Title: Hezekiah's Prayer/2 Kings 20:1-7
Contents
Title: Hezekiah's Prayer
Word: 2 Kings 20:1-7
Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz, the 12th king of Judah. He succeeded his father Ahaz to the throne at the age of 25. Hezekiah was a king of faith who feared Jehovah God with a passionate heart, who ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years.
(2 Kings 18). Today's text is an incident in which Hezekiah, who was stricten with a mortal disease, was healed through prayer, and his life was extended for 15 years, and he was truly called Hezekiah, the king of prayer. The famous preacher Spurgeon said, “A spirit without prayer is a spirit without Christ. Prayer is the whisper of a child of faith, the cry of the faithful who are fighting, the salutation of the dying saints when they rest in the arms of Jesus, the strength, the honor, and the breath of all believers.' said Hezekiah's prayer
1. It was an earnest prayer.
In verse 2 of the text, when you heard Isaiah's words about the disease of death, you said, "Turn your face to the wall and pray to the Lord." The fact that he turned his face toward the wall shows the earnestness of his secret prayer. Jacob's prayer along the Jabbok River to receive the blessing was an earnest prayer that cuts the bones (Genesis 32:24-26). Hezekiah also prayed earnestly in the closet. It can be seen that the prayers of the great men of all faiths were equally earnest (James 5:17-18, 1 Kings 18:42-44). The writer of Hebrews wrote that Jesus also offered supplications and wishes with intense weeping and tears while he was in the flesh (Hebrews 5:7). Let's believe that earnest prayers will surely be answered.
2. It was a sincere prayer.
Judging from verse 3 in the main text, it shows that Hezekiah's whole life was doing good in the sight of God truthfully and with all his heart. Shiloh, he was upright in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 18:3), and in union with the Lord he did not depart from him and kept the commands, so that his good deeds became known to the Lord (2 Kings 18) :6). The prayer that comes out of faith in which faith and works are united is not a false prayer or selfish prayer, but sincere prayer, so God answers that prayer (Luke 18:14).
3. It was a prayer of tears.
The words of verse 3 “weeping bitterly” and verse 5 “I have seen your tears” received the prayers of God's humble saints mixed with tears (Psalm 51), and David said, “Put my tears into your bottle” (Psalm 51) . Psalm 56:8). The tears we shed before the Lord are the tears of contrition we shed because of our sins, and the tears of gratitude that we shed for the grace of God are truly precious and beautiful tears. These tears are pleasing to the Lord.
What was my prayer to the Lord?