The Zeal of God

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has surrounded Jerusalem, and though he has already received an enormous tribute, he sends yet another threatening letter. Hezekiah has stripped even the gold from the temple to pay him, yet nothing is resolved, and at last he takes the letter up to the temple and stands before God.

Clinging to human means is like having the power line cut. Only when Hezekiah confessed his helplessness and turned to seek God’s glory was that line connected again. He did not ask for his own restoration; he asked only that God’s name be exalted.

That night the angel of the Lord struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of the Assyrian army, and Sennacherib returned to his own land, where he died at the hands of his own sons. Hezekiah’s prayer did not bring about the deliverance; it simply opened the channel through which God’s zeal could flow. God is the one who accomplishes to the end what he has spoken, so one must lay aside human methods and come to the place of prayer.