Let God Read Your Letters
“Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD” (2 Kings 19:14).
Jennifer Aniston is an aviophobe. Fear is like a constant hammer on the head when she flies. Barbra Streisand is xenophobic. She dreads strangers. Aaron Rodgers suffers from angora phobia. The Packer quarterback is afraid of angora sweaters. Yes, I made that one up!! But Janet Endriss of Chicago actually suffers from papyrophobia- the fear of paper. “It isn’t so much the paper,” she says, “it’s the threat that might be printed on the paper.”
Ever felt that fear? A threatening letter, court summons, or toxic e-mail can scare us out of our gospel senses. King Hezekiah took a frightening letter to the highest authority - the King of Kings. He took his fear to the LORD. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had arrived at the gates of Jerusalem. He threatened siege and the starvation of all God’s people. In a letter to Hezekiah, Sennacherib tried to scare all the people of the city into rebelling against Hezekiah and the LORD (2 Kings 18:27-30).
Hezekiah took the frightening letter to the temple. In quiet before the LORD, Hezekiah prayed - oh, how he prayed! He stated God’s majesty seated on cherubim-throne. He asked God to look at the letter - a brazen insult to him the living LORD. He voiced fact. The Assyrians had made huge bonfires with the gods of all other nations. Then Hezekiah petitioned God: “Save us from raw Assyrian power by causing all the earth to know that you are God, the one and only God.” Did the LORD answer? One angel slew 185, 000 Assyrians in one night.
When you are afraid your quiet time is an excellent place to deal with what is troubling you. Lay your letter of fright before the LORD. Start by reminding yourself that God rules supremely over all nations. The God of the angel armies has the power to help you. Face the facts with him and then call on God to defend his name. Our Father in heaven loves it when we do this. After all, we have been made his children by his grace. What Father doesn’t love to defend his children? Give your fears to him and ask him to show you what action to take according to his will, even if the action is waiting. In the right way, at the right time, God will help you.
“No one can believe how powerful prayer is and what it can effect, except those who have learned it by experience. Whenever I have prayed earnestly, I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but he always comes” (Martin Luther).
