Hezekiah's Prayer
14 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. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the 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. 16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.” (Emphasis Mine)
Hiya!
I love reading Scripture. Any of you who have been following this blog or know me at all know that. I'm not a read a book about Scripture person, although I have no problem with people who do. I am a 'go to the source' and let God help you figure it out advocate. As I have said before, we read through the Bible every year. I cannot express enough how important that is. It gets the Word into your heart and that's what comes out in times of stress.
Notice what he says: You alone are GOD. You made the heavens and the earth. YOU ARE GOD. Then he concludes: Save us, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you O Lord are God alone.
I was struck so much by this passage. This is our prayer in Scotland. We're not looking for any accolades. Please don't get me wrong, we like to get credit for what we do. We like it when people say thank you or say good job. There's nothing wrong with that. However, if that never happened, we'd be fine with it. All we want is that all the people in Scotland would see what He has done and would KNOW that He is God alone. We pray this prayer over the children (and adults) of Scotland all the time. Do it again Lord. Blaze over this land so that no one can ignore that YOU ALONE ARE GOD.
We believe that God is in control of everything. We believe that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. We believe that as we are faithful to do that which He has called us to that He will do what He has promised. He loves people so very much and He desires to have a relationship with them. We, as His body, MUST reach out to those to whom He has sent us.
We cannot discard anyone that God has sent to us. We cannot pass judgement on anyone that God has sent to us. "For God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world but that the world through Him might be saved."
God has granted each one of us the privilege to serve where He has placed us. Clean toilets, vacuum floors, carry boxes, wash feet, pick up rubbish, whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord.
And may the God of all peace grant you each peace and joy in His Spirit. With love and many prayers,
Mike and Tina Hook
Missionaries to the children of Scotland
