2 Kings Chapter 19

Turning Cares Into Prayers

 

As we come to Ch.19 of 2 Kings – Hezekiah is King in Judah – Godly King did what was right …..

A) But at this time the Power house in the Land is the nation of AssyriaLed by King Sennacherib

 

B) As an army they were Unbeatable in Battle

1) They were so advanced in warfare that in 150 years they had not lost one battle.

    

C) They had developed the ability to besiege a city by building ramps out of earth.

1) They made their way into the city by way of battering rams that they had devised.

 

Unbelievably Brutal

A) The Assyrians were also renowned throughout the world as an army that showed no mercy.

 

B) When they wanted to take their prisoners back to Assyria

1) they would drive hooks through their noses.

 

C) There would be an eye in the hook and they would then put a rope through the hook

1) Attach prisoners make them march 100yr of miles

 

D) The Assyrians were so cruel as a people that they were not beyond skinning people alive.

Well the Assyrian led by Sennacherib were oppressing Judah– Threatening to Invade

A) King Hezekiah receives a Threatening Letter from Sennacherib

                              RD 2 Kings 19:10-14

10 "Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." 11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?'"

 

14 And 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.

 

Perhaps this week you have received a threatening letter.

A) Perhaps you have gotten distressing news in the mail.

 

B) A bill that can not be paid..... Divorce papers.....

         A Two week notice from work.

 

C) It might not have come by way of the Postal

Service.

 

D) But a situation has been handed to you that

DISTRESSES you and DISCOURAGES you and

FRIGHTENS you.

 

E) Perhaps it is marriage. Perhaps it is in business.

Perhaps it is your health.

1)   You have come here today Stressed and Afraid.

 

Maybe You can relate to Hezekiah

A) He had reason to be freaked out.

 

B) 200,000 Assyrians, Unbeatable in Battle AND

 Unbelievably Brutal, were right outside of Jerusalem.

 

C) You at the things coming against you today in your life – feel like army is out to get you.

 

D) We live in a World Full Of Stress!

 

According to an article in Time Magazine – Stress is the Epidemic of our age.

 

Over 50% of all adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress.

 

Americans spend over $20.3 billion per year to cope with stress. 

Long-term stress is strongly associated with depression, heart disease, gastro/intestinal disorders, and weakened immune system.

 

40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful;

25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives;

* 40% of job turnover is due to stress.

 

According study, conducted at the University of Michigan "One third of US teens say they feel stressed-out on a daily basis, & nearly two thirds of teens feel stressed out “at least once a week."

 

Researchers have also found a connection between teen suicide and Stress. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death people 15-24 yrs old

 

Stressed out and can’t cope.

 

Jesus knew that life would be this way:

A) He said in John 16:33 In this world you will have trouble. – NLT Trials and sorrows

 

B) Luke 21:26 Jesus said that in the days just before His return that the affairs of earth would be distressing beyond all comprehension

 

C) That  men’s hearts would be failing them because of fear.

  1) Hearts will stop because of anxiety and tension.

This is the first generation in history that fulfills that prophecy.

A) Men’s hearts are LITERALLY failing them for fear.

 

B) What is the answer: We need to do what Hezekiah did:

1) He took that letter and spread it out before the Lord

 

C) IN other words we need to TURN OUR CARES INTO PRAYERS

 

 

1 Peter 5:7

“Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

A) Cast – Energetic word – doesn’t say – lay it aside – but cast it – throw it out there to the Lord

 

B) FWY Friday - Cast the traffic – (Every time it started to move)

1)   So I started doing it too

 

C) The Word also carries the meaning of making a deposit

1)   You deposit – your money into the bank for Protection & for them to take care of it

 

D) Idea is the same here – Deposit your cares into the hands of the Lord / So He can take care of it

 

 

What Cares: All!

A) Family cares – Spiritual cares / Provision

Marriage / Ministry – God says unload it man!

 

B) Our cares can consume our mind – overwhelm us – they can cause us stress – anxiety

 

C) But they cause God no stress at all.

Spurgeon

Care to us is exhausting, but God is all-sufficient. Care to us is sinful, but God’s care of us is holy. Care distracts us from service, but the divine mind does not forget one thing while remembering another.

 

But Peter doesn’t tell us to cast our cares upon the Lord because – he can handle it.

A) Do it because He cares for you – do it because you are important to Him

 

B) Do it because – He is interested in your life.

                  TURN TO LUKE 12:22-32

 

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

 

C) To a world where men are overcome with worry, Jesus said: Don’t worry

1) More to Life than provision!

Illustration:

 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?

 

God Is In To Trivia

A) Many times we feel that something is too small to bother the Lord with, so we bother each other.

 

B) We feel that something is too small to burden the Lord with, so we burden each other.

 

C) The Bible tells us that God transcends time and space.

 

D) He is so vast that by way of illustration we are told that He measures the universe between His thumb and little finger. 

1) Because of that we sometimes are prone to think that God is so great that He couldn’t possibly be concerned about my car keys.

 

E) God takes care of the birds everyday – You who have been made in his image/ more important to Him

 

    Relationship with you – you are more valuable.

 

STORY: There was a college girl who felt that she didn’t want to pray selfishly, yet she desperately wanted

to get married.

 

Feeling that it was inappropriate to ask the Lord for a husband she prayed: “Father, I’m not praying for

myself. But would you please send my mother a son-in-law”

 

We should have the liberty to come to God for EVERYTHING that concerns us.

We are valuable to him

 

Jesus continues by asking what good does it do to worry?

 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 

 

Doesn’t help !

 

Another illustration by contrast:

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? 

 

29 "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 

 

Love this – Your father knows your needs

You be of a different mindset than the World.

A) Those in the world are consumed with this life

 Their needs their wants – Covetous to the core

 

31 But you seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. 

 

B) Matthew 6:33 Seek first the kingdom: Priority and Passion – the Kingdom

 

C) One final thought:

32 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

 

Your heavenly father takes great pleasure in blessing you. He gets a kick out of it.

A) Surprise – He loves to blow our minds

 

B) Me with my kids – or my wife –

 

C) So Cast ALL YOUR CARES -  ALL MEANS ALL -  because HE CARES FOR YOU!

 

D) Easier said than done!  Paul in Phil. 4 gives us some helpful insight

              

In writing to the Christians in Philippi, Paul the Apostle said: Be anxious for nothing Phil 4:6

A) Anxious = full of care

    

B) Paul is saying: “Be full of care for nothing”

C)NOTE: Paul is saying that it is God’s intent for you and me to be careFREE

 

D) QUESTION: Are you careFREE Christian, or are you FULL of care!

 

 

Now anybody can give a command.

A) But one great thing about the Bible is that it does not merely give COMMANDS or make DEMANDS.

 

B) It shares a practical plan.

1) Its the worst when somebody casually says: “Don’t worry” and doesn’t give you a plan to come to that place. 

2) AKuna Matata – No worries – Just ignore problems

 

C) Paul does not simply say that “Nothing should fill you with care”.

1) He gives to us some practical advice of how to deal with distress and fear.

 

Philippians 4:6-7

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

 

D) Take every care that you have and make it a prayer to your Father

QUOTE: “When your knees start knocking, kneel on them”

A) When you are afraid and confused you will find your life being FILLED with care.

 

B) The only way to get FREE of those cares is to turn them into prayers.

 

C) Prayer is a The Place Of Stability

 

D) Physically speaking, it is very hard to trip and fall when you are on your knees.

1) It is a very stable posture to assume.

 

When you are worried and your knees are knocking, so to speak, there is a temptation to feel the need to DO SOMETHING in a hurry.   REACT

A) When we react to those worries we very often trip and fall over our words or our actions.

    

B) But when our knees are knocking and we kneel down on them,

1) when we STOP and take the time to spread our concerns out before God,

 

C) We are in a SAFE place... a STABLE place.

 

Pray With Thanksgiving

            RESULT

Peace That Passes Understanding

 

The person who turns their cares into prayers will experience the PEACE OF GOD

A)NOTE: It is NOT a peace that COMES FROM understanding.

 

B) God’s peace is a peace that PASSES UNDERSTANDING

 

C) When those disturbing letters come around, my first reaction is to LOOK OUT.

1) But the Word of God says that my first reaction is to LOOK UP.

 

D) As I pray, when I get up off of my knees, I find that something great takes place.

1) I don’t always have the answer, but I have a peace that PASSES understanding.

 

E) THAT is the beauty of prayer.

1) Others have a hard time understanding why you are at such peace

 

Turn back to 2 Kings – where we see this

PRINCIPLE PUT INTO PRACTICE

          Spread Out the Letter

 

14 And 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.

.

He didn’t tell the Lord what to do, he just spread it out

A) Have you ever found yourself telling the Lord what to do to remedy your problem? I have.

 

“Lord, I think I have a line on what really needs to be done here..... And maybe you haven’t thought of this.....”

 

B) Hezekiah just laid out the papers and said: “Lord, we’re stuck.

1) But For the sake of Your glory do something”

 

C) This was a wise prayer. Because the Lord has ideas and plans that you could never dream up.

1) He has created alternatives that you could never think up.

 

Notice that Hezekiah began his prayer with worship

15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

 

A) It has been said that worship wipes out worry. There is Biblical basis for this.

 

B) In teaching His disciples about prayer Jesus taught that worship should be at the front of our prayer.

 

C) The first reason for this is that God is worthy of our worship.

1) He created us for that purpose and He has sought us for that purpose.

 

D) Fulfilling the reason for our existence when we worship

         

The second reason for this is that worship brings perspective to our problems.

A) When I begin to focus upon the glory and majesty of God,

 

B) my problems, that seem insurmountable, begin to shrink in the light of His greatness.

 

C)EXAMPLE: IF you stand at the foot of the Himalayan mountains they tower over you, some 29,000 feet in height.

 

D)But if you go up in a satellite they are insignificant.             

E) The way to see beyond the immensity of our problems is to get ABOVE them.

1) The way to get above them is to worship the Lord.

 

Hezekiah sought God’s Glory    RD V.16-19

 

Answered Prayer  RD V.20/ 27-35

A)NOTE:V.35  It came to pass.

    Trouble does pass.

 

B) These things are for a season. Don’t give up.

1) One angel wiped out 185,000 Assyrians.

 

C) The battle was won because of a simple prayer from a desperate king.

 

    

One last thought

A) God did not intervene and save Judah because Judah deserved it.

 

B) They didn’t deserve it. He saved it for reasons outside of them....... to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

 

C) God had made promises to David.

 

NOTE: There is a GREATER-THAN DAVID in your life...... Jesus.

A) The Father will defend you and protect you and see you through what ever difficulties you may face for the sake of His name, and the sake of Jesus.

 

B) Many times we don’t EXPECT the Lord to deliver us because we know we don’t DESERVE it.

1) I don’t deserve it, but I should expect it.

 

NOT on the basis of my merit, but for His sake and the sake of His Son.