Scripture: Isaiah 37:14–35
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made the heavens and the earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:“ ‘She despises you, she scorns you—the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you—the daughter of Jerusalem. 23 “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel! 24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest. 25 I dug wells and drank waters, to dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt. 26 “‘Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins, 27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown. 28 “‘I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. 29 Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.’ 30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then
in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
Some words are so hurtful that you can’t stop replaying them. You know, those words that criticize, betray, threaten, and stab deep. The words that echo in your mind long after the conversation has passed, but you can’t seem to get them out of your head. Where do you go from here? These are the kind of words that sit long and hard with you. It’s hard to know where to go with them, and what to do with them.
Hezekiah knows that feeling. He gets a letter from Sennacherib with every sentence designed to break him. But instead of letting those words take root, he carries them into the presence of God. He spreads them out before the Lord and says, in essence, “You read this. I need you to deal with this.” See, faith refuses to let the enemy’s voice be the loudest voice in the room. Resurrection faith takes on words designed to hurt and mangle and brings them into resurrection life.
This section captures one of the most powerful moments of faith in the entire Old Testament. Hezekiah has already humbled himself, already sought God, and already received a word of reassurance. The Rabshakeh has left and is seemingly out of the picture. The pressure seems to have eased. But then, the pressure returns as Hezekiah receives the letter. This is where many people break, when the pressure comes back in another, stronger wave. This test will be an even greater test to the genuineness of his faith.
Many of you reading this are familiar with the second and third waves of trouble. You thought you made it past the hardest part, but then you get hit again. And again. These waves of trials and doubt smash against your faith like waves pounding the sea shore. You are wondering how long you can keep holding on.
Perhaps you are the single mom who finally gets your kids to bed after a long day of work and chores. Then the second wave of loneliness hits you like a punch. You may be the widow or widower who holds the empty side of the bed and wonders how to keep going, day after day. It could be that you are the couple who sees another negative pregnancy test, and feels hope slipping through your fingers. And yes, the Lord knows you, the one grieving a miscarriage and can’t seem to silence the ache no one else sees.
Doubt loves the second waves that pound your faith and tempt you to question God’s
goodness. Doubt loves to drive you further away from God and convince you that your future is in the hands of your trial. But Resurrection faith says, “I’m going back to God again. I’m not letting this wave decide my future.”
Hezekiah holds the letter up before the Lord. He spreads it out, knowing that he has no ability to deal with it. And this is where many of us need to learn to live. Instead of carrying our concerns and refusing to share them, we must spread them out before the Lord with a humble dependence. The single parent spreading out the bills and saying, “Lord, I don’t know how to do this.” The widow or widower spreads out the grief and saying, “Lord, I can’t carry this pain.” The suffering believer spreading out the diagnosis and saying, “Lord, I need You to hold me.” Doubt has no place to hide when our troubles are exposed to the One who sufficiently can handle them.
Hezekiah’s prayer is radically different from the prayers of other ancient kings in crisis. Other kings boasted of their righteousness, claimed they deserved help, reminded their gods of past offerings, or appealed to their own merit. Hezekiah does none of that. He does not say: “I’ve been a good king who has reformed the nation, so I deserve deliverance. He knows that isn’t the case. The only thing he can rightly appeal to is God’s character and nature. And the same is true with us.
You see, those of you who are exhausted in your caregiving don’t have to say, “I have to carry this alone.” You can say, “God, You carry me as I work for you.” Those of you in a difficult marriage don’t have to say, “I have to fix everything.” You can say, “God, You are the One who heals what I cannot.” Those of you facing financial fear don’t have to say, “I’ll figure this out.” You can say, “God, You are my provider when I see no way forward.” For the one who feels forgotten, you don’t have to say, “No one notices me.” You can say, “God, You never overlook me.”
The Lord sees you, the soul wrestling with shame who keeps saying “I’ll clean myself up.” He sees you with the anxious heart who tells yourself that you have to control everything. And for all you with broken dreams and plans, who keep reminding yourself it’s over, He knows those very words you mutter. And He gives you better words to say. “I’ll cover you with mercy you don’t deserve. I’m sovereign when you are overwhelmed. And over? Not a chance. I’m the God who specializes in bringing life from the dead. Don’t you remember the resurrection?”
Doubt dies when we shift from “I must” to “God will.” And this is why Hezekiah begins with worship. He confesses everything Isaiah has been preaching to him about God, not the nations being ultimate and having true power. Remember that faith is not blind optimism. Faith is rooted in who God is, not in how things look. Therefore, Hezekiah appeals to the living God, the God who sees and hears. Yes, the situation is bleak. Yes, Assyria is very powerful and Judah is not. But he refuses to let fear rewrite biblical truth.
This is where the resurrection becomes more than a day we celebrate or a fact that we know. This is where it becomes a lens to correctly interpret life and our circumstances. The widow can say, “My spouse is gone, but God is still with me.” The infertile couple can say, “This is painful, but God is not done writing our story.” The grieving parent can say, “This loss is real, but so is resurrection.” And the suffering believer can say, “My body is weak, but God’s power is not.”
Hezekiah’s request is simple: “Save us, but not for our sake, but for Yours.” He wants the world to know who the real Lord of the universe is. His prayer is not to make his life easier, but that God’s name would truly be known. Oh, how doubt loves to linger in the pain, and in the cries for an easier life. Comfort and ease are often the food for doubt. But God’s glory and name? Well, doubt can’t remain in those places long.
You see, your pain can become a testimony. Your struggles with parenting can be examples of perseverance. Your grief can be a display of grace. And your suffering can be that light in the dark. When God’s glory grows, your doubt has nowhere to go but out.
Hezekiah teaches us that faith is not the absence of fear, but it is the refusal to live in it. He reminds us that faith is not confidence in ourselves, but confidence in God’s character. And true faith is not based on circumstances, but on God’s character and nature. Finally, at least for a time, Judah has become the people Isaiah has been calling them to be. This is the moment trust triumphs over fear and the moment the tide turns.
Hezekiah’s prayer reveals the secret that sustained him in this crisis. He believed God’s glory and Judah’s good were inseparable. If God is honored, His people will be cared for. If God’s name is exalted, His people will be protected. If God is shown to be sovereign, His people will be secure. But flip that around, and Hezekiah and Judah have no assurance of God helping them through this trouble. Make no mistake, Hezekiah is not using God to get deliverance. He is asking God to use deliverance to get glory.
What’s this mean for us? It means that your life becomes stable when God’s glory becomes your priority. Yes, your circumstances may be unstable. But you are stable because you have the right focus. Our text emphasizes that the answer comes because Hezekiah prayed. This is not coincidence, good timing, or even good luck. No, this is God at work. God responds to Hezekiah about Sennacherib. And His word is the only Word that matters.
Sennacherib thought he was unstoppable. And that’s what doubt feels like. We don’t see how it can be stopped. But then we get God’s perspective on things. And God reminds us of true reality. God says to the king, “Have you not heard? I planned this long ago.” Assyria’s victories were not proof of Assyria’s greatness, they were actually proof of God’s sovereignty. Sadly, the tool has exalted itself against the hand that wields it. And God will not tolerate that. He will put His hook in their nose, and drag them back the way they came.
Isaiah draws out two massive truths in this section. For one, God controls the entire sweep of history. God never reacts and never scrambles. Nothing threatens him, even what looks like catastrophe is the stage on which God reveals Himself. This means there is never room for human arrogance. Everything we are, everything we have, everything we accomplish is ultimately a gift from God. Therefore, your crisis is not new to God. Your situation is not unexpected and your sins are not a detour. God has already woven your story into His plan.
The Lord makes a promise to sustain His people by His zeal. And this is why doubt ultimately will lose. Not because it is defeated by your strength, your consistency, or your performance. But because it will be defeated by God’s zeal, His passion, and His commitment for your good. God will see the outcome always in His favor. And with that truth, this is why your faith will be sustained. We see this in the way the story ends.
The narrative ends with breathtaking simplicity as Jesus himself, the Angel of the Lord, strikes 185,000 soldiers down in an instant. Jesus is going to guarantee that the Davidic line would not end and the messianic promises will be fulfilled. All of the years of efforts apart from the Lord to try and secure his promises will prove to be useless, as God will demonstrate that He needs no help to keep them.
And this is where the story brings us full circle. The God who planned history, who governs kings, who silences armies, who protects His promises, and who raises the dead, that God is the One who stands with you in your fear, your exhaustion, your grief, and your doubt. The same God who defended Jerusalem is the God who defends your life. The same God who kept His covenant with David is the God who keeps His promises to you. The same God who brought life out of death in Judah’s darkest moment is the God who brings resurrection hope into your darkest moments.
Doubt wants you to believe that your story ends with the threat and trouble in front of you. But resurrection says your story ends with the God who is for you, with you, and ahead of you. Doubt wants you to stare at the waves, but the resurrection invites you to look at the One who commands them. Doubt wants you to believe you are alone while the resurrection reminds you that Jesus Himself stands in your trouble to see you through.
Don’t miss the fact that Hezekiah’s story is not ultimately about a king who prayed well. If you read the next 2 chapters, you will see him fall. This story is really about a God who saves faithfully. It’s about a God who steps into impossible places and writes endings no one saw coming. It’s about a God who refuses to let fear have the final word. And because Jesus is risen, that same God refuses to let fear have the final word in your life.
So bring Him the letter with your fears, your aches, and your cries. Bring Him the second wave and the third wave that hits you. And let Him speak the word that silences every other word.
Pastor Josh
Where do the “second waves” of fear or doubt tend to hit you the hardest?
What would it look like for you to spread out your burden before the Lord instead of carrying it alone?
Which resurrection truth do you most need to reinterpret your circumstances right now?
Choose one burden that has been weighing on your heart. Write it down on paper, or place the physical item itself before God (a bill, a medical report, a text, a memory, a fear). Then bring it to the Lord in prayer. For example, “Lord, here it is. I can’t carry this. I need You to deal with what I cannot.” Throughout the week, whenever the second wave of doubt hits, return to this place of trust and remember that doubt dies when your burden is placed in the hands of the God who raises the dead.
