Friday, October 2, 2026

Opening Scripture

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

Opening Prayer

Most Merciful God, I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry, and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me, that I may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Isaiah 37:14-32

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. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

“It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God.”

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the LORD has spoken against him: “Virgin Daughter Zion despises and mocks you. Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

By your messengers you have ridiculed the LORD. And you have said ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’

“Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.

“But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me. Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.

“This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”

Reflection  

In today’s passage, Hezekiah answers the question: In whom do you trust? He had heard what the prophet Isaiah told him, and now he had heard what the Assyrian king told him. He had to make a choice, and the outcome would decide the future of a nation.

When Hezekiah read Sennacherib’s threatening message, he went to the temple of the LORD and prayed. The king spread the message out on the floor and reminded God that the Assyrian kings had in fact laid waste to all the other nations. The Assyrians had thrown those people’s gods into the fire and destroyed them. Then he reminded God that defeating the Assyrians here and now would prove that Yahweh truly is the only God.

After that, the LORD told Isaiah to send the king another message. “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the LORD has spoken against him … I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.”

The LORD chose to quickly respond to Hezekiah’s petition. This ought to tell us something about the power of prayer! Hezekiah prayed consistent with God’s will and purpose. Because Sennacherib and his commander had ridiculed and blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, He is the One who will defeat them.

God’s word of promise to King Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah is profound and poetic. Rather than surrendering to their foes, Jerusalem – the Virgin Daughter of Zion – would despise and mock the Assyrian forces as they retreated. The City of God would “toss her head” as the army fled.

The Assyrian leaders had not just threatened and belittled Judah. They had “raised their voices and lifted their eyes in pride” against the Holy One of Israel! They had ridiculed the LORD, and He would respond in judgment. The Assyrian’s proud boasting was about to come to a sudden end, not through military might, but through divine intervention. “The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”

It is interesting to note that God’s control of the situation is so complete that He can create an uneasiness in the mind of the Assyrian king based on a rumor from far away that causes him to return home, where he will be murdered by his sons.

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Christians

King Hezekiah responded faithfully to the Assyrian threat in Chapter 37, but he found himself in another crisis of a different sort in Chapter 38.

“In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover’” (Isaiah 38:1).

As king, Hezekiah constantly felt the weight of responsibility for the future of the nation, but this was not a national crisis. It was a very personal one. Gripped by serious illness, Hezekiah was facing the threat of imminent death. The question arises again: In whom do you trust?

Again, Hezekiah responded with appropriate humility and dependence on God. He turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly. He prayed to the LORD, “Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.”

And once again, the word of the LORD came to Isaiah. He told the prophet to tell the king, “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David says, ‘I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.”

Then, as He has done before, God offered a sign to prove that He would do what He promised. “I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.” Sure enough, the shadow went backward ten steps.

After his recovery, Hezekiah wrote a lengthy hymn of thanksgiving that sounds much like the psalms. “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. For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living – they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness” (Isaiah 38:16-19).

This week’s collective prayer: Father, create in me a true desire to share your love with others. Amen.

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!