It's Amazing What A Prayer Can Do

It’s amazing what a prayer can do.  Sister Jennifer sent me a link to a song called “It’s Amazing What A Prayer Can Do” the day after Sister Emilee’s surgery.  I’ve heard that song before, it’s been around for a while, but it was refreshing to hear it again.  The very first verse of that song describes what took place in our reading today.   Those lyrics are, “There was a king, he got a letter from A mighty army without number.  He spread it out there for the Lord to get a view.  God sent a promise and just one angel. That devil's army met it's doom. Why it's just amazing what a prayer can do.”  The verse of that song is from King Hezekiah’s prayer that we read in Isiah 37:14-21.  King Hezekiah was receiving threats from the king of Assyria.  Assyria had defeated many nations in battle and now was coming after Judah, who was militarily no match for them.  The king of Assyria said that the gods of the other nations could not help those nations, so neither could the God of Judah.  So, King Hezekiah took that threatening letter to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord, and he prayed (v.14-15).  God heard that prayer and replied, “Because you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him…” (v.21-22). The Lord defeated Assyria by sending an angel who struck down 185,000 of the Assyrians, and the people of Judah woke up to find all of the bodies that the angel had struck down (v.36).  It’s just amazing what a prayer can do.