A King's Prayer

A king’s prayer.  King Hezekiah, king of Judah, was facing a threat from King Sennacherib of Assyria.  King Sennacherib and his army had been destroying the nations around Judah.  You can imagine that with each military victory, they became stronger and stronger.  He became so confident that he taunted King Hezekiah by sending word to him that they had completely destroyed the other nations, did he really thing that they would be rescued? (2 Kings 19:11).  We have to understand that a military defeat for a nation was a devastating blow to the gods that those nations served.  We see this when we look at King Hezekiah’s prayer to God.  He prays, “They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands – wood and stone.  So, they have destroyed them.  Now, Lord our God, please save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God – you alone” (v.18-19).  King Hezekiah knew, that a victory from the Lord is a victory for the Lord, as it will declare that He alone is God!  The victories that we pray for should be those that, while all others have been defeated, God alone can provide the victory, and by it, He will declare that He alone is God!