Laying It All Out Before The Lord

Have you ever wondered how you were going to get through something? Maybe you received your schedule for the next semester and wondered how you'll carry such a load. Perhaps it's a project at work and you don't even know where to start. Or the medical bills keep coming in and even after insurance, your 20% is overbearing. Election Day is coming up and many of us are disappointed with the selection of candidates. Who will we vote for? Are you in a situation where you just don't know what to do? We can learn an important lesson from King Hezekiah. He was a godly king of Judah who was being taunted by the powerful king of Assyria, Sennacherib. He insulted and blasphemed God and his people. After much success in overthrowing other cities, he now threatened Hezekiah with a letter. King Hezekiah read the letter, then went to the temple and "spread it out before the Lord." He prayed, "O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.....It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone....Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God." Isaiah 37:15-20 In Hezekiah's prayer, he first acknowledged who God is (You alone are God). Then he admitted the disturbing problem (It is true...that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples...). He sees the godlessness in the problem (for they were not gods) and finally, he presents his request (...deliver us from his hand...), but desires the request to be for God's glory (so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God). The prophet, Isaiah, sent a message to Hezekiah saying, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib....the Lord has spoken against him..." Isaiah 37:21-22a. Sennacherib was rebuked by God for his blasphemy against His people. One hundred and eighty-five men were put to death in the Assyrian camp and Sennacherib's own sons cut him down with a sword as he was worshiping an idol. What a God we have! All he desires is for us to turn to Him with our situations. He loves to show us His mighty works because He loves us. Next time something disturbing comes your way, "lay it out before the Lord!" We can do like Hezekiah and place the school schedule, tax forms, bills, voter's guide, or the disturbing front page news, before the Lord. On our knees, we can acknowledge His sovereignty, our problem, the powerlessness of man and our request for His deliverance. Pray expectantly and with right motives. God is glorified in our submission to Him and He blesses us beyond what we can imagine. As this old hymn reminds us, "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." Text: Joseph M. Scriven, 1820-1886 Music: Charles C. Converse, 1832-1918