2 Kings 20:3: “‘Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.”

August 14th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

King Hezekiah was sick, and the prophet Isaiah came to him and told him the Lord said he would not live. This is the short prayer, one sentence actually, that Hezekiah prayed in response to the Lord’s word, which moved the hand of God to add 15 years to Hezekiah’s life. Notice that the king did not specifically ask to be healed. But God knew what was really in his heart, even if he didn’t express it. No doubt Hezekiah wept bitterly because he was only 39 years old and did not have a son; therefore, there was no heir to the throne of David. Hezekiah wisely turned to the Lord in this crisis.

We should be careful not to limit God when we cry out to Him. It’s so easy to put Him in a box roughly the size of our own minds. Andrew Murray said it this way:

Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do.

There is a problem when we get too specific in our prayers, thinking we know the best or only way for our problems to be solved. God has unlimited resources and unlimited options available to answer our needs, in ways we cannot even imagine. It also seems that God likes “to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20) just to surprise us. It seems He does this by putting us in impossible situations, so He can teach us to trust Him and to show off His greatness. If you’re not in a difficult circumstance now, you have or soon will be in one that only God can handle: health scare, family crises, financial stress, marriage difficulties, etc. When God allows you to come into a faith-stretching spot, remember who He is: the LORD, the sovereign I Am. We serve the God of the impossible. Let Him be that in your life today. Ask!

“LORD, we trust You to use us this day as we walk in dependence on You.”

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2 Kings 20 KJV

¹ In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.  ² Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, ³ I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. ⁴ And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ⁵ Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. ⁶ And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. ⁷ And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. ⁸ And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day? ⁹ And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. ¹² At that time Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.  ¹³ And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. ¹⁴ Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon. ¹⁵ And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. ¹⁶And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. ¹⁷Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. ¹⁸ And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ¹⁹ Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good , if peace and truth be in my days? ²⁰ And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²¹ And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.