Swhw Bible Reading Plan: AprilSample

Top Takeaway from Liz Patton:

When you pray, do you feel like you are talking to God or with God?  I know it probably doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but it’s been my experience that it’s a BIG difference! 

In total transparency, there have been times in my life when my prayers have felt almost like a long, laundry list of my wants and desires.  But God doesn’t want a wish list when we pray; He wants a relationship with us!  Like King Hezekiah in today’s reading, I believe God wants us to reason with Him and wrestle with Him in prayer.

The first thing that stood out to me as I read this story is the boldness of the prophet Isaiah when he went to deliver a hard truth to king Hezekiah:  “This is what the Lord says:  Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover” (Isaiah 38:1).  

Hezekiah would only have been 39 at the time of receiving this news, so you can imagine how devastating this must have been for him.  But how kind of the Lord to give him an opportunity to get his affairs in order.  And also what an example to us that when God tells us to speak the truth in love to someone (as Isaiah did), we need to obey!

I love Hezekiah’s very first response and instinct in verse  2—“He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord.”  (When I researched this verse, I discovered that some scholars believe that he turned to face the wall in order to have a better posture for prayer and to be more focused on the Lord.)

Some of us, if given the news that we were going to die, would feel forgotten, and in anger would stop praying altogether.  But not Hezekiah.  In the midst of his despair, he cried out to God.  

Surprisingly, Hezekiah never even asked God to save him or take away his illness.  Instead, he reasoned and just talked with God,

“Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.”  2 Kings 20:2

This made me think of my own prayer life.  What if instead of just giving God my requests, I told Him why I desire what I’m asking?  What if I asked Him how that request might advance His kingdom and give Him glory?  What if I prayed with the sole purpose and intention that I would be changed by prayer rather than to have my prayers answered?

And even before Isaiah left the king’s court, the word of the Lord came to Isaiah that God heard Hezekiah’s prayer, He saw his tears, and would add 15 years to his life. 

Sisters, YES, your prayers matter!  Even if you are weeping bitterly as you pray, PRAY!  God knows what you’re thinking anyway, so you might as well tell Him!   

And finally, I love that after God healed Hezekiah, he offered God praise,

“Lord, by such things people live;

    and my spirit finds life in them too.

You restored me to health

    and let me live. 

Surely it was for my benefit

    that I suffered such anguish.

In your love you kept me

    from the pit of destruction;

you have put all my sins

    behind your back.”  Isaiah 38:16-17

Dear God, I want my prayers to draw me closer to You.  Forgive me for all of the times I have come to You for what I hope to get from You instead of what I can have with You.  Lord, I want to talk with You, not to You, and grow even closer to You as I spend time with You in prayer.  Even when You feel far away, I can trust that You are faithful and You hear me.  Today I choose to walk before You faithfully and with my whole heart.  Thank You that because of Jesus, You have put my sins behind Your back.  I love You!  Amen.