“Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.” Isaiah 37:17
October 8, 2025
Christians are not immune to be caught circumstantially between a rock and a hard place, a seemingly impossible situation to resolve in such a way that God is honored. King Hezekiah was inside the walls of Jerusalem. Outside those walls was an army of 185,000 Assyrians ready to destroy the city and exile the Jewish population out of the Promised Land. Hezekiah prayed! It is a brief and beautiful prayer (C. Ryrie). This crisis teaches us invaluable truths when we are caught in a bind. It will take two Morning Minutes to do this prayer justice. First, lay hold on the perfect character of God. Eleven times the name of God saturates this prayer. Don’t allow the mockery of “thoughts and prayers” send you running to human wisdom. Secondly, be primarily concerned with the glory of God. It is not our own skin. It was not the king’s own need or that of the people that was number one on the priority list. Thirdly, be specific in your request (“So now, O LORD, save us from his hand (Sennacherib), v. 20). Tell God what you desire in no uncertain terms). Until we go further, ask God to tighten you down in determination to pray in the hard places of life. God is the only and perfect refuge.
H
“O Lord, I know you rule over all the mockery and arrogance of this world. Give me the fortitude to resist the taunts of those who seek to make me a coward.””