Title I Can Pray (2 Kings 20:1-7)
Contents
I can pray
2 Kings 20:1-7
At that time Hezekiah became ill and died, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amos came to him and said, "This is what the LORD has said: Destroy the house, and you will die and not live." Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, "O LORD, I beseech you. And they wept bitterly, saying, “Remember what is good in your sight, walking before you in truth and with all your heart.” Before Isaiah reached even the middle of the city, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Go back and say to Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘You are the God of David your father. I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, says the LORD, and I will heal you, and on the third day you will go up to the LORD's house, and I will add fifteen years to your days; I will save you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will And I will protect this city for the sake of my servant David.” Isaiah said, “Bring me some figs.” So the crowds brought them and laid them on the bell, and it was healed.
In 2004, Gallup Korea surveyed 1,000 Christians. Among the various items, there was an item called “how much do you pray in a day”. First of all, 43.1% of male members answered that they do not pray, 17.3% answered that they did not pray for 10 minutes or less, and 27.3% answered that they prayed for 10 to 30 minutes, and those who prayed for more than an hour were 4.5% of the total. . 27.7% of female members answered that they did not pray, 23.2% answered less than 10 minutes, 32% answered 10 to 30 minutes, 9.9% more than 30 minutes, and 7.2% answered more than an hour.
Then, why can't you and I have a prayer life that is like a prayer life? There may be several causes. Perhaps the main cause is our impatience. Modern culture keeps us in a hurry. Moreover, the characteristics of our nation are even more so. As we know it is a “quick-quick” disease.
We all live in the computer age. Whether we deal with it ourselves or not, we are under the absolute influence of computers throughout our lives. What if a computer suddenly goes down at a bank, railway, or government office? There will probably be riots like war. The characteristic of this generation of computers is, in a word, you click and you float. If you want something, you should be able to get it right away. People are used to it. So I can't wait.
I wonder if the computer's Lord's Prayer came out? Everyone, listen. Let me introduce you. “Our program on the hard disk. Sanctify the password, enter the operating system, and command the monitor as it is on the keyboard. Give us our daily data today, forgive our typos as we forgive the errors in our programs, and forgive us Do not let the virus enter you, but deliver us from the sudden power outage. Enter.
In addition to this trend of the times, the flow implicitly leads to a misunderstanding of prayer. Just like the click of a computer, prayer means that when I pray, an answer should come immediately, but even if I pray, there is no answer. So, “Is God really alive? Is prayer really necessary?” Well, you have an essential skepticism about prayer. I think that the influence of the computer click age, which is so urgent, affects our prayer life in a small way.
But prayer is not like a computer. All you need to do is get information from your computer. But prayer is a personal conversation. It is a personal encounter between the person who prays and God who is the object of prayer. Still, we are trying to get information that answers our prayers immediately. Conversation requires a process of waiting and time. In order for a conversation to deepen, you need to allow enough time to keep talking. Through sufficient time, intimacy between me and God can be increased and the relationship can be developed.
Today I want to talk to you about prayer, and perhaps some of you who don't pray a lot can deal with this time with a lot of pressure and perhaps even guilt. But first, I recommend to you. Don't have that kind of heart, you can start with a new heart from today. If the devil's best tactic to keep us away from God is to give us this burden and guilt. “What kind of believer is that like me, you can’t even pray and live according to God’s will? How shameful is it to say you don't know and pray only when it is difficult?” You may think like this, but this is the heart the devil gives you.
Our Lord does not forsake us for not praying. Our God spoke these words through the prophet Isaiah. “Come, saith the LORD, Let us reason with one another. Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
So, neither me nor you should fall into the devil's tactics that stimulate our burdens and guilt. No matter when you start praying, it's never too late. So, what happens when you pray? Are you really listening? First, let me start with the conclusion of today's sermon. God hears our prayers. By all means, please listen.
Today, we are exposed to the famous prayer of King Hezekiah through the Bible. If you read 1 and 2 Kings, which records the achievements of the kings of Israel, it is difficult to pick out the really good kings. All of them are filled with stories of kings who misunderstood God and the people and committed evil deeds. But this King Hezekiah was a brilliant king among many evil kings.
One day, great things happen to this King Hezekiah. God sent the prophet Isaiah to say, "Because you are going to die, get organized and prepare to die." If God has decided, there is no way for man to do anything. You have no choice but to follow that plan. For some, however, this news was shocking to King Hezekiah. It was about time to calm down after defeating the Assyrian army, but after being sentenced to death like this, I didn't know what to do.
King Hezekiah was deeply grieved. One's own life is also life, but seeing his sudden death, he had so much work to do, and it was so sad to die like this. So I turn to the wall and pray while weeping. In the meantime, I pray that he will remember the good deeds he has done before God in the past. He saw it and begged him to live.
Hezekiah's prayer now is not just asking for one insignificant life. Assyria, a powerful country at that time, was aiming for Judah. When he died, he was trying to avoid it at all costs because the country would surely perish and the name of God would be dishonored from the various circumstances.
Like Hezekiah, we too can reach dead ends in our lives. Some of you have already experienced it, and if you haven't experienced it yet, it may come in the future. Then the only thing we can do is pray.
In fact, for us who are immersed in the efficiency of technological civilization, prayer may be a very slow and inefficient method. You may think that it might be faster to look for alternatives instead of praying. Of course, it's not just about praying. God has already provided everything we need in this world. Those things are found when we look for them. So we should pray that we can find it quickly. But there comes a time when you just can't figure it out. There are times when you come to a dead end. In that case, there is only prayer. The amazing thing is that God also intentionally causes suffering to make us pray. Our God heard King Hezekiah's prayer. And by sending the prophet Isaiah again, He extended his life by 15 years and healed him completely.
There is Professor Oh Young-seok, who served as the president of Hanshin University. Originally, he was born in Haenam, Jeollanam-do, and he was so poor that all his friends went to middle school, but he couldn't even go to middle school, and he went to mow the grass and climb trees every day. One day, his condition was so miserable that he prayed like this as he went to the tree. “Heavenly Father, please allow me to go to middle school.” Then came this emotion. ““Put up the first letter of Heavenly Father.” This man was moved by such a feeling and wrote a letter, wrote “Heavenly Father’s First Letter” in an envelope, and put it in the mailbox.
The post office separates the mail, but there is no address...