2 KINGS 19:14-19 – 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. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.”

THEME OF THE DAY. OVERCOMING FEAR.  The Bible teaches two types of fear. There is a good fear.  This fear is given by God when a person becomes a Christian.  It is part of the new covenant.  God tells us this truth through the prophet Jeremiah – “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me” (Jeremiah 32:40). This fear is healthy and essential to holy living. The other type of fear is bad and comes from sin.  This fear entered into the human experience when Adam and Eve disobeyed God – “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:8-10).

Though the good fear only resides in Christians, sinful fear has not been removed from Christians.  It has been defeated and we may overcome it regularly, if we fight against it.  However, should we give into sinful fear, it will rob us of our peace and joy in the Lord producing anxious lives. And this sinful fear comes to us in many forms; we fear “what ifs” in difficult and unknown circumstances; we fear the evil permeating society; and like King Hezekiah, we may be tempted to fear people.

In today’s scripture, King Hezekiah and God’s people are being threatened by the evil king of Assyria.  And this evil king has a right to be feared from a human perspective. He has conquered many nations and has vowed to overpower King Hezekiah and God’s people.  Fear is gripping Hezekiah. What he does is exactly what we are to do if we want to honor the Lord by overcoming fear.

First, he prayed – And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD.  We pray too when afraid.  The question isn’t, “When afraid, do we pray?”, but “How do we pray when afraid?” That leads to the second truth from Hezekiah helping us overcome fear.

Next, he prayed focusing on the sovereignty of God, not his circumstances – “And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.”  Friends, we must fight to keep our eyes on the God of our circumstances and not the fear in our circumstances.  We do this by remembering who really is in control of everything, including our fearful circumstances.

Finally, he prayed that the end goal of being delivered from the fear of the King of Assyria was that God would be known – “So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.” Strive to remember that God is to be glorified and known in all things to include delivering us from our fears. Let’s change our praying from being delivered from fear for our comfort to being delivered from fear that God would be made manifest in our worlds.

Fear. Christ broke its chains upon us.  Let’s learn to live in this freedom through believing prayer that exults the God who delivers us from all fears.

PRAYER: “Father, let me not allow the fear of man overcome my faith in You.”

QUOTE: “Pray for God to deliver you from your fear but let the motive be His glory, not your comfort.”

In the Affection of Christ Jesus,

Pastor Jim