The text popped up and my heart sank. Again. What is wrong with this crazy world?! It just seemed that everywhere I looked, things were not as they should be. Why are so many things so very wrong? Why do people make such terrible decisions? Why are children’s heart’s broken?
That morning Jeff preached on our response to trials and injustice, and he specified:
“I’m not talking about the injustices you tweet about, I mean the ones you lose sleep about. The ones that keep you up at night and break your heart. Those injustices.”
Usually those are the ones close to home. The ones that touch your own heart, the ones in your own path.
Like the Good Samaritan, these are the tragedies and injustices lying in the road right in front of us.
These are our neighbors.
And then, he exhorted us, “If there are never injustices that keep you up at night, you probably should get more involved in people’s lives.”
That struck me. Yes. The heartache we feel when we enter the nitty-gritty of life with people, is appropriate. Jesus’ heart broke as he walked with wayward and weary and sick and sinning individuals. He was the Son of God. He knew the end of the story. And yet He wept over Lazarus. Over Jerusalem.
And yet, He was never overwhelmed. He never lost hope or slipped into cynicism or threw up his hands. How?
Among many other things, I believe He spread it all out before the LORD.
Just the day before I had read Isaiah 37, and found so much comfort in the familiar story of Sennacherib and his threats against King Hezekiah and the people of God. As you may recall, Sennacherib is hurling threats, and recounting all the kings he’s already conquered, mocking King Hezekiah and promising his swift destruction.
Specifically, Sennacherib mocks their trust in God. He says,
“Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you…”
He is blatantly attacking their trust in God, and building a case for why exactly they should cast off their confidence and surrender.
This is exactly what our enemy does to us.
He brings to mind all the lands that have already been conquered, so speak. All the kings that are already dead. He whispers to our weary hearts, “What about THAT thing that happened? Or that unanswered prayer? Where was God when that horrible thing took place? Look around and see all the areas that I, the Evil One, have already won. Why would you believe God will act now?”
His mission is always the same: Operation Destroy-Hope.
And so the case builds and our confidence crumbles. We reel. Our eyes dart to and fro. We panic. We plan. We despair. But King Hezekiah doesn’t do any of that. When he received the letter from Sennacherib, he didn’t panic, plan, gather the troops or begin devising some masterful military strategy.
What did He do? I can picture him now. He took a deep breath, slowly walked away, and went and spread the letter before the Lord.
He spread the situation out before the Lord.
One small expression that speaks so much. It says:
You are God, I am not.
We need you.
This is Your battle.
Fight for Your people.
Hezekiah then appeals to God in prayer, and it’s clear that what matters most is the glory of God:
“Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone. (v.20)”
I’m not sure why this image affects me so deeply, but perhaps it’s because so many situations feel so complex. Our minds can swim with scenarios. I’m sure Hezekiah felt this too. But He resisted the temptation to let his mind go wild into overwhelm, and instead he just spread it all out before the YAHWEH, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator God.
The only One with the wisdom and power to take this on.
This is such a practical step that any one of us can do. So I did this, just listed out and laid out all the things that weigh on my heart and mind. One by one, spreading them all out before the Lord. One by one, recognizing:
You are God, I am not.
We need you.
This is Your battle.
Fight for Your people.
Just a few verses later, the prophet Isaiah sends word to Hezekiah:
“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him…”
And then the short version is: I’m going to wipe him out without you even having to fight. What happens?
Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
The LORD of hosts took care of the entire situation, single-handedly. Hezekiah didn’t even need to suit up for battle. The LORD fought for them. I too was amazed to find that just hours later, several situations had worked themselves entirely out.
And the ones that remain? I will continue to spread them out before the LORD. The only God.
“No eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” (Is. 64:4)
What are you facing? What battles? What enemy that hurls threats your way and mocks your faith and taunts you with a solid case for why you shouldn’t trust God? Where are you tempted to tailspin down into overwhelm? Take every emotion, every situation, every ache and need and battle, and spread it out before Him. Lay it before Him; remind your heart that the battle is His.
“From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Ps. 61:2
{Thanks for reading.}