II Kings 19:14 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.
What a moment in history this is – the future of Jerusalem seemingly hangs in the balance. Hezekiah is God’s man of the moment. He has tried buying their way out of trouble (just as his father Ahaz had), but it did not work.
He tried aligning himself with another world power (Egypt), but that all went bad. And here he is, alone, with a full record in writing of the enemy’s purposes, threats, and conditions.
Hezekiah has a moment of clarity, a moment if you like of repentance. He recognises what the real issue here is. The enemy is not just making threats against him as an earthly king, but these threats are against Hezekiah’s king, God.
Hezekiah takes three purposeful steps that will change the face of history at this time. First, he makes sure he fully understands what the threats are and what the problem is. Second, he takes the problem to God by himself in an attitude of humility and repentance. And third, he makes sure that he tells God everything, nothing held back – full disclosure.
What a great example for us.
Take time to make sure you understand what the actual problem is – don’t assume you know. Prepare your heart to step into God’s presence with gratitude, humility, and where needed, repentance. Tell God everything, be intimate, vulnerable, honest, and if necessary broken before him. The bible says in James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you”. And in 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand so that at the proper time he may exalt you”.
What a promise we have from God here. It’s up to us now whether we want to step into this.
Principle of Change 52 – we can choose to humble ourselves in obedience to God’s word.
Strength – Context – as we understand the past, we learn lessons that help us today.