Hezekiah's prayer

God is doing one of those things where He bombards me from every angle, trying to get something through to me- books, conversations, music, prayer, Scripture... the message: "be still, seek Me and be with Me, wait, trust, pray..."  So prayer might be a common theme around here for awhile.


In BSF we recently studied Isaiah 36 and 37.  Here's a brief, totally over-simplified summary of the context.  Assyria is THE nation; there is no comparison in our day.  And all the other nations basically had 2 options: suck up to Assyria, or be crushed by Assyria.  [Kinda like when I was growing up- join with the bullies, or get beat up.]  Hezekiah somewhat recently became king of Judah (one of the 2 Israelite nations, aka God's people), and Hezekiah is the first good, God fearing king Judah has had in a long time.  The Assyrian king sees that Hezekiah, and thus Judah, isn't willing to suck up to him, so he sends a guy to Hezekiah's men to try to get them to stop taking orders from Hezekiah because he's full of it and his God isn't actually going to help them.  Then the Assyrian messenger guy goes to Hezekiah and tries to convince him to stop taking orders from God because God is full of it and no one has ever or will ever be able to stand against Assyria's attacks.  This is Hezekiah's response:


Isaiah 37:14-20   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.”


One of our assignments or whatever for the BSF lesson was to use Hezekiah's prayer to guide us in writing "a prayer for God's help in a situation you are facing now."  This is what I wrote:

God above all, my God who has chosen and redeemed me, You truly are my God and The God.  None can ever compare to You in wisdom or might, nor goodness or love.  I come to You now because You are the creator and sustainer and hold all power.  Please, hear me, see me and my situation; note the lies Satan continually bombards me with.  He is right in that there is no hope in any of creation and that everything I have tried has failed and left me still seeking death.  But You... You are not like created things- Your hope cannot disappoint.  So please God, infuse me with this amazing hope; captivate every fiber of my mind, body and soul.  For my continued life WILL testify that You truly are the God who does the impossible. Your hand in my survival is unquestionable to all who know me.  So, my glorious Lord, save me from the schemes of Satan, using my life- YOUR work in it- to draw many to Yourself.

I just thought this was a really good exercise for me.  I really want to spend time learning to pray from God's people, especially the ones in the Bible.  Hezekiah's prayer really broke things down for me- proclaim God's glory and holiness, speak of His nearness, know why He is the one to pray to, speak honestly, remember what are lies and what is Truth, ask for His salvation, all for the sake of His name.