:1, NIV). In other words, Hezekiah, upon receiving the Assyrian threats, took on the posture of repentance and mourning, similar to his predecessors Jacob, Jonah, and Malachi. Then he sent his men to Isaiah, the prophet in direct communication with God, to see what they should do.
In the face of adversity, Hezekiah takes his role as king seriously by humbly acknowledging his need for God's intervention and seeking out God's wisdom in handling his foe. Hezekiah told Isaiah via his men, "It may be that the Lord your God will hear 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" (Isaiah 37:4, NIV). It's obvious what Hezekiah hoped God's response would be, but he also acknowledged that God was ultimately in control and His will would prevail.
The Lord responds to the king with some familiar words, "Do not be afraid of what you have heard" (Isaiah 37:6, NIV). As He's done so many times before, God is prepared to demonstrate his divine dedication to His people, to those who love and fear Him.
Now, you may be like past me and not at all interested in the historical context of the ongoing animosity between the Assyrians and the Israelites. But even if you ignore that part of the story, you can get to the root that Hezekiah was a man facing an impossible situation with a mighty foe. He could have turned and run, cowering in cowardice; he could have dug in his heels in defiance, relying on his own strength for protection. But he chose a holy surrender, committing his unknown future to a known God.
How many times have you faced a similar, seemingly-impossible circumstance? I can't count the number of times I tried to rely on my own wisdom and power to see me through, only to find I couldn't do it on my own. There is power in letting God fight your battles. It is so true that in our weakness, He is strong. In her commentary on Isaiah 37, Lyli Dunbar pulls from the text three steps we can take when the enemy attacks:
Humbly acknowledge our own need and go to the house of the Lord.
Ask for wise counsel and heed the word of God.
Appeal for divine intervention and seek help from the Lord of Hosts.
I love the actions her steps include: acknowledge, go, ask, heed, appeal, seek. None of these words seem to describe who the world pictures a king to be, yet Hezekiah chose to act as a child of God, not of the world. And today, friend, I urge you to do the same. You don't have to put on a brave face and act like you have it all in hand. You don't have to push yourself to perfectly perform. You can go to God and humbly admit that you don't have it handled, that you need Him to place his perfect protection over you and help you through this. Giving up is the first step to succeeding, so give it to God today.
