By Guest Writer
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 37:1-38, Isaiah 38:1-22, Isaiah 39:1-8, Psalm 2:1-12
Dad’s sight suddenly disappeared during a weeknight spaghetti dinner while my brother and I rambled about our day. He played it off not wanting to cause concern, and his sight returned a few minutes later. This episode propelled him to seek medical attention, leading to the discovery of a tumor the size of a golf ball growing next to his visual cortex. Inoperable.
Dad called Samuel Paul, the prayer warrior that led him to the faith, and Samuel Paul prayed over my dad, begging God for his life—asking for at least fifteen more years like God gave King Hezekiah so dad could see his children grow up. The tumor miraculously stopped growing, every tendril cut off from the surrounding tissue, and his sight remained intact.
Fifteen years later, Dad fell at work. The next day he woke up and couldn’t move the right half of his body. Doctors discovered another inoperable brain tumor, and Dad died two weeks after my husband asked for my hand in marriage.
God gave my father fifteen more years, as He did for King Hezekiah. How I praise God that He gave them to us!
Twice Hezekiah came before the Lord with a desperate petition: first, to save Jerusalem from the hand of the king of Assyria, who mocked the Lord (Isaiah 37:16–20). Hezekiah took the assault of the Lord’s name before the throne of God and petitioned the Lord to save Israel for the sake of the name of the Lord (Isaiah 37:14–20). And again, when Hezekiah fell sick, the Lord told him through the prophet Isaiah that he would die. The king begged God for more time, and God added another fifteen years in response to Hezekiah’s prayer (Isaiah 38).
Hezekiah’s strength was that he did not hesitate to take his needs to the Lord. I’ve learned that I can approach prayer in the same way as Hezekiah. He heard Hezekiah; he heard Samuel Paul—and He hears us too. When we seek the Lord, He hears us (Psalm 34:4).
And while the act of praying in itself is an act of hope, I have some unanswered prayers. We might hesitate to seek God in prayer, fearing our hope turning into disappointment at God’s response, whatever it may be. How long, oh Lord?, we may cry (Psalm 13).
But what we see in Hezekiah’s story and in Jesus’s instructions to His disciples is that God hears and responds to our prayers. His sovereignty is a mystery at times, but we know He moves when we pray. So let’s continue to pray against all odds, like King Hezekiah, always for the glory of God to be made known.
Written by Seana Scott
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