Our Rapid Response: Prayer
April 26, 2012 - 5:00 am“In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover’.” — 2 Kings 20:1
The Bible tells us that King Hezekiah was close to death. Isaiah the prophet came to visit but only brought terrible news — Hezekiah was going to die soon and he should get his affairs in order. Upon hearing this news, Hezekiah immediately cries out to God, beseeching God to remember his faithfulness and good deeds. Then Hezekiah “wept bitterly.”
How did God respond to the king’s anguished prayer? Remarkably, He gives Hezekiah 15 more years to live.
What right did Hezekiah have to pray to God after Isaiah prophesied that he would die, the rabbis question. The answer lies in a teaching about prophecy: Any prophecy for good cannot be overturned, but a prophecy for evil can be overturned through prayer and repentance.
So what can we, living in a seemingly non-prophetic time, learn from this passage in Scripture? I believe we can take away a simple, but powerful message: There is no point at which we can rightfully give up hope when we trust in the goodness of God.
Hezekiah was sick and heard from one of the greatest prophets of all time that he was soon to die. But he didn’t flinch. He didn’t even think. He just prayed, instinctively, from his heart.
The verse tells us that he prayed first before we learn the actual content of the prayer. I believe it was written this way to convey the sense of how natural and instinctual the prayer response was for the righteous Hezekiah.
Can we say the same? When we receive bad news, what is our first response? Do we get angry? Call our spouse or best friend? Try to come up with a solution on our own? Or do we, like Hezekiah, turn immediately to God in prayer?
To be honest, this is not a reaction or response that we are born with. It is something we need to train ourselves to do. And that doesn’t come easy to us, who have been taught to be independent and autonomous. To be sure, these are valuable and worthwhile traits. But we cannot forget that our greatest and best source of hope is the One who is always there — no matter the pain, no matter the sense of hopelessness.
Being a Jew or even a rabbi will not get you into heaven for we humans are all sinners, Jew and gentile alike. Romans 3:23 Believing in a Messiah, some unknown, unnammed person out there somewhere will not save a soul. The Messiah, Joshua, (Jesus) has come and will return and is now at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 8:1) Getting money from Christians for Jewish causes will not give you eternal life. Please read John 3:16-18 and John 14:6. I am praying for your salvation.
I want to say I was born in Lutheran family and I grew up mostly going to church by myself, I love a place where others who believe what I did. Then I grew up and had a truly rotten time of it. I married and had a child then divorced. I struggled to make it through my 20;s, 30′s.My husband cheated on me and abused me. I finally with help got out of that rotten marriage. I’ve become a christian and I so struggling to know hwa t I am supposed to do. I pray to the lord for my strength and guidance and I know he will take care of me and my needs. I could go on and on but I will get to my point. I love reading the Rabbi’s daily letter. It is right along with my thoughts and ideas. I dont know what is right or wrong in religion, I do know that we all need the Lord and you (Rabbi) make it very honest and I hope I can read you daily devotion until I can no longer read. Thank you so much..Thank you God for the Rabbi.
Hello Lisa, As you became a Christian..I pray that you asked Jesus to come into your heart,
for as you do/did you will/did receive the promised Holy Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth who
will never leave you or forsake you and will guide you in all matters. Talk to the Lord all day long… for every direction… and He will become more real to you than this message!
I pray that God will send someone to come alongside, a true believer who will mentor you in this stage of your Christian walk as He had done for me. in Jesus’ name ……Jim
I loved that scripture. It gave me chance to reflect on my own ways of praying to our Creator. Please Father help me learn to depend you in any situation. For you have a plan for me and I trust in you. Amen
Faith can move mountains and push back the sea’s.
With God all things are possible because he takes our weaknesses and turns them into strengths. Faith without works is dead. May he come and find us all building his Kingdom.