Often our heroes have complicated legacies. No one is perfect, but finding out that someone we respected has made bad or evil choices is disappointing. In the Bible, Saul, David, Solomon each had complicated legacies. That pattern continues with one of David’s successors, Hezekiah (2 Kings 18–20).

We’ve seen that Hezekiah was a righteous king because he faithfully obeyed the commandments of the Lord (18:1–6). Yet he faced a significant crisis when Sennacherib, a new Assyrian invader, attacked Jerusalem in 701 BC. Sennacherib besieged the city and cut it off from the outside world. True to his convictions, Hezekiah turned to the Lord and was delivered by an angel (19:15, 35–37)! Later, facing a mortal illness, he asked God for mercy and was spared (20:1–10).

Therefore, it is difficult to discover that at the end of his life, Hezekiah did something to mar his legacy. He received visitors from Babylon, an up-and-coming power in the ancient Near East. But when he met the emissaries, instead of drawing their attention to Yahweh, he took the credit: “They saw everything in my palace…There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them” (v. 15). Here, Hezekiah takes full credit for his success. He chose to ignore the reality that he was saved only because God had delivered him!

God did not take kindly to this misrepresentation. “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,” God said (v. 17). By showing off his kingdom’s power, Hezekiah revealed that his confidence was misplaced. He began his reign trusting God, he ended by taking the glory for himself.

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Life can change in a moment. A text message pops up with good news and things may never be the same. A phone call brings bad news, and your world is turned upside down. Most change takes a long time, but this is not because God is unable to come to our aid. When His time is right, He is fully capable of fixing things instantly.

Confronted with the encircling armies of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, Hezekiah finally turned to the Lord for help. With the visible symbols of repentance on his body, torn clothing and sackcloth, he went into the Temple (v. 2). At the same time, he sent servants to Isaiah, the prophet, asking, “Pray for the remnant that still survives.” (v. 4). The cities of Judah had been destroyed. The capital of the country was surrounded. Hezekiah had tried everything! Now he was down to his last hope—the God of Israel.

Isaiah’s response came quickly. “This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard” (v. 6). It seems Hezekiah took these words to heart, because when Sennacherib sent another disheartening communiqué, he took the letter into the Temple and laid it out before the Lord. “Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God” (v. 16). He asked God to deliver them, “so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God” (v. 19).

God heard Hezekiah’s cry for help. Through the prophet Isaiah, He assured the king that his enemies would not enter the city. “I will defend this city and save it,” the Lord said. The defense came suddenly, and in one evening the lives of the Judeans were delivered (v. 35)!

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When you encounter challenges do you wonder where God is or why He hasn’t delivered you immediately? Have you ever doubted God’s power to resolve a difficult situation? You are not alone.

When Hezekiah was threatened by an Assyrian invasion, he decided to try to solve his problem without turning to the Lord. It didn’t work. The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, sent his armies and officials to besiege Jerusalem. They arrived with a message for the king, “On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?” (v. 20).

The Assyrian king suspected that Hezekiah had made an alliance with Egypt for military defense and that Judea might be trusting their God to save them. To this he had a simple response, “Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?” (v. 33). “How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (v. 35).

His logic was simple. He looked at the circumstances of all the other nations his people had conquered. Those nations prayed to their gods to no avail. He thought: We have surrounded you and destroyed your cities. What makes you think your god is any different? What the Assyrian king did not know is that the God of Israel uses difficulty in the lives of His people. In each case, He has the good of His people in mind. The threat that Jerusalem and Judah were enduring said absolutely nothing about the Lord’s power.

Deep down Hezekiah knew that to be true. Therefore, he ordered his men not to answer the Assyrians while he went to the Temple (19:1). His faith understood how the world really worked. The next time you’re in difficult waters, guard your heart against the crippling thought that God isn’t in control. Turn to Him and wait.

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