Delivered To The Lord (2 Kings 19:14)

 


Monday, 17 November, 2025


Psalm 40

2 Kings 19:1-20

Matthew 24:32-51


Observances: Hilda of Whitby, abbess (d. 680); Hugh, bishop of Lincoln (d. 1200)


Delivered To The Lord (2 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.


We sometimes get letters delivered to our house that are intended for the previous owner. Often we don’t realise it until we open it, because it will have on the front of the envelope “To The Resident”. And so we open it, and start reading, and realise – hang on, this has nothing to do with us. Better send it on.


Hezekiah did the same thing with the message from the king of Assyria. I’m sure the Assyrian king thought he was talking to Hezekiah when he had those words written down. But since he was taunting the God in whom Hezekiah trusted, he was actually talking to God. And so Hezekiah received the letter, read it, and immediately went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. “I think this one is for you.”


Hezekiah knew what was up. In his prayer he referred to the fact that the Assyrian king intended to mock the living God. And he asked God not to put up with it, but rather show the Assyrians just who the true God really was.


Perhaps we might find more peace if we became better at recognising when something is actually God’s problem to deal with, not ours. Since we have joined ourselves so closely to Christ, we can often miss the fact that a struggle or attack is actually aimed at him, not us. We don’t need to take things so personally; but we should be taking everything to God in prayer and asking him to look after us.


What is currently on your heart that you need to take to the Lord?


True and living God, you have come to dwell within us as members of Christ’s body, and our struggles and his are joined. Give us the presence of mind to bring all our problems to you to deal with, answer our prayers, and guide our feet in the way of his peace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For The Sake Of Ten (Genesis 18:32)

Image
  Monday, February 3, 2025 Psalm 78:16-38 Genesis 18:22-19:11 Luke 2:1-7 Observance: First Anglican Service at Sydney Cove, Conducted by Richard Johnson, Sydney, 1788 For The Sake Of Ten (Genesis 18:32) From this wonderfully pastoral tableau, of the old man and his wife entertaining three divine guests, comes a dark shadow. Approaching from the valley below them comes the cries of iniquity of the cities of the plain: Sodom and Gomorrah. Rising from their feast, the three men turn from blessing Abraham and Sarah to executing divine judgement. And the story just gets darker from here. But Abraham, in his boldness, has this immortal conversation with God, a conversation that uncovers for us whispers of Jesus’ words about people who are “salt” and “light”. God desires that none should perish, but that all should turn from their sins and live. And for the sake of just ten righteous people, the disaster about to befall Sodom and Gomorrah could be turned away...
Read more

Monday, July 25, 2022

  Monday, July 25, 2022 Psalm 62; 63 Hosea 1 Romans 4:1-12 He only is my rock and my salvation: my strong tower, so that I shall not be moved. The prophecies of Hosea are rich with vivid imagery. Look at these names: firstly, “Hosea” means “salvation”. So too do the names Joshua and Jesus. Then Hosea has three children: “God scatters”, “Not pitied”, and “Not my people”. This is because the children are part of the marriage between Hosea and Gomer, which is an image God is showing to the nation. It is to our profit that God has used real-life events to communicate spiritual imagery and divine truths. We find it very easy to understand our relationship with God as being a faithful wife to a loving husband. We can reconcile this message with what Paul has to teach us today in Romans. He makes the very important observation that Abraham was given God's righteousness as a result of his faith before, not after, his circumcision. Again, this is God using real-life events...
Read more

The LORD will make you a house.

  Friday, July 28, 2023 Psalm 71 2 Samuel 7 John 8:1-11 Observance: Samson, bishop (d. 565) The LORD will make you a house. We learn three things from this conversation between David, Nathan and God. First, it is that we do not invite God into our presence. Rather, God comes alongside us, where we are, hiking through the wilderness. God gets down into the dust with us and puts up a tent. There is a reason why John made so much of this tent language in his first chapter: that the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us. Whichever part of the Bible we are reading, we see God coming to the people, rather than the people moving towards God. This is of particular comfort when we feel like we haven’t prayed enough, or regularly. We might have been distracted by the dust on our feet, but God has always been there right beside us. We just have to look up. Second, it is that God’s presence among us is not something to be feared. Have you noticed that,...
Read more