Someone once said, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.” When I was a little boy, it seemed like my birthday took forever to come around each year. However, as I grew older, time seemed to move faster and faster. In my twenties, I felt like I was aging at twenty kilometers per hour. In my thirties, it felt like thirty kilometers per hour. In my forties, forty kilometers, and in my fifties, fifty kilometers per hour. Since turning 50, I have also noticed that my body feels like a used car – always something that needs attention as time pas. This often makes me anxious about my symptoms and their possible consequences. In a few months, I will be 57, so I expect to feel speeding up even more than before.
The famous Christian writer C.S. Lewis once said, “Every tombstone is a monument to an unanswered prayer.” Someday, death will come for all of us, no matter how strong we are. Like many of you, I believe that God has set a time for each of us to leave our earthly pilgrimage. I also believe that God has the right to shorten or lengthen our time because He is in control of all matters of life.
In our sermon series, we have been looking at prayer warriors in the Bible who encountered unusual events and experienced God’s responses to their petitions. Through these people of prayer, we learn that prayer truly makes a difference in the lives of our loved ones and ourselves.
Today, we will examine the life of a prayer warrior named Hezekiah. He was a king of Judah who reigned for 29 years. One day, he became seriously ill and was at the point of death. We don’t know how Hezekiah became sick or what kind of sickness he had. Up to that point, he might have tried many remedies and been treated by many physicians, but none of them could heal him. King Hezekiah was given time to set his house in order (2 Kings 20:1). Can we imagine how he might have felt? There was no hope and no comfort; it was desperate news. He could do nothing but accept that this was God’s will. But King Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall and prayed to God” (2 Kings 20:2). In his time of trouble, Hezekiah urgently cried out to God for help in prayer. When God saw Hezekiah’s tears, amazingly, He changed His mind and extended Hezekiah’s life by 15 more years.
This morning, I want us to explore this great example of prayer, learn a couple of lessons from King Hezekiah, and apply them to our faith journeys.
Firstly, God’s heart is open to the prayers of His children who seek to live a faithful and righteous life. So, how did King Hezekiah pray in a time of crisis? Hezekiah reminded God of his righteousness and faithfulness, praying: “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes” (2 Kings 20:3). In this prayer, Hezekiah seemed to approach God with confidence in his own merits rather than relying solely on God’s mercy and might. It is important to understand that Hezekiah’s attitude was valid within the context of God’s covenant, where blessings were often tied to obedience to His teachings. Moses declared to the people of Israel: “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). Because of this divine principle in the Old Testament, Hezekiah believed that the Lord would remember his righteous journey of faith and reward him for his faithfulness. This is why Hezekiah prayed to God to remember what he had done. Although Hezekiah desired healing, he did not dictate God what should be done. Instead, Hezekiah placed himself in God’s merciful and mighty hands, as if saying: “Whatever you do for me, please don’t forget me.” “There was no one like Hezekiah among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him” (2 Kings 18:5). Throughout his life, Hezekiah consistently sought to live according to the Word of God (2 Kings 18:6).
Even though King Hezekiah knew that God’s will might seem unchangeable, he believed that God still desired to hear the prayers of His people. When God told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, Abraham did not simply accept this plan. Instead, he prayed and asked for God’s intervention on behalf of his loved ones. He humbly reminded God of His righteousness and earnestly pleaded for their rescue them from the destruction of those cities, and God responded to his prayer.
This is one of the profound mysteries of prayer. God may reveal His will to us clearly through challenging circumstances. Perhaps He indicates His plan through an illness, as it was described in our scripture. He may show His will through the outcome of treatments that may not look promising, or through other difficult situations such as broken relationships, financial burdens, emotional challenges, and spiritual bondages. Like Hezekiah, we might face situations that seem unalterable. It might seem to be God’s will for us and our loved ones. In moments like these, does God want us to remain silent? Does God want us to stop praying for change in our lives? Absolutely not! Hezekiah prayed without ceasing and cried out to God for healing with all his heart.
Some of us might wonder if we need to be sinless for our prayers to be answered. The answer is both yes and no. In our Epistle reading for today, James emphasizes the power and effectiveness of a righteous person’s prayer: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). God does honor the prayers of the righteous. Hezekiah had devoted his whole heart to serving and honoring God, yet he had not achieved sinless perfection. He had made mistakes and wrong decisions. When the Prophet Isaiah conveyed God’s message of help to Hezekiah, he expressed a bit of doubt. Nevertheless, Hezekiah made an honest request for a sign of healing while repenting of his sins. The Lord honored his sincerity with a blessing and answered his prayer.
Spiritually speaking, as descendants of Adam and Eve, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered on the cross and poured out His precious life to save us from our sins. Through Jesus Christ, God has opened a new way for us to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16). When we repent and believe in Jesus, we are justified and have the right to call God “our Father.” We then have access to God the Father at any time, can pray in the name of God the Son, Jesus Christ, and ask God the Holy Spirit for divine guidance and supernatural help. The Triune Lord, our Heavenly Father, is eager to open His heart to the prayers of His children.
Secondly, King Hezekiah prayed for healing so that he could continue to serve God and love his people for a longer period of time. He made an urgent petition for God’s restoration from his illness. Some may argue that since God has everything planned out, it is unnecessary to ask Him for an extension of life during times of sickness. However, we need to remember that the Bible never discourages praying for the sick. In our Gospel reading for this morning, Jesus promised signs not only to the disciples but also to those who obey God’s commands. He said, “In my name, they will drive out demons… they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:17-18).
During Jesus’ public ministry, He focused on three activities: teaching, preaching, and healing. Everywhere Jesus went, He preached the Good News, proclaimed the Kingdom of God, and provided healing for the sick. Many sick people came to Christ and were healed. Some may also argue that today’s healing ministry differs from how it was during Jesus’ time. However, no scripture suggests that Jesus has changed. Jesus healed then, and He heals now. He never changes.
In today’s reading from the Epistle, the Apostle James tells us: “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick well; the Lord will raise them up” (James 5:14-15). While not everyone is called to be an elder, we are all called to be righteous disciples of Jesus Christ. That is why we are all invited to pray for those who need God’s healing with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, life in this world is filled with sickness and sorrow, and both can come to us at any time in various ways. In one way or another, all of us have our own issues. Our Almighty God’s name is “Jehovah Rapha,” which means that the Lord God is our Healer. In our daily lives, God wants us to use the power of His name. Whatever our needs are, God desires that we come to Him, asking for His provision and protection. God changed His mind when He saw the tears of Hezekiah. God can change His mind for us too if we cry out from the depths of our hearts and ask for His help. This is how we should pray when we are sick or when we hear that someone we care about is going through tough times. When we put our trust in God’s almighty hands and pray for healing, heavenly miracles like the story of Hezekiah can happen in our time as well.
Thirdly, Hezekiah’s prayer was answered immediately. God was moved by his praying and weeping. Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him: “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears” (2 Kings 20:5). God declared that He had seen Hezekiah’s tears. Our desperate cries can also touch the heart of God. It may not take long for God to respond to a tearful heart. God’s time is coming, and sooner than later, we might expect, He can and will wipe away every tear from our eyes. We need to be assured that there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain in God’s dwelling place. Until then, we must keep putting our trust in the Lord to bring healing and wholeness to our lives.
Amazingly, God changed His mind and added 15 more years to Hezekiah’s life. To do this, God instructed Hezekiah through Isaiah to prepare a cake of figs and to apply it to the boil, and Hezekiah then recovered (2 Kings 20:7). God used this natural remedy to bring about Hezekiah’s healing. God often brings His sacred help through proper medical treatments, so the support of modern medicine should never be rejected in the name of faith. At the same time, we must remember that Hezekiah was not just healed by the poultice of figs but by God. In fact, Hezekiah was skeptical and unsure if God had truly healed him, so he asked God for a sign. Then God made the shadow on the sundial move backward instead of forward – a fitting sign for Hezekiah. Moving the shadow backward symbolized God giving him more time, just as God granted him more years of life.
As a church, when we cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of our loved ones and seek the help of the Holy Spirit, Almighty God can even alter His plans and respond to our petitions. With the power of this Triune Lord, any form of treatment can be utilized to transform the seemingly impossible into the possible for those who desire to receive His healing remedy. Perhaps some of us gathered here this morning are burdened with unexpected challenges, whether they are physical, financial, relational, emotional, or spiritual matters. We might feel deeply discouraged and lose the willingness to deal with them. Some of us may say we have prayed and prayed, but nothing seems to happen. Even though we have done our best before the Lord, we may still find ourselves struggling with something that prevents us from living courageously and confidently.
One of Satan’s favorite lies is that challenging situations will never change; they can seem permanent. We might believe that we will never recover from these issues. The spirit of evil can lead us to read things that discourage us. The devil might ensure that those around us speak words of disappointment in one way or another. If we concentrate only on the negatives around us, we could become overwhelmed and lose our desire for well-being. Doubt, discouragement, disappointment, and deception might attempt to keep us from approaching the throne of God’s grace to present our requests.
Friends, this morning, God invites us to come to Him as we are. Whatever our difficulty might be, let us remember that our genuine help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1). What are the mountains we face today? The Lord our God is bigger and stronger than anything in the world. The Mighty and Merciful God changed His mind when He saw Hezekiah’s tears. The same God can also change His mind for us and our loved ones if we pray with tears.
Today might be a great day for each of us, especially if we are in need of healing, if we have come here expecting God to do something wonderful for us. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If God healed Hezekiah, He can and will do the same for us and our loved ones. The question is, do we believe this? Are we declaring the favor of the Lord in our prayers and in our words every day of our lives? Friends, let us pray that the Lord touches our loved ones and us with God’s miraculous and creative hands. Let us ask God to help our loved ones and us to experience Christ’s abundant blessing in our faith journeys. Let us cry out for God’s help in making us and our loved ones whole – not only physically and outwardly but also spiritually and inwardly, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we humbly kneel and honestly plead with our Almighty God, the Greatest Physician, He can and will restore us to health and heal our loved ones’ wounds as He did for Hezekiah. Finally, let us praise the Lord our God with all our hearts for He is the Miracle Worker and the Promise Keeper for the sick! Amen!
*In this sermon, I have incorporated ideas and thoughts from various messages based on the following texts: 2 Kings 20:1-11; Mark 16:9-20; James 5:13-18.