Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”

Isaiah 37: 14-20

Hezekiah is acknowledged as one of the Kings of Judah who served the LORD and did not lead the people to worship false gods, but his kingdom was under threat of their enemy, the Assyrians and in today’s passage, all of Judah faced a crisis.

When King Sennacherib threatened Hezekiah, how did the King of Judah respond? In the passage above, we read that when the going got tough, he turned directly to the LORD. He spread the Assyrian King’s threats out before the LORD and he prayed. He saw Sennacherib’s threat for what it was – a threat against the one true creator God and he asked the LORD to defend His name by saving His people.

Certainly, God was aware of what Sennacherib had in mind, but Hezekiah acted in faith instead of turning to others for help.

For a moment, think about how you last responded in a moment of crisis? Did you try to figure it out on your own? Did you cry out to God? Both?

There’s a lesson for us today in this example from the distant past.