Happy Tuesday, friends!! This morning I enjoyed a nice drive to work as the sky slowly lightened. And as I drove, was being mightily blessed by listening to an old Dominic message from Isaiah 36-37. It’s too long to go into depth here(although if you want to listen as well, just let me know and I’m sure I can find the link somewhere). But in brief – too often do we grow anxious over some difficult situation in our life and we just fall to pieces. Why? Because our faith is small. Because we don’t understand the sovereignty of God. Here in Isaiah 36 – the kingdom of Judah, ruled by Hezekiah, is threatened by one of the largest and most brutal empires the world had ever seen. The Assyrian empire has turned its eyes on Jerusalem and threatened to bring down divine judgment upon her. We think we have big problems? I think Hezekiah has you beat. But what does Hezekiah do? Does he just fall apart and crumple under the weight of this severe threat? No. He does what all of us should do when our spirits are in distress. He repents in sackcloth and ashes and enters the house of the Lord. He recognizes that this threat from Assyria isn’t so terrible because it threatens him. The real sin of the Assyrian king Sennacherib was that he blasphemed God. And so Hezekiah pleads for the help of the living God, for the salvation of the remnant and for the glory of His own Name. Might we all remember to pray as such! Pray for yourself, yes. Pray for mercy, pray for salvation from evil. But never forget to pray that the name of the Lord be glorified, for it is He who is truly the target of all the attacks of the forces of evil in this world. Our Lord is sovereign, seated above the heavens. Our God is oh so loving and compassionate to us His children. Our God is glorious and worthy of all praise and honour from all the heavens and all the earth. May the mountains clap their hands and may the seas sing the praises of our God. Someday indeed all flesh shall join the chorus of worship to the Lord God Almighty.

So I’m going to close by just quoting the words of the prayer of Hezekiah. I urge that you pray as such today…

Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it,
and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying,
“O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim,
You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have
made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes,
O Lord, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to
reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated
all the countries and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for
they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have
destroyed them. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the
kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.”