Imagine for a moment that this morning when you got up you discovered that close to two-hundred thousand foreign troops have surrounded your city during the night. You know that this same army under the same government laid siege to a city 35 miles away several years ago. They starved the residents of that area until they surrendered. Then the army force-marched those inhabitants several hundred miles to become refugees in another nation. This government confiscated all the property in town and gave it to foreign peoples whom they moved in.
Now they have surrounded your city.
How would you pray?
This was Hezekiah’s situation in today’s first reading. In the past week, since Ahaz was confronted by Elijah in last Tuesday’s reading, about 120 years of history have passed for the Hebrew people. Numerous kings of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) centered in Samaria continued to compromise worship of Yahweh with worship of Baal and other gods and to disobey God’s commandments—the Law. Assyria was the dominant political force. As we saw in yesterday’s reading, King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked Samaria and defeated it in 722 BCE. He forced the people of those 10 tribes of Israel to march to Babylon, hundreds of miles away.
Meanwhile, in the Southern Kingdom centered in Jerusalem, Hezekiah became King of Judah. He was only 21 when he became king, but he was a good king in every way, serving the Lord and governing his people wisely. As today’s scripture begins, Sennacherib has become king of Assyria and is camping around Jerusalem. He has demanded tribute of gold and silver. Hezekiah has stripped his own house of silver and gold, as well as the temple, hoping to placate the Assyrians enough they would leave Jerusalem alone.
But, arrogantly, Sennacherib and his spokesman the Rabshakeh taunted both Hezekiah and God. In the Hebrew language with the people watching and listening he said, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria….Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria…Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine.” (2 Kings 18: 28-31)
And so, in today’s reading, Hezekiah prayed.
How would you pray in such a situation? It does not take thousands of troops around your door to be desperate. There are moments of desperation in every life. There is the diagnosis of debilitating or terminal illness. Marriages end. Jobs and homes are lost. People we love do foolish things that compromise their lives for years to come. We make bad choices that yield consequences that come crashing down on us. Friends betray us. We do not know what we are to do about an important choice.
Moments of desperation are part of life.
So it is good to look carefully at Hezekiah and how he prayed, because God delivered him. God said to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah, “Sennacherib shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siege-words against it. He shall return the same way he came.”
God kept his word quickly and profoundly: “That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, and went back home to Ninevah.”
So how did Hezekiah pray? Our reading today says:
“Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the temple of the Lord, and spreading it out before him, he prayed in the Lord’s presence: ‘O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Hear the words of Sennacherab which he sent to taunt the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed them because they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. Therefore, O Lord, our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”
Let’s look carefully at this to see what we might learn about prayer in desperation.
1. First, Hezekiah came to this prayer having already done all that he could: he had followed God’s way in the way he lived his life; he had governed the people with justice so they were likely to remain loyal to him; he had already stripped both palace and temple of gold and silver, sacrificing what was of less importance to save his people; he had listened to the messengers and read the letter. To use St. Augustine’s words, he had worked as if it all depended on him. He did not just presume God was going to get him out of this predicament. He did what he could.
It is important in times of desperation to get ourselves right with God if our own sin has been a part of our desperate situation and/or to recall that we are God’s children and can count on Him. It is good for us to use our human, practical capacity to problem solve as much as we can.
2. Second, Hezekiah faced the situation. There was no denial in him. He did not hide in the palace or attempt to escape.
If we want God’s help, we must face the situation. No denial. No hiding behind blaming or using something that numbs pain. No escaping.
3. Third, Hezekiah went to where God was. He went to the temple.
We can go to church. We can kneel before the Tabernacle where Jesus waits for us. While God hears us wherever we pray, there is something good about going before the Lord’s physical Presence.
4. Then Hezekiah addressed God with both deference and confidence. He honored God and trusted Him. He talked to God and poured out his heart. He gave God the cold, hard facts. He also presented his case as a way to give God glory and victory.
This way of addressing God—it is not the way we usually do it today. But it is VERY IMPORTANT—not for God as much as for us. In family therapy terms, beginning with expressions of trust and respect is a very important part of any dialogue which is deep and powerful. It is known as “begin by remembering the good.” When we begin by recalling and naming that which is good in the other person and in our shared relationship, we put the conversation on a foundation of mutuality and love. We open the door for Truth, Compassion, and Fidelity to enter the conversation. Then it is important to express all that is in mind and heart. Pour out your soul as Hezekiah did. But do it in a way that is as much from the other’s point of view as your own. That isn’t a “sell job.” It is an act of emotional and mental respect which touches the heart of the other—whether that other is family member or God.
5. Hezekiah then left the solution to God. He did not tell God what to do. He did not try to limit God by his human reasoning or make God his servant. He put forth his case and let God be God. He let God come up with a solution.
While God tells us to ask Him for what we need (“Give us our daily bread,” “Lead us not into temptation”), it seems to me that in prayers of desperation something different is required. We must let go and leave the solution totally up to God. This feels like jumping off a cliff, but such a jump is required. There is a danger that, being desperate, we can try to command God—which would make God our servant instead of our God. God is not a servant. He serves—but as God, from His infinite wisdom and love. There is also a danger we may not see a solution God may give because we are so focused on the solution we can imagine.
Prayer:
O God, my God, how much I love You! How gentle and wonderful You are as You teach and guide me! As I have prayed and written this, You have showed me a solution for my own current desperate situation. You have shown me how to pray like Hezekiah. Help me now to pray like him, to trust like him, for You have already begun to answer me as You answered him. May You always be praised for Your great goodness! May I listen to Your voice now and watch to see Your solution.
Link to Readings: 2 Kings 19 9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36; from Psalm 48, Matthew 7: 6, 12-14.
