Tuesday, May 23, 2017

HEZEKIAH PRAYED AND PRAYED!!!

Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 19

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

This photo was taken near the top-end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, or the Siloam Tunnel. It is a tunnel that was dug underneath the City of David in Jerusalem in ancient times. It dates from the reign of Hezekiah of Judah (late 8th and early 7th century BC) and corresponds to the waterworks mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20. The tunnel, leading from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, was designed as an aqueduct to provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verse: 2 Kings 19:19

Now Therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.

Our reading begins with the statement, “Hezekiah …. went into the house of the Lord.” The tearing of Hezekiah’s clothes and the sackcloth were evidences of extreme fervency. When we fast, the same fervency is indicated. Jesus practised fasting and encouraged us to do the same. This is evidence of our determined focus on God; it is not a way of earning God’s favour. Everything we receive from God is pure grace (undeserved favour). We learn from Hezekiah the power of prayer! Four times we are presented with the words “prayer, prayed, pray, prayed.” We get it, Lord!
Isaiah, the man of God, is introduced here for the first time. Let us check on Isaiah’s preaching. He began his ministry when Uzziah was king and continued throughout the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. As a youth, Hezekiah would have sat under the teaching and preaching of Isaiah, no doubt comparing the message and the life of Isaiah against the wickedness of his father Ahaz. Read Isaiah 1:16-20 and Isaiah 2:1-11, and then consider Isaiah’s experience of God recorded in Isaiah 6:1-8. We can be sure that as a youth, before he became king, Hezekiah had prayed the words of Isaiah to the Lord, “Here am I! Send me.” The results of this prayer are very evident in history.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I’ve heard Your call. You have said, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” I respond with those powerful words, “Here am I! Send me.” I pray this in Jesus’ Name! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I was about to turn 17 when I attended Lakeshore Pentecostal Youth Camp for a week. It was there at the altar in the tabernacle that I prayed approximately this prayer with all my heart, “Lord Jesus, I want to serve You fully in Your great cause. Please Lord, do me the great favour of calling me into the ministry with a definite call so that I will know You have called me, and so that I will never turn back from serving You.” He gave me an unmistakable call almost immediately when the Youth Evangelist came to where I was kneeling in the middle of hundreds of other teens and said, with authority in his voice, “You are called into the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ!” I’ve never doubted that call for even one minute for the past 64 years.

In reference to today’s reading, my English teacher in high school had us memorize the poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib,” by Lord Byron. I remember it to this day… “The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, and his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold….” Lord Byron was a student of Holy Scripture (click here for the entire poem).

Yours for God’s call on our lives,

David

P.S. In 11 days we’ll be half-way through the entire Bible. If you have just started reading with me, in 104 weeks you’ll finish the entire Bible, moving from the Hebrew Scriptures to the Greek, the Old Testament to the New, alternating between the two. Please tell others about this blog and encourage them from time to time to stick with it throughout the entirety of the Bible. Throughout the years, I have become convinced that with the two-year reading plan, over 70% of people who start to read with me complete reading the entire Bible. In the one-year plan, which I promoted for years, only about 30% completed the entire Bible. I discovered this because of the requests (or the lack thereof) for additional study materials.

Up until 2004 this exit from Hezekiah’s Tunnel was thought to be at the Pool of Siloam. However, you will see in tomorrow’s 100words blog photo that the recent discovery, just 100 metres to the south, was in fact the Pool of Siloam. That is where Jesus, in John 9:7, after spitting in the dirt and putting it on a blind man’s eyes, told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and the man was healed.

9 thoughts on “Tuesday, May 23, 2017

  1. Inspiring blog today Pastor David. That must have been a happy day for you when you received that confirmation of your calling at Lakeshore Pentecostal Camp. May the lord bless you today and give you many more days of ministry. Blessings saints.

      • Manchester, my ancestry. I have relatives there. I wonder what would happen if the poem by Lord Byron was read in high school today. So dreadful that this is probably not allowed.

  2. Please, Lord God, raise up Godly leaders in our countries who look to You for wisdom and guidance and help. We really need You. Please help us to share Your Gospel today. In Jesus’s name, amen

    Bob Dylan, “I believe in You”
    https://youtu.be/g_N-_Fc-cGY

  3. Sad situation in Manchester, England. “Lord, come with you comfort to those whose loved one were killed by the bomb. Grant healing to those injured by the blast. Help all who were affected by this tragedy. Help them to turn their eyes upon you. Come with your comfort, strength and peace. Give all police enforcement courage and wisdom. Lord, we truly need an outpouring of your Spirit around the world. ‘May God arise and His enemies be scattered'”.

    I had the opportunity a few years ago to walk through the entire Hezekiah Tunnel. Amazing engineering project. It is refreshing to finally meet Hezekiah, a lover of God, a believer in prayer. How many times, we too, in desperation, knee before the Lord, spreading out our problems before our God asking for his His. What a great example Hezekiah is to us!

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