Isaiah 37:1-20
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday April 29, 2009
Isaiah 37:1-20
The predicament of the Hezekiah 1-7
1-4 Jerusalem is surrounded by an army that is far superior to her in size/strength. Will Jerusalem surrender to what surrounds her? You are surrounded by that which is hostile to your faith – spirit of the times that we see fleshed out everywhere in culture: media images and messages; shifting values on sexuality, spirituality, psychology. You are surrounded by the world/flesh/devil. Will you surrender to what surrounds you? So many feel as if they are being squeezed tighter and tighter, like a python encircling a man. In the end, they just can’t hold out any longer.
There was an insensitive husband who came home dirty and smelly every day after work. He would plop down in his easy chair and spend the rest of his day there until he went to bed. He told a friend at work that he thought his wife was losing her feeling for him. His friend said that it was because of his neglect of her. So the next day the man showered and shaved at work, put on cologne, and a set of new clothes. He bought some flowers for his wife and came home and rang the doorbell to surprise his wife. His wife opened the door holding a crying baby and just stared at him. She said, “I can’t take this anymore. I had a flat tire on the way to taking Johnny to school and then came home to the washer being broken and flooding the basement and then your mother called and said she is coming tomorrow for a two week stay – and now you come home drunk!”
Hezekiah feels like the life is being squeezed out of him and so he tears his clothes and covers himself w/ sackcloth. An overwhelming desperation brought him to turn to God.
Why ask Isaiah to pray? Why doesn’t Hezekiah pray himself? When he first became king - full bore for God. He was fearless/bold as he cleansed the land of idols/clung to the Lord w/ a holy zeal. But he lost his initial passion - instead of walking in the Spirit/ looking to God to help him in the problems and pressures of his life, he began to depend upon the arm of the flesh – the strategies of man’s wisdom – motivated by fear. And now that man’s strategies have failed, he is desperate for God to do something. An overwhelming desperation brought him to turn to God, but a sense of condemnation kept him from prayer.
The perhaps and your God point to a sense of shame H has as he looks back upon his failed alliance w/ Egypt and the pressure of the enemy. It is his failed policies that has brought the enemy to the gates. Maybe this is why he doesn’t pray, but asks Isaiah to pray. A sense of condemnation kept him from prayer. “I’ve made some bone-headed mistakes. God has told me not to do what I just did and I don’t feel worthy to come into his presence.”
Some of you are here – you’ve turned to God, but don’t have the assurance that God has turned to you. You are in the very place Hezekiah was – pushed to seek God because of desperate circumstances, but kept from God because of condemnation that comes by way of personal failure.
Condemnation is the consciousness of guilt awaiting judgment. Condemnation not only says, “I don’t deserve a blessing”, it says, “God is against me.” The devil would convince you: God is not 4 U. Rom. 8:1 God is always 4 U, always turned 2 U. Father of prodigal son always turned 2 his son.
So Hezekiah doesn’t seek God himself, he asks Isaiah to pray for him. I have had many people ask me to pray for them because they can’t approach God and He won’t hear them.
5-7 What Isaiah offers Hezekiah is the promise of God. It is through the promise of this word that Hezekiah is to face the Assyrian threat. He is not to do anything, take any course of action, attempt any brilliant stratagem. He is to stand in the strength that these words give him. We have God’s promises, great words, but -
Hezekiah is surrounded by the enemy, moved to desperation, and filled w/ condemnation – as we will see, the words of Isaiah don’t penetrate his soul. This is true of so many. This is why when you hear the word of God it thrills your soul, but it doesn’t lodge there because of the sense of condemnation that you have. Desperation drives U 2 God, condemnation pushes you away. Desperation makes you hungry, condemnation lets you starve. Many starve right in church!
The pressure on Hezekiah 8-13
Sennacherib had left Lachish and was at Libnah, about five miles north of Lachish. MAP It appeared as if Sennacherib were marching to Jerusalem. Word came that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was coming to assist Judah. W/ Tirhakah advancing, it would be advantageous for Sennacherib to have Jerusalem on his side instead of having them hostile behind his back – so he steps up his intimidation.
Hezekiah now has the promises of God and the threats of the enemy. God has said, “Do not be afraid – I will make him fall.” The enemy says: “You can’t escape my power and influence, no one has. All are falling before me.”
The prayer of Hezekiah 14-20
14 Believing God’s promise overcame his condemnation and he just laid it all out before the Lord. Prodigal son - knowing that his father was for him, overcame his condemnation. Heb. 4:2.
15-16 You are the God of Israel/angels/earth/universe. It is always good to begin w/ who God is and remind ourselves of this.
1st Lieutenant needing to show himself strong…
17-19 Problem: “God, here are the things that are coming against me. Help! God, I need you to see the problem the way I see the problem. Open Your ears/eyes - listen and see.” God, You are high above and now I need You to bend way down low.
20 Request – deliverance! Hezekiah sees God as intimately involved in his plight. Assyria has reproached the living God and devastated the land. He prays for deliverance and the glory of God.
Why not rejoice after hearing God’s promise in 6-7? Why the heaviness of the prayer in 16-20? Just because you are given the promise of God and hear it, doesn’t mean you have appropriated it and enfolded it into your life. The promises of God have to be prayed into, kneaded into your soul – like yeast into dough. Prayer appropriates the promises of God. It can’t sit upon your soul, it has to be within. Prayer works in the promise of God.
Lord’s Prayer: Lead us not into temptation... This phrase bothered me for a long time until I realized that we are not asking God to do something He would not otherwise do. We are recognizing the will of God and praying it, working it into our lives. Prayer works in the promises and the will of God. Prayer takes it from the head and moves it to the heart.
During World War II the city of Palermo in Sicily was to be bombed by the American Air Force. They warned the Sicilians to flee by dropping thousands of pamphlets on the city beforehand, but the citizens simply did not believe the warning. They listened, but they did not hear! When the American planes came and dropped their bombs, hundreds of Sicilians were killed; in fact, in some dead hands were found the very pages urging them to leave the city.
Our problem so often is that the promises of God lay upon our soul and are never prayed into our souls. Desperation will bring you to turn to God, but condemnation will keep you from prayer. God has a word for you: I AM FOR YOU!
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Isaiah 37:1-20
The predicament of the Hezekiah 1-7
1-4 Jerusalem is surrounded by an army that is far superior to her in size/strength. Will Jerusalem surrender to what surrounds her? You are surrounded by that which is hostile to your faith – spirit of the times that we see fleshed out everywhere in culture: media images and messages; shifting values on sexuality, spirituality, psychology. You are surrounded by the world/flesh/devil. Will you surrender to what surrounds you? So many feel as if they are being squeezed tighter and tighter, like a python encircling a man. In the end, they just can’t hold out any longer.
There was an insensitive husband who came home dirty and smelly every day after work. He would plop down in his easy chair and spend the rest of his day there until he went to bed. He told a friend at work that he thought his wife was losing her feeling for him. His friend said that it was because of his neglect of her. So the next day the man showered and shaved at work, put on cologne, and a set of new clothes. He bought some flowers for his wife and came home and rang the doorbell to surprise his wife. His wife opened the door holding a crying baby and just stared at him. She said, “I can’t take this anymore. I had a flat tire on the way to taking Johnny to school and then came home to the washer being broken and flooding the basement and then your mother called and said she is coming tomorrow for a two week stay – and now you come home drunk!”
Hezekiah feels like the life is being squeezed out of him and so he tears his clothes and covers himself w/ sackcloth. An overwhelming desperation brought him to turn to God.
Why ask Isaiah to pray? Why doesn’t Hezekiah pray himself? When he first became king - full bore for God. He was fearless/bold as he cleansed the land of idols/clung to the Lord w/ a holy zeal. But he lost his initial passion - instead of walking in the Spirit/ looking to God to help him in the problems and pressures of his life, he began to depend upon the arm of the flesh – the strategies of man’s wisdom – motivated by fear. And now that man’s strategies have failed, he is desperate for God to do something. An overwhelming desperation brought him to turn to God, but a sense of condemnation kept him from prayer.
The perhaps and your God point to a sense of shame H has as he looks back upon his failed alliance w/ Egypt and the pressure of the enemy. It is his failed policies that has brought the enemy to the gates. Maybe this is why he doesn’t pray, but asks Isaiah to pray. A sense of condemnation kept him from prayer. “I’ve made some bone-headed mistakes. God has told me not to do what I just did and I don’t feel worthy to come into his presence.”
Some of you are here – you’ve turned to God, but don’t have the assurance that God has turned to you. You are in the very place Hezekiah was – pushed to seek God because of desperate circumstances, but kept from God because of condemnation that comes by way of personal failure.
Condemnation is the consciousness of guilt awaiting judgment. Condemnation not only says, “I don’t deserve a blessing”, it says, “God is against me.” The devil would convince you: God is not 4 U. Rom. 8:1 God is always 4 U, always turned 2 U. Father of prodigal son always turned 2 his son.
So Hezekiah doesn’t seek God himself, he asks Isaiah to pray for him. I have had many people ask me to pray for them because they can’t approach God and He won’t hear them.
5-7 What Isaiah offers Hezekiah is the promise of God. It is through the promise of this word that Hezekiah is to face the Assyrian threat. He is not to do anything, take any course of action, attempt any brilliant stratagem. He is to stand in the strength that these words give him. We have God’s promises, great words, but -
Hezekiah is surrounded by the enemy, moved to desperation, and filled w/ condemnation – as we will see, the words of Isaiah don’t penetrate his soul. This is true of so many. This is why when you hear the word of God it thrills your soul, but it doesn’t lodge there because of the sense of condemnation that you have. Desperation drives U 2 God, condemnation pushes you away. Desperation makes you hungry, condemnation lets you starve. Many starve right in church!
The pressure on Hezekiah 8-13
Sennacherib had left Lachish and was at Libnah, about five miles north of Lachish. MAP It appeared as if Sennacherib were marching to Jerusalem. Word came that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was coming to assist Judah. W/ Tirhakah advancing, it would be advantageous for Sennacherib to have Jerusalem on his side instead of having them hostile behind his back – so he steps up his intimidation.
Hezekiah now has the promises of God and the threats of the enemy. God has said, “Do not be afraid – I will make him fall.” The enemy says: “You can’t escape my power and influence, no one has. All are falling before me.”
The prayer of Hezekiah 14-20
14 Believing God’s promise overcame his condemnation and he just laid it all out before the Lord. Prodigal son - knowing that his father was for him, overcame his condemnation. Heb. 4:2.
15-16 You are the God of Israel/angels/earth/universe. It is always good to begin w/ who God is and remind ourselves of this.
1st Lieutenant needing to show himself strong…
17-19 Problem: “God, here are the things that are coming against me. Help! God, I need you to see the problem the way I see the problem. Open Your ears/eyes - listen and see.” God, You are high above and now I need You to bend way down low.
20 Request – deliverance! Hezekiah sees God as intimately involved in his plight. Assyria has reproached the living God and devastated the land. He prays for deliverance and the glory of God.
Why not rejoice after hearing God’s promise in 6-7? Why the heaviness of the prayer in 16-20? Just because you are given the promise of God and hear it, doesn’t mean you have appropriated it and enfolded it into your life. The promises of God have to be prayed into, kneaded into your soul – like yeast into dough. Prayer appropriates the promises of God. It can’t sit upon your soul, it has to be within. Prayer works in the promise of God.
Lord’s Prayer: Lead us not into temptation... This phrase bothered me for a long time until I realized that we are not asking God to do something He would not otherwise do. We are recognizing the will of God and praying it, working it into our lives. Prayer works in the promises and the will of God. Prayer takes it from the head and moves it to the heart.
During World War II the city of Palermo in Sicily was to be bombed by the American Air Force. They warned the Sicilians to flee by dropping thousands of pamphlets on the city beforehand, but the citizens simply did not believe the warning. They listened, but they did not hear! When the American planes came and dropped their bombs, hundreds of Sicilians were killed; in fact, in some dead hands were found the very pages urging them to leave the city.
Our problem so often is that the promises of God lay upon our soul and are never prayed into our souls. Desperation will bring you to turn to God, but condemnation will keep you from prayer. God has a word for you: I AM FOR YOU!
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