Asking for Deliverance
As we get towards the end of Hezekiah’s prayer, let’s note that he prayed for God to deliver Judah from the enemy. We see it in verse 19: “Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand”.
"Don't Just Complain to God – Ask for His Help"
This is important. He asks for deliverance – he doesn’t just acknowledge the problem and then walk away. I wonder if we do that sometimes? We just complain to God and don’t ask for his help? Imagine a man breaks his arm. And so off he goes to the doctor, and says “my arm is in such pain! I can’t handle it! I need help! I don’t know what to do!” And then imagine if, before the doc can help him, the man stands up and walks out of the doctor’s office. Wouldn’t that be silly?
Yet, I think we often do this in our prayer lives. We come to God and say “look at my pain! My situation! My struggle!” And then we get up and go without saying “Lord, heal me. Help me. Deliver me, please!”
Maybe it’s time for you to go to God in prayer and say “Please help Lord! Please deliver us!”
This prayer of Hezekiah’s sounds a bit like Jesus, doesn’t it? Jesus taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. And so from Jesus we learn that this is a daily prayer for us to pray, that our spiritual enemies will always be trying to knock us out, and so we need to pray for deliverance consistently.
"Hezekiah's Faith Amidst Doubt and Taunts"
Now, when Hezekiah prayed for deliverance, he was praying in spite of some strong voices who said that God would not deliver Jerusalem. Remember the letter that he had received from the king of Assyria? The one he ‘spread before God’? In that letter the Assyrian king wrote “Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?” (2 Kings 19:11). The enemy was taunting him, trying to plant seeds of doubt into his mind about God’s ability to help.
But Hezekiah was not fooled by the voice of the enemy. Still he went to God and said “deliver us!” And that is just what God did.
Go to God in prayer today friends, and as you lay out your problems, praise Him and ask for deliverance. Ask for a change. Ask for victory. Ask for what you need! And believe for these things. Believe that God will grant then!
You will see how God hears your prayer and answers, the way he did for Hezekiah. It might not be in the way you think, but He is faithful and he will deliver us as he promised. Believe it!
