Isa 37:9-20 – Let us pray (sermon notes)
Text: Isaiah 37:9-20
Someone once said: ‘If I wanted to embarrass a fellow-Christian, I would ask them about their prayer life.’
Well, I’m not looking to embarrass my hearers this morning! (After all, preachers who live in glass houses should not throw stones!)
In any case, there will be some here whose sails are unfurled and are being driven forward by the wind of the Holy Spirit in this matter of prayer. But there will be others whose prayer life is need of at least a mid-course correction. And still others who have scarcely left port.
To be sure, prayer is shrouded with much mystery. There is the problem of unanswered prayer (although Scriptures seems much more interested in encouraging us with answered prayer than in satisfying our enquiries about unanswered prayer. Then there is the paradox of prayer itself: Why do we need to ask God for anything, if he already knows what we need? But such thinking is foolish, and treats prayer as if it were a matter of putting coins into a slot machine, whereas it is, in fact a matter of relationship, with prayer as the God-given, God-ordained means of carrying on that relationship.
We turn to this notable example of prayer: the prayer of Hezekiah. It shows what kind of faith God is looking for and what kind of praying he honours.
Some background: 700 BC. The Assyrian army has conquered Israel. It has taken the cities of Judah. Now it has reached Jerusalem itself.
Ch 36 – psychological warfare. ‘In whom are you placing your trust?’ Egypt? Your own army? Your god? Surrender, and each of you will ‘eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern.’ Resist, and you will ‘have to eat your own filth and drink your own urine’.
Ch 37. Hezekiah is distraught. In desperation he sends messengers to the prophet Isaiah. Back comes the answer: ‘Do not afraid. Jerusalem will be delivered.’
Let’s follow this prayer as it unfolds.
1. Invocation: reminding God who he is, v16
Sennacherib imagined he was invulnerable. “Do not let the god you depend on deceive you.” (v10)
Hezekiah: “O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”
It is remarkable how many times in Scripture the introduction to a prayer calls to mind some aspect of God’s character that will then be used as the basis of the plea itself:
2 Thess 3:16 – ‘Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.’
Rom 15:13 – ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’
2 Cor 1:3f – ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.’
This is an excellent pattern to imitate!
2. Lamentation: sharing with him what is troubling you, vv17-19
Hezekiah does not minimize the problems he is facing. Verse 18 – “It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.”
But, more seriously still, the living God has been ‘ridiculed’, v4; ‘blasphemed’, v6; ‘insulted’, v17.
Don’t let past failures deter you. But do come in penitence (as Hezekiah did).
Don’t let the enormity of the task discourage you. ‘Thou art coming to a King…’
3. Petition: telling him what you want him to do, v20
‘Deliver us from his hand…’
‘… so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.’
Such praying, which twists together our good and God’s glory, is irresistible.
And so we read the response:
v21 – ‘because you prayed…’
But now, what happens when we hitch these precious truths to the NT message of Jesus?
(a) What kind of warfare?
Eph 6:12 ‘Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against…the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’
(b) What kind of weapons?
‘The belt of truth… the breastplate of righteousness…the shoes of peace… the shield of faith…the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’
‘…and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.’
(c) What kind of victory?
1 Cor 15:57 ‘Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’
The resurrection of Jesus has changed everything. Already, we find ourselves on the victory side, and we can think and speak and act accordingly:
‘Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.’
What does ‘victory’ mean for us?
We not spurn a happy marriage, healthy kids, a good education, a secure and fulfilling job.
But victory means that the world will not squeeze us into its mold. It means that our ocean of troubles will not drown us. It means that we will persevere to the end. It means that the message of Jesus is still to power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
It means that we will ‘fight valiantly under the banner of Christ against sin, the world and the devil, and continue his faithful soldier and servant to the end of your life.’
So: let us pray. This is our duty, necessity, privilege and joy.