Assyria taunts
Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’
2 Kings 18:35; 19:10-13 (ESV)
Hezekiah prays
Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 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. 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.
2 Kings 19:17-19 (ESV)
The Lord demonstrates His plan and His power
Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins ... For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.
2 Kings 19:25, 34 (ESV)
And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. ... Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat.
2 Kings 19:35-37 (ESV)
Without a firm understanding of the Lord's sovereignty, our emotional stability would rise and plummet as we read the morning paper. Notice that the ultimate goal of Hezekiah's prayer was the glory and renown of the Lord, not simple relief from imminent danger. When we know that the Lord really does rule from on high and that the events of this world happen according to His greater plan, there is a confidence to pray for the Lord's glory, even in the most difficult of situations.
* Note on the relief: In an attack in Babylonia (indicated by the date palms), the Assyrians have built a siege ramp against the walls, which they attack with a battering-ram. An enemy archer is being killed beside the palm-tree that has been felled, and there are headless corpses around the city. This relief is found at the British Museum in London.
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