Title Like Hezekiah's Prayer
Contents
Title: Hezekiah's Prayer
Text: Isaiah 38:1-8
Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of 25 and lived a life of humility and reverence before God.
He was the king who carried out the Reformation by demolishing the high places that served Baal, cutting down Asherah poles, and breaking down the brass serpents that Moses had made.
Hezekiah was a king who was loyal to God in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
But Hezekiah fell ill.
As the text says, God sent the prophet Isaiah to sentence him to death.
However, Hezekiah does not lose heart and asks God in tears to extend his life.
I will share with you how I prayed and asked for my life to be extended.
First, Hezekiah prayed for life.
We are a people who believe in God, but there are not many people who pray daily and moment by moment.
Few people have made prayer a part of our lives
I usually do not pray, but when difficulties arise and it becomes difficult, I pray earnestly at that time.
But the truth is, before tribulation and persecution come, we should always pray with a sincere heart in our daily lives and live a life that pleases God.
God answers the life of the saints by connecting them to prayer.
We can read Hezekiah's life in his prayer.
Looking at this prayer, it seems that a person praying to God is proud of his past, but Hezekiah's prayer before his death was sincere.
What does verse 2 say?
(read)
Hezekiah was truthful before God.
All the acts of living honestly and truthfully before God were rewarded.
Proverbs 12:22 says, False lips are an abomination to the LORD, but he who walks in truth is pleased with him.
Hezekiah acted wholeheartedly to God.
As Matthew 22:37 says, you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, so you served God with all your heart.
Second, Hezekiah offered a prayer that deserved an answer.
It was a prayer that did not give up.
Although Hezekiah was sentenced to death by God, he did not lose heart and prayed.
In Luke 18:1, the Lord tells us not to get discouraged while praying.
Disappointment is a more terrifying disease than any other disease.
Also, Hezekiah's prayer was a prayer that confirmed the power of God.
Hezekiah did not pray for some mysterious medicine to lower the sickness.
I prayed only to God because I was confident that God could heal me no matter how mortal I was.
He believed that only God could heal him.
The prayer of faith raises the sick, and the prayer of the righteous has the power to work.
That is why the Lord said in Mark 9:23 that nothing is impossible for those who believe.
The apostle James, through the words of James 1:6-7,
But ask in faith, and do not doubt at all. Those who doubt are like waves of the sea that are driven and tossed by the wind.
Hezekiah prayed to God and wept and cried out.
The reason he wept was not because he was afraid of death, but because he mourned and prayed in contrite for his sins.
Psalm 51:7 says, “You will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
In Matthew 5:4, the Lord says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
When Hezekiah wept and cried out like that, God said, "I have heard your prayers, and I have seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your days, and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will protect it again."
He also said that he will give you a witness of what the LORD has spoken.
Hezekiah's prayer was faithful to the extent that Almighty God showed evidence of his promises and reached God.
The prayer that pleases our God is the prayer of mourning for one's sins and thoroughly repenting.
In Luke 18:13, when the tax collector beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, I am a sinner.” When he repented, the Lord had compassion and listened to him.
Hezekiah's life was extended by fifteen years by relying solely on the power of God, repenting with tears and praying.
We hope that our middle and high school students will also pray to God through their daily lives, confess and make supplications for everything they have to God, and lead a life of faith.