LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
2 KINGS 19 14-31
Key Verse
“But now, LORD our God, please, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God”.
2 Kings 19:19
INTRODUCTION
Many times in our life we have to make choices. Adults have to make choices, and children also have to make choices. Sometimes both groups forget the warning in the Bible, namely, The little foxes spoil the vine. This means that sometimes we think that it is the little things, the little problems we face, that are not serious. But in life these little problems can grow and grow, and become monster problems which we cannot solve.
In our Study we see such a case. The king of Judah Ahaz had refused to listen to God when the prophet Isaiah told him not to make a deal with the king of Assyria to stop an invasion. Ahaz did not listen, made the deal, but it backfired. It did not work. When his son Hezekiah became king, the king of Assyria threatened to invade, and Hezekiah did like his father and paid off the Assyrian king not to invade. That also backfired. That plan did not work. These people in the world will never stop wanting more. The only good thing for Judah was that Hezekiah was a godly man and a good king. He unlike his father Ahaz cleaned up the idolatry in the land, shutting down pagan altars and worship centers, and destroying a relic of a bronze serpent the nation had been worshipping from the time of Moses. There had been a plague of fiery serpents that attacked the people of Israel because of their bad sinning in the time of Moses, and to stop the plague God told Moses to make this bronze serpent so that when the people stopped sinning and repented, and then looked on the bronze serpent, they would not die. But after the plague ceased instead of destroying this relic, the people hid it and kept worshipping it, and instead of the kings of Israel destroying it, they let the people continue doing the foolishness of idolatry that they wanted to do.
But Hezekiah stopped that nonsense. He was brave. He was a good king and a good follower of God. But now Hezekiah stopped paying the tribute demanded by the king of Assyria to stop a new invasion. Assyria was a world power at the time and they demanded money, gold and silver from all the nations around. If those nations refused, the Assyrians would attack and destroy the nations. The Assyrian army was wicked and very destructive. They had 20 years before attacked the Ten tribes called the northern Kingdom with their capital city called Samaria, destroyed everything, and taken all those people living there into exile, scattering them all over the place. So Hezekiah was frightened for he did not have an army strong enough to fight the Assyrians. The only help he might get was from Egypt, but they too were too weak to help.
The king of Assyrian threatened Hezekiah with destruction and came to the very gates of Jerusalem after destroying the other small towns outside the capital city. The king of Assyria warned Hezekiah that he had already destroyed many nations who depended on their gods, and he would destroy Judah for their God Yahweh could not help them. Yahweh was powerless against him.
But Hezekiah went into the Temple dressed in sackcloth, the garment of mourning, and prayed to God for help. He told God the king of Assyria had blasphemed God and said God was as useless as the gods of the other nations. Hezekiah also asked the prophet Isaiah to ask God to help the nation.
Isaiah talked to God and put the problem before Him, and God told Isaiah He would deal with this stupid, rude and obnoxious king of Assyria. God would send an angel to destroy the Assyrian army. Hezekiah would not have to lift a finger to get rid of the Assyrian threat.
And so it happened. God heard Hezekiah’s prayer when he humbled himself, came to God to beg for help, and trusted in God for saving him and the nation. This prayer of Hezekiah is a model prayer for us today. We must learn to take all our problems and burdens to the Lord, and not try to use our own skills. That more often or not will not work.
So, trust in God all the time. He loves us and will answer our cries. He will be there for us in times of crisis even when the people of the world try to persuade us that God will not help us. Do not listen to them. Teach them the truth to stop them for the judgment of God. That is our task as Christians.