Pray for hope

We pray for hope, in a seemingly hopeless situation. We see such a hopeless situation in II Chronicles 20, where three nations, labeled a great multitude, came against little Judah. When king Jehoshaphat heard the terrifying news, he instantly called all of Judah to fast and seek God’s face in prayer. When they all had assembled, king Jehoshaphat cried out in prayer: “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you… for we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. (II Chron 20:6, 12)" What a faith-filled prayer! What happened next is a witness to when we fast, seek God’s face in prayer, and humbly confess that we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on Him. Judah’s enemy turned on each other and utterly destroyed one another (II Chron 20:23). We see another hopeless situation in II Kings 18:17 – 19:1–19, where the great king of Assyria, wrote a letter to king Hezekiah not to trust in his God, because he will kill and destroy Judah as he has every country Assyria has come up against. In the natural, this was a totally hopeless situation. So, did king Hezekiah succumb to frightening and paralyzing fear? No, he “went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. Then Hezekiah prayed… ‘You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib…’ ‘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.’ (II Kings 19:14–19)” What can we learn from Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah on how to handle a seemingly hopeless situation in our life or others? Let us do as they did – get in His presence and lay out our case before the Lord. Then declare Who our Great God is and what He has done in the past. Notice they did not minimize or deny the seriousness of the fearful situation they found themselves in. What they did do, was recognize and exult their Great God over the situation. That their Lord was greater in every aspect than what they were facing. They  placed their hope, their trust in the One who dwells between the cherubim, the Creator of heaven and earth. Now, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah did not say all this to build up and encourage their Lord (He knows Who He is). They spoke out these faith building declarations of Who God is to encourage and build hope and trust in themselves and all the people. There is power in declaring how majestic our God really is. They also wanted God to perform this miracle so that all the kingdoms of the earth would know that He alone is the Lord God Almighty. So, what was the outcome of Hezekiah’s big, bold audacious prayer? We read about the victory of God hearing and acting on his prayer in II Kings 19:35–37, where an angel of the Lord killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army in one night. Then the king of Assyria went home to Nineveh with his tail between his legs. Let us do, believe, and pray like Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah did and watch our Majestic King bring about a great victory in our lives and the lives of others. We serve the God of Miracles; that is Who He is, that is what He does.