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Jul 31, 2016

Experiencing The Wonder of God's Presence In Prayer

Passage: 2 Kings 20:1-11

Preacher: John Huizinga

Series: Experiencing God through the Wonder of . . .

Category: Practicing the Presence of God

Keywords: , gift, hezekiah, practice, prayer, presence

Summary:

Experiencing God Through the Wonder of . . . Our Prayer. The story of King Hezekiah’s healing is so important to the wonder of life with God that it is told twice (1 Kings 20 & Isaiah 38) and then referred to a third time (2 Chronicles 32:24). We’ll read the account in 1st Kings 20:1-11. In the middle of the story, Hezekiah prays to God. And within moments Hezekiah receives a revelation and understanding of what is to come. It’s not that every prayer is answered this way. But the story does make us wonder at this first act of thanksgiving and faith we call prayer. We’re practicing the presence of God. And so far we have journeyed with Jacob in confessing that the Lord is with us but we so often miss his presence. And we have renewed our wonder of creation’s proclamation of God’s handiwork as creator. With Hezekiah’s story we’ll be encouraged and challenged to renew our prayer lives as another way to be assured of God’s presence, even in our deepest trails and worries.

Detail:

Frederick Buechner begins his fictional account

of the Jewish apocryphal book Tobit

imagining the archangel Raphael talking about

the prayers of God’s people:

I bring the prayers of all who pray and of those

who don’t even know they are praying.

Some prayers I hold out as far from me

as my arm will reach,

the way a woman holds a dead mouse by the tail when she removes it from the kitchen.

Some prayers, like flowers,

are almost too beautiful to touch,

and others so aflame that I’m afraid

they will set me on fire.

There are prayers of such power

that you might say they carry me

rather than the other way around –

the way a bird with outstretched wings

is carried higher and higher on the back of the wind.

There are prayers so apologetic

and shamefaced and halfhearted

that they all but melt away in my grasp

like sad little flakes of snow.

Some prayers are very boring.

 

Any of your prayers like that?

How would you describe your prayers

and your prayer life?

Is prayer, as we confess,

the most important act in your thanksgiving

to our Heavenly Father?

Do you struggle to know how to pray?

Are you weary in prayer,

having a hard time trusting

that the Lord hears your prayers?

 

Let me tell you about one man who could pray:

King Hezekiah.

 

King Hezekiah is known

for being Sennacherib’s last stand.

The Assyrian king conquered

most of the ancient near east

including most of Israel,

but his reign of terror stopped at Jerusalem.

It wasn’t because Hezekiah had a bigger army,

or more weaponry,

or military intelligence,

or unlimited material and financial resources.

It was because he prayed.

 

Lord Byron immortalized the moment

in his poem ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’:

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, 

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; 

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, 

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

 

A glance brought about when Hezekiah prayed:

19 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.” (2 Kings 19)

 

The stories of King Hezekiah emphasized his prayers.

During the fearful threats of the Assyrians,

the prophet Isaiah informs Hezekiah that he is ill,

and that his illness is fatal.

Whatever sickness he had, he will die from it –

get your house in order, time is short, Isaiah tells him.

 

The news hits Hezekiah hard.

His response is to pray again.

3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

 

Isaiah doesn’t get home from the palace

and he is directed by the Lord

to bring an answer to Hezekiah’s prayer:

5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

 

These are the prayer stories we like and like to share.

Answers like these are what we hope for

every time we bow our heads,

close our eyes, and fold our hands.

But there are prayers I have been praying

for a long time, and I’m still praying them.

You, too?

And I know those who have given up on praying;

they point to personal experience

and despair that prayer doesn’t work.

So it’s striking that this little historical fact

of Hezekiah’s healing

is found in the Bible in three separate occasions –

2nd Chronicles, Isaiah’s book of prophecy,

and here in 2nd Kings.

The Spirit is telling those of us who pray

and who struggle to pray

something about prayer.

 

Let’s pay attention

and look a little more closely at King Hezekiah.

Notice his prayer as it is summarized:

there’s no mention of his praying to be healed,

tho no doubt he asked for that.

Sure enough, later in the story

Isaiah says from the Lord:

I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.

If you look up the story in Isaiah 38

starting at verse 10

a psalm of Hezekiah’s is quoted

as his prayer of thanksgiving

after he was healed.

He remembers his pleading and says in vs 14 -

I cried like a swift or thrush,
    I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens.
    I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”

And vs 16 - You restored me to health

    and let me live.

 

But here in 2 Kings 20

his prayer to be healed is not highlighted.

Instead, we hear about the covenant relationship

established by God’s promises.

He doesn’t mention his physical health;

he’s praying about his belonging to God.

He’s holding on to the Lord being there with him.

That’s the language Hezekiah uses in his prayer:

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

 

How many of us have ever prayed words like these?

Not too many would say this about ourselves.

What Hezekiah is appealing to is not his good record,

rather the promises of God.

He’s saying:

we used to be so close.

But I feel far from you.

Can I depend on your being here with me?

Are you with me in this?

And what matters is the covenant God made

with David to keep a king on the throne forever.

That promise would not be fulfilled

for six more centuries:

then King Jesus will be enthroned

by the cross of his sacrifice.

King Hezekiah’s concern

is that promise and his place in it.

At the time of his illness, he does not yet have a son.

There is no one to take up the throne

if he should pass away.

But that is central to God’s promise.

 

The Lord has promised

to rescue and restore Jerusalem.

A king from David’s line

was a sign of God being with his people to save.

Hezekiah is placing himself in that promise of God.

That’s where he wants to be.

That’s his security, belonging in the presence of God.

That’s what we have to learn about prayer.

Prayer is not our getting God to do what we want,

but being willing to trust what God wants:

you and me comforted, strengthened,

simply because the Lord is with us.

 

We know this because of the sign Hezekiah asks for and receives.

9 Isaiah answered, “This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”

10 “It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

 

It’s an odd request, odder still that it is granted.

We picture the sun casting an afternoon shadow 

lengthening down the steps of the palace.

And before Hezekiah and Isaiah’s eyes

that shadow retreats back up 1,2,3,10 steps.

How is that possible?

Did God make the sun go backwards?

The sun doesn’t move!

Did the world’s rotation stop

and turn the opposite direction

for a couple of hours?
That’s impossible.

Many say that’s a fairy tale,

and many add,

just like prayer is impossible and a fairy tale.

 

What’s going on here?

The answer is not found in nature,

or scientific hypothesis,

but in the presence of God.

In Isaiah 38, in Hezekiah’s psalm of praise

for God’s covenant faithfulness

in response to his prayer,

Hezekiah says this:

11 I said, “I will not again see the Lord himself
    in the land of the living;

 

The stress and trouble

of the Assyrian threat from without

and the illness within

has Hezekiah feeling far from God,

away from his presence.

This is his agony.

Because hell is being separated from God.

But the shadow retreats before the light of God.

God’s presence is in the temple,

and that light of life shines

to brighten the stairs and shrink the shadow.

The darkness is quenched by the light of God.

Hezekiah is assured of God’s presence, even in this.

That’s what the sign is.

One moment, there were shadows lengthening across the stairs, in the evening sun,

the next there was light,

coming from the temple,

God making his presence known

assuring Hezekiah that our Heavenly Father

is the God-who-is-with-us.

 

And that’s what prayer is for:

to practice the presence of God

and live in relationship with the Lord.

 

Yes, God hears our prayers.

Yes, our prayers are answered.

Yes, there are times God answers no or wait

or even, carry this cross.

But prayer is so much more than asking for things.

That’s the point of this story.

Hezekiah can trust the Lord because the Lord is with him.

We all yearn to experience God with us,

to be assured that Jesus is with us as he promised.

By the grace of God we have been given

the gift of prayer to know God’s abiding presence.

Which is what we are made for.

In this world we will have trouble, Jesus said.

Let us never be stunned

by the evil and brokenness in creation

or the frailty and mortal limits

of our own bodies and lives.

Not all things are good,

but God works in all things

for the good of those who love him.

I am with you, Jesus promised.

Prayer is God’s gift

to let us experience the Savior with us.

 

Yet statistics show only half of Christians

pray every day.

For those under 30 only 4 in 10 pray every day.

So how can we grow in our prayers

and in so doing grow in the assurance

that God is with us?

 

Our prayer life

lives and dies with our trust in the Triune God.

So much of prayer can turn into wishing

because we will not submit our wills

to the Lord’s will.

So where I struggle in prayer

I must first examine my heart and ask:

do I really love God enough to give up control?

do I trust  enough in the Savior in whose name I pray to have him set the agenda?

Jesus taught us to pray this way:

Matthew 6 - “‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer submits my will to God’s will.

Am I afraid of my Heavenly Father’s will

because of the cross the Lord may call me to bear?

Or because the Lord’s ways are not our ways?

Or that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak?

Bring these doubts to God in prayer.

 

If we look again at Hezekiah,

when his whole world

seemed to be crashing down around him

he exercised the hope of prayer

by submitting his life to our Heavenly Father:

Isaiah 38:15 But what can I say?

    He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this.

I will walk humbly all my years . . .

 

Prayer is all about living as a child of God,

and resting in that spiritual relationship.

Prayer is so much more

than just asking for things from God.

It is so much more than practiced phrases

we can rattle off without thinking.

There should be no such thing

as a quick or little prayer.

How can we bring the love

of heart, soul, mind and strength to our praying? Here are some suggestions:

 

Deal with the obstacles to prayer:

1 Pet 3:7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.

The Bible records obstacles to prayer.

Are any of these frustrating my prayer life?

If so, bring these in confession to our Savior:

sinful habits (Psalm 66:18)

dishonoring spouse / family (1 Peter 3:7)

wrong motives (James 4:3)

unconfessed sin (Psalm 32:3-5)

control issues (Luke 22:42)

life is all about me (Luke 18:9-14)

Remember, the Lord’s will for you is love. Jesus said, “It is I, do not be afraid.”

 

Also, expect and be prepared for distractions. Distraction is a spiritual problem:

1)        don’t be too hard on yourself, sometimes let the distraction play itself out, or pray through the distraction asking the Spirit why is this taking over my heart and mind?

2)        before you pray prepare to pray: take a few minutes to put the urgencies of the day aside

3)        have a pen and paper next to you when you pray, and if a distraction comes to mind, just jot it down, it’ll be there for you when you’re finished praying

4)        start unplugging your life: 1 hour a day, 1 day a week, 1 week a year, no technology, to give your heart and mind room to breathe

5)        Remember: the mechanics of prayer are less important than our relationship with the Triune God. Our focus is on the relationship not the how-to’s.

 

(from, Deeper Journey, led by Doug Kamstra)

The best way to learn how to pray is to pray:

Prayer is a gift.

It is God’s gift to lead us into intimacy with the Lord. When I exercise this gift

I am giving thanks to the Father for this good gift. God will protect his gift in us.

 

Suggestions for your practice of prayer:

1) schedule a time to pray – be deliberate in order to make it a joy and focus of your day

2) slow down – add some margin and quiet time into your life

3) use a breath prayer: a word or phrase from scripture that can help you focus again (like, “The LORD is my shepherd” or “I trust in you, my times are in your hands,” or “My eyes are ever on the LORD,” or even “I trust you, Jesus.”)

4) find a sacred space – away from the responsibilities of the day

5) practice listening for God’s voice (read Scripture as you pray)

6) give God the best time of your day

 

Finally, remember that God can only be heard

with a heart willing to listen and respond

in trust and obedience.

The truth that the Lord speaks to us

is no guarantee we will hear him correctly.

And the promise that Christ is with us always,

is no guarantee we will experience his presence.

This becomes clearer when we’re obedient,

and less clear when we’re disobedient.

 

The old quote says:

If you want to see how popular the church is,

attend Sunday morning worship.

If you want to see how popular the pastor is,

attend Sunday evening.

If you want to see how popular God is,

attend the prayer meeting.

 

Let us not neglect the gift of prayer,

it is by prayer we show our love for God

with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

And this is true:

It is even more sure

that God listens to my prayer

than that I really desire

what I pray for.

(Heidelberg Catechism, final answer)