Hezekiah’s Prayer Is Answered
20 But King Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed about this and cried out to heaven. 21 And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed every mighty warrior, commander and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned [m]in shame to his own land. And when he had entered the temple of his god, some of his own children killed him there with the sword. 22 So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and [n]guided them on every side. 23 And many were bringing gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem and choice presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.
24 In those days Hezekiah became [o]mortally ill; and he prayed to the Lord, and [p]the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign. 25 But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit [q]he received, because his heart was [r]proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26 However, Hezekiah [s]humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.
27 Now Hezekiah had immense riches and honor; and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuable articles, 28 storehouses also for the produce of grain, wine and oil, pens for all kinds of cattle and [t]sheepfolds for the flocks. 29 He made cities for himself and acquired flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great [u]wealth. 30 It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did. 31 Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.
32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of devotion, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 33 So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the [v]upper section of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh became king in his place.
That had to be pretty surreal to have a foreign army encamped in your land, only to watch in awe as they packed up without fighting a battle. Often, God uses us to do his work, but every once in a while, God does something purely supernatural.
There are times when we wish that He would just take care of things like He did for Hezekiah. But whatever His plan, we need to be open to the reality that God isn’t going to solve all our problems. Even for Hezekiah, God didn’t deliver vast sums of money to him, or build all the fortifications for him. Hezekiah used the wisdom that God gave him, much like Solomon, to do some pretty incredible things.
Even the Babylonians came to see what in the world was going on in Judah, and while Hezekiah could have taken credit for things, no matter what, it was God’s plan being worked through him. And in the end, even Hezekiah had his foolish moments of pride, but when he humbled his heart before God, remembering the true source of all his accomplishments, then God turned his wrath away from Judah.
No, we aren’t perfect, and we often can’t figure out what God is doing. We might look on in wonder like the Babylonians, or we may see things in our own life where God’s fingerprints are all over the place. No matter what, we must remember that God is in control, and everything we have is from Him. When He is our foundation, even the worst cannot shake us. Oh, we may tremble for a moment, but God’s peace is right there as long as we remain grounded in Him.