Hezekiah, Part 3 : Flashbacks & Watching

This morning, I'd like to ask you if you would open a Bible or find an app or something close or a journal and join me in 2 Kings chapter 20.

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

We've been walking our way through this book of Kings, and the last couple of weeks we've been dealing with a king named Hezekiah. And this is the third installment today, part three of Hezekiah's story.

And I've called it flashbacks, or really flashback, and watching. So join me in 2 Kings chapter 20 as I prepare to read for us, and we will take the whole chapter.

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

In those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Set your house in order, for you shall die.

You shall not recover. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.

And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle of court, the word of the Lord came to him, Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer.

I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add 15 years to your life.

I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.

And Isaiah said, Bring a cake of figs, and let them take it and lay it on the boil that he may recover. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?

And Isaiah said, This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised. Shall the shadow go forward 10 steps, or go back 10 steps?

And Hezekiah answered, It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen 10 steps. Rather, let the shadow go back 10 steps. And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back 10 steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

At that time, Merodach Baladin, the son of Baladin, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

And Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses.

There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say?

And from where did they come to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country, from Babylon. He said, What have they seen in your house?

And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord.

Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon.

Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons who shall be born to you shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good. For he thought, Why not? If there will be peace and security in my days.

The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place. Will you pray with me again? Heavenly Father, we come to you today as a family of believers, and we pray, Lord,

that you would look upon us with eyes that see and ears that hear. Father, we pray for some of the needs within our own church family. We pray for families like the Diltz family that have experienced recent loss.

We pray for the Plank family that have come through a trial. We thank you for your hand upon Matt. Father, we pray for those in the congregation that are seeking employment and next steps in the future.

Father, we pray for our young families. We pray for expectant mothers and parents of newborns. Give us, Lord, your grace. Pour it out upon us.

And Lord, let us fix our eyes, as Lacey prayed, upon you, upon Jesus, your Son, the author and perfecter of our faith. And we pray this in his name.

Amen. All right, did you notice the time stamp that our author gives us? In the Bible, you see this a lot. You get words like, in those days.

And it's kind of an important question to ask. What days are we talking about? Well, we're talking about days that involve this Assyrian invasion.

And as it turns out, it's happening right about the same time. This event here, or these events, with Hezekiah getting sick, and then the Babylonian envoy showing up.

It's all happening in the same year, in fact, 701 B.C. And not only that, probably within the span of a few weeks. But even more important than the exact span of time is the sequence of events.

And we need to be clear on this, because as it turns out, there's very good reason to conclude that the events of chapter 20, that we just read right here, actually happen before the events of chapters 18 and 19, here in Kings.

What I'm saying is that 2 Kings 20 happens first. And how do we come to this conclusion, you might wonder? Well, for several reasons. For starters, scholars point out that when Hezekiah shows off all of his treasure in his storehouses to those Babylonian envoys,

well, those storehouses appear to be stocked full. And back in chapter 18, verse 15, we read of how Hezekiah gave Sennacherib all the silver that was in the house and all the treasuries of the king's house.

So, what's he got left to show the Babylonian envoys if he's already paid a big bribe to the Assyrians? The other facts to consider are Hezekiah's own words to the Assyrian king.

Do you remember what he said back in chapter 18? I'll put it on the screen for you. This is what he said. He wrote to Sennacherib and said, I have done wrong.

Withdraw from me. And whatever you impose on me, I will pay. I will bear. What wrong is Hezekiah talking about? What's he referring to? Unless maybe he is in fact actually referring to the visit and his welcoming of the Babylonian envoys, showing them all the storehouses of tribute

that he's withheld from the Assyrians. And when we recall that there is in fact a vast intelligence network that the Assyrians have all over this region, there is very good reason to believe that the Assyrians know all about not only Hezekiah's sickness, but about the Babylonian envoys visiting.

And so what that means is that Hezekiah at this moment is in some real trouble. This is what he's done wrong when he writes the letter in chapter 18.

This is what he's sorry for. So if this is true, what this means is that chapter 20 is in fact a flashback in time. A flashback that is showing us just how Hezekiah has put himself in a real pickle, hasn't he?

Our king has been flirting with an alliance with Babylon, for which Isaiah rebukes him, by the way, and nothing comes of it. And now with Assyria having rolled into the neighborhood, so to speak, and they're now literally starting to roll over Judah's towns and cities,

coupled with the news that Egypt's not going to be any help, you are finally realizing that you have no crutches for support, neither crutch that you hope for.

Babylon or Egypt, if you're Hezekiah, you got nothing. And so that's the timeline. We're in this flashback in terms of chronology, but the way things start off in verse 1 are very, very grave.

It's a grave picture. We have a very sick king, so sick that he's at the point of death. I like how the diagnosis comes not from a doctor, but from a prophet.

Isaiah the prophet shows up, and he's got all the bedside manner you could want, right? He says, listen, king, this is it. Get your house in order.

You're not going to recover. You're going to die. Would you like a pastoral visit like that? Would that be comforting to you? Well, Hezekiah takes the news very badly, very badly.

We're told in verse 2 that he turned his face to the wall, and then he prayed. Now, the praying part is good, but the turning the face to the wall, maybe not so good, because come to think of it, the last time in Scripture we read about a king turning his face to the wall

was with a wicked king named Ahab. And this was after someone had refused to sell him a vineyard. And he went on to do a really bad thing. And it appears that there is maybe a hint of something not so good in Hezekiah's reaction,

like he is sulking, like maybe our king has a bit of an attitude problem. I mean, he's thinking, I've been one of Judah's good kings, right?

One of the few good kings. Don't you remember, Lord, all the reforms that I made all over the land? Don't you remember how I cleaned this place up?

I cleaned the temple up, and I appointed all the right priests, and I held fast to you. I trusted you, Lord. And this is what happens to me?

This is what I get? My days are going to be cut short? How is this fair? Is our king sulking as he cries his bitter tears? We're told that he wept bitterly.

Well, as it turns out, when we head on over to Isaiah's account of this story, in Isaiah's book, we get a little bit more of a glimpse into Hezekiah's soul.

Because he writes over there, I should say there's a fuller version of the extended prayer that Hezekiah prays. And we find that in that prayer, he laments to the Lord about being cut short in his days, in the middle of his days, he says.

He even talks about the bitterness of his soul, and he tells the Lord how he feels plucked up and removed before his time. Here's a few verses from Isaiah 38, verses 12 and 13.

Isaiah 38:12

This is Hezekiah. My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent, like a weaver I've rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom.

From day to night you bring me to the end. I calmed myself until morning. Like a lion he breaks all my bones. From day to night you bring me to an end.

Now here in Kings in verse 3 we get a much, much briefer version of his prayer, don't we? And the emphasis here is really desperation. He makes a desperate request to God.

Verse 3. Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness, and how I've had a whole heart, and remember how I've done good in your sight.

So it's a mixture of emotions. There's bitterness, but there's also desperate pleas. But what Isaiah 38 goes on to show us is that he also appeals to God's mercy.

Listen to this as he goes on. Isaiah 38 verse 18. He says this, For Sheol, that's hell, or the grave I should say, For the grave does not thank you.

Isaiah 38:18

Death does not praise you. Those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living, he thanks you as I do to this day.

The Father makes known to the children your faithfulness. So it's a dark moment for our king. A dark night of the soul, you could say. As he turns to the wall, weeps bitterly, pleads to the Lord out of desperation, and maybe frustration,

maybe bargaining with the Lord as people sometimes do. I'll thank you, Lord, if you heal me. People who are dead can't thank you and praise you and tell of your faithfulness.

Well, the response comes very quickly. Because it's before the prophet has even really left the building, right? Before he's even out of the middle court.

He's halfway out of the palace complex, and the Lord turns him back with another word for the king. Thus says the Lord, verse 5, I have heard your prayer.

I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to my house, and I will add 15 years to your life. The Lord goes on to tell him that he'll also deliver him as he's going to deliver the city from the Assyrians.

He'll defend Jerusalem, he says, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. And of course, every time we hear that phrase, don't we know, for David's sake is a pointer to the future.

Don't we remember how it connects to the promise made to David that he would always have an heir upon the throne, a promise that would find ultimate fulfillment in a perfect son of David, a true David who is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

But for now, for right here, all it means is that Hezekiah is going to get a reprieve. It's not that he's going to be immortal and live forever.

He's going to get 15 more years as a measure of mercy from the Lord. And the fact that the Lord tells him that you shall go up to my house on the third day, the Lord is basically calling Hezekiah's bargain.

He's saying, I'll let you make good on your promise to return thanks to me. On the third day, you'll be able to do that. Once you're healed, you will have an obligation to come to my house to return thanks to me.

Well, the prophet goes on to give these weird instructions. They're weird to us because we don't heal people this way anymore. But back in the ancient world, they did exactly these kinds of things.

Actually, they tell us that taking a cake of figs and laying it over a lesion or whatever he's got that's severely infected, that the infection is going to kill him.

They do what is common in the day, as sometimes other prophets did, like Elisha. But make no mistake that it's the Lord's power that heals him because he is healed instantaneously.

Verse 8. I can imagine him laying there in his bed, right? Getting the fig treatment applied, and our king asks the prophet, hey, could I get a sign or something?

A sign that this is actually going to work. Now, Scripture realized that in Scripture, whenever people start asking for signs, that's not necessarily a good thing.

You could say that people who ask for signs and people with strong faith are kind of mutually exclusive. If your faith is there, you don't need a sign.

But our king seems to need one, and so Isaiah offers him a choice. Which one do you want? I can have this shadow on the steps of Ahaz here, the steps that go up to the roof.

I can have it go forward 10 steps real quick. Or, if you want me, I can have it go backward. And Hezekiah, we see how strong his faith is. He's like, I want it to be the harder one.

It's too easy for shadows to go forward. That's what normally happens. I want you to reverse the order of things. Make it go back. And that's exactly what happens as the Lord answers and the shadow reverses 10 steps.

It's a great first half to the story, right? And yet there's one small detail I want to make sure that we see, and it's not here, and it's not in Isaiah.

It's actually over in 2 Chronicles. There's something there that we need to note because it tells us what happened come day three after the king receives his healing.

2 Chronicles 32, verse 24. In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death, and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered him and gave him a sign.

2 Chronicles 32:24

But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem.

Oh, did not make return. And the return, of course, that the chronicler is talking about is the command for him to go up to the house of the Lord and make return by giving thanks.

Apparently Hezekiah never got there. He never did it. And call me crazy because it's honestly a bit of speculation about the timeline, but could it perhaps be it's because he had some unexpected guests suddenly show up?

Because verse 12, that's exactly what we read there. We read that at that time, the envoys of Merodach, Baladan, king of Babylon, show up.

It's like you're feeling a lot better if you're Hezekiah. And suddenly, there's a knock outside at the city gate. Some servants come and tell you, you know, we got some really well-dressed, highly respected Babylonian envoys out there and they want to come and meet you, king.

Now, there's good reason to think that these Babylonians don't really care a lick about King Hezekiah and his health. It's not like they're here to give a greeting card or something or bring him flowers.

They don't care about him. They have an interest in this city, in Jerusalem. And we presume they have a pretty good idea what might be inside some of Jerusalem's storehouses.

So this is much less of a, you know, get well greeting and much more of a diplomatic visit, please understand. Because the Babylonians don't like the Assyrians much either.

They've been fighting together or against each other. And so as this envoy now comes and shows up, realize what's happening. Read between the lines.

They are trying to pry Judah away from Assyria. They are here to encourage Judah to revolt against the Assyrian yoke. And so we're told that they show up and they come with these letters.

They've even got a present for Hezekiah. Maybe it was flowers. I don't know. But it's not because, again, they're so thoughtful. It's because they want something.

And what they want is an alliance. And Hezekiah knows this. And we know that he knows this because of what he does as soon as they show up. What's he do?

He wastes no time in verse 13 doing this. After giving them a big welcome, he immediately follows it up with a big tour. A grand tour of his city.

And specifically of all the storehouses. It's like, I'm feeling a lot better, guys. Thanks for coming. Thanks for asking. So good to meet you, by the way.

You want to see what we've got here? I'd be happy to show you. You know, a lot of scholars talk about how this really probably was very flattering for Hezekiah.

That, you know, Babylon is a mustering world power. Assyria has been the world power of the day. And that Hezekiah is here in Jerusalem. It's kind of a shrunken kingdom now.

And he's getting a really important visit from important people. How gratifying to discover that you're getting picked for the team, right? You matter.

And what our foolish king proceeds to do is, well, I think the kids call it flexing. Would that be fair to say that's what he does with his wealth?

He flexes on them? That's exactly what he does. It's a guided tour of everything he has. And the narrator's very careful to make sure we understand it's everything of value in verse 13.

Take a look. All his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. We're told that he leaves nothing out.

It made me think this past week, we were, two weeks ago I guess, we were signing a lease on an apartment for my son who's going to move down south in southern Indiana next fall.

And honestly, it's been a long time since I've signed a lease on an apartment and I had no idea how much, how invasive it would be financially.

They want to know everything about us financially before we will be allowed to sign a lease. Or some of you that have had college students, you know this thing called the FAFSA?

Talk about invasive. It's like this big tour for the government to come in and see every penny you have everywhere. And if you try to hide something, you could go to jail.

I don't know about that, but you get in trouble. This is what it's like, but he does it willingly. Our king does. Hezekiah is like, I'm happy to do it.

I want to sign the lease. I want to sign the agreement. I want to be in an alliance with you guys, Babylon, so I can stop paying tribute to Assyria.

But no sooner do these Babylonian envoys head off to Hotel Jerusalem for the night, and there's another knock at the door, and his servants come and tell him, you know, the prophet's back.

He wants to talk to you. And once Isaiah comes in and finds our king, he comes with all the questions, doesn't he? All the questions, and you get a sense he kind of already knows the answers.

Where did these men come from? Oh, they came from a far country, from Babylon. You can imagine Isaiah's brow. He's furrowing his brow. He's scowling.

He's like, What did you show them? What have you done? Oh, they've seen everything. I held nothing back, Hezekiah tells them. I gave them a grand tour of all of Jerusalem's wealth and might.

I put our best foot forward, Isaiah. And you know what? I think they might be impressed. By the time we come to verse 16, I imagine the prophet's head is just shaking in total disgust and sadness because he has another word from the Lord.

Verse 17, he says, Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, it's going to all get carried off to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.

And it's going to include some of your own sons, too. Some of your own descendants are going to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

This is exile talk. This is the city of David being plundered and devastated talk. This is terrible news. And honestly, it should have been devastating for our king to hear it.

that his own offspring, what will turn out to be his very own great-grandchildren, will be made eunuchs in the palace of a foreign king.

But what's our king's response? What does he say back to Isaiah? And then, and then, what does he say quietly to himself? He says to Isaiah, verse 19, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.

Really? For he thought, why not? At least there will be peace and security in my days. In other words, your prophetic word, Isaiah, is fine with me because for my time, I won't see it.

You know, I think maybe this flashback helps. I think it helps us to better understand the situation in the last couple chapters. It helps you and me to understand the moment that Hezekiah first heard

those taunting words from the Rabshakeh. Remember that? It helps us understand how Hezekiah has really put himself in a jam. And it also gives a little more meaning behind the words that the Rabshakeh keeps shouting.

In whom, in what, are you putting your trust?

Because twice now, he's tried to buy his way out of trouble, hasn't he? First time was with the grand tour for the Babylonian envoys, showed it off to them.

And the second time he tried to buy his way out of trouble was when he handed it off as a big, late tribute payment to Sennacherib. And yet, both actions have failed him.

Both actions have also raised real questions about who and what this king is trusting in.

Maybe this is why Hezekiah, at the very beginning of chapter 19, just one chapter ago, verse 1, he's got his clothes torn. Maybe this is why Hezekiah has covered himself in sackcloth because he feels his foolishness, because he feels his failure

with some big lapses of judgment.

Maybe this is why, think about it, when he initially sent a delegation to the prophet to say, would you please pray for us, pray to the Lord, your God, maybe now we understand he's not exactly close with the Lord at this moment.

Was Hezekiah sheepish to seek the Lord himself? Because he behaved so foolishly? Because he was so short-sighted? Because he neglected to fulfill his promise to thank the Lord?

Because he got too caught up in the Babylonian visit? Was he sheepish because he knew he was convicted that he was a king with some very selfish thoughts?

Both in the way he prayed for his healing and then in the way that he responded to Isaiah's dreadful prophecy. Oh, at least there'll be peace and security for my 15 years.

Because once those Babylonians left and once these Assyrians show up and you know that all of your attempts to bribe them have failed and they've got your city surrounded you're broken.

You know what? 2 Chronicles provides another important piece another significant piece to this puzzle where we finally read of what happened in Hezekiah's heart.

I want you to hear this in 2 Chronicles chapter 32 verse 26 listen to this but Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart humbled himself for the pride of his heart both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them.

2 Chronicles 32:26

And we know what that looked like when he finally himself after getting that letter he finally goes into the temple of the Lord and he spreads it out and he bows down and he himself prays and how does he pray?

Does he pray for what he deserves about how worthy he is or how good of a king he's been? No. We saw that prayer last week he prayed for the Lord's glory his only hope at this point was to just lay himself out there at the Lord's mercy and say have you heard the mocking words of the Assyrians?

Don't you want to do this for your glory?

And the Lord spared the city didn't he? Now what does any of this mean for you and me?

We have to ask ourselves what are we seeing here and what we need to ask ourselves is how is scripture encouraging us? How is it warning us?

How is what's been written before in former days as Paul puts it in Romans how is it here to instruct us right now? These are great questions to ask and by way of an attempt at some answers I would suggest that this account this flashback as it were it really shows us

three things three things that we must watch three things for you and I to keep our eye on and look out for and the first thing is this number one we must watch our hearts our hearts

look at Hezekiah's heart you see several things in it at different points in the story there's a certain kind of sorry that you see in his heart you know it's one thing to get bad news and be sad and this kind

of news to be devastated but it's something else when you react to bad news in a way that gives in to bitterness and what does bitterness what does the bitterness in our king's heart spring from I think it springs from a sense of entitlement

did Hezekiah feel entitled to the Lord's blessing to the blessing of a long life because he had been such a good and faithful king Lord you know what I've done for you you know how much I improved over my fathers I'm going to go down to history as a good

king I stood up for the right thing I cleansed the land I made all the reforms I did it all Lord you know this and yet here's where things are at you send your prophet to just tell me I'm going to die in the middle of my days

we must watch our hearts my friends do you ever feel like God owes you things when adversity hits you in your life do you ever feel that because you've been obedient or faithful

that somehow it should immunize you against trials keep you from bad things let me ask you when bad news comes your way are you tempted to turn the face maybe the face of your heart to the wall and weep bitter

tears but there's another turn with Hezekiah's heart that he should have watched it's not just that and this is a turn that came in his heart when things became very good when he got healed after his healing because the scriptures tell us that he grew prideful

and forgetful of his commitments he was impressed but not by his healing from the Lord he was impressed by who showed up with a good get well greeting he was impressed by who wanted to be friends with him now

you know again what's interesting is 2 Chronicles gives us another piece another perspective 2 Chronicles chapter 32 verse 31 shows us that God was up to something this was not just happenstance chance that these Babylonians visited 2 Chronicles 32 verse 31 and so in the matter

2 Chronicles 32:31 2 Chronicles 32:31

of the envoys of the princes of Babylon who had been sent to him to inquire about the sign that had been done in the land God left him to himself in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart apparently someone was watching Hezekiah's heart

just not Hezekiah it was God pride worldly attention my friends those are dangerous temptations even today not just for ancient kings but for every person and that includes you and me

what are you willing to forget or neglect in exchange for worldly attention your commitments to the Lord your commitments to your church family your trust

and reliance on the Lord Hezekiah's heart became an unthankful heart because he got all wrapped up in how he was getting noticed on how he was coming up in the world is that an area of temptation for some of us has there been some area of

your life or some situation where you are finally getting noticed you're finally coming up in the world listen we cannot allow the allure of our world no matter how much we might value its attention no matter how much we might value people's praise or want their

partnership to supplant the loyalty that belongs only to the Lord hear these words from Proverbs I know many of you have heard them hear them again freshly what does it say in Proverbs 3 5 and 6 trust in the Lord with all

your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths so watch your heart and watch it with all your heart that's the first thing our king failed to watch and that we must

watch his heart but sadly it's not the only thing there was also the matter of his faith and that brings us to the second thing for us to watch number two we must watch our faith our faith and by watching our faith what I mean is we must watch it

for signs of weakness because that's what there were in Hezekiah's situation there were many signs of weakness in his faith what were those signs well ironically enough the first weakness is that he needed a sign verse 8

the Lord tells him I've heard your prayer I've seen your tears behold I'm going to heal you in fact within three days you're going to be able to go up to the temple and give me thanks for it but that's not enough for Hezekiah he says I need a sign and you know what I'm guessing

that probably if he had not been healed so quickly and he had to wait that Hezekiah would have needed maybe another sign and then maybe another sign because that's pretty much how sign seeking works just ask Jesus when he was on earth

during his ministry the one who performed the most signs were the people ever satisfied was it ever enough no sign seekers always need another sign but a faith built on signs isn't much of a faith

at all another signal of weakness in Hezekiah's faith is the way that he prayed because his prayer here was really characterized by self-centeredness not so much trust

self-centeredness and when he got healed how quickly did his faith falter further because again 2nd chronicles 32 says he failed to make return he failed to return thanks to the Lord and finally

the ultimate failure of his faith was his foolishly looking to human means for deliverance Babylon was a test not an answer a test and it was faithless folly for Hezekiah to show them all his treasure

and his wealth he was acting like a short sighted man a short sighted leader and father the kind of father and leader who hears that his own extended family is going to have it very bad in the future and simply shrugs and says well

I guess I won't see it things will be chill in my days don't be a parent like that or a grandparent or an aunt or an uncle don't be a friend like that you know the things you're doing right now in your life it's not going to end well but I just kind of like your friendship for now

and if I bring it up you're not going to like it we need to watch our faith we need to watch it for these signs of weakness trusting in signs self-centered prayers spirits of thanklessness and looking merely to human means for deliverance those are all signs of a weak faith

and this brings us to the third and final way that we are to watch we must watch our God we must watch our God I don't mean like watching you God I'm going to check up on you I mean watch what he's doing as in keep our eyes fixed and focused

on him because our God is a God who hears and who sees and the scripture tells us he's a God who loves to answer the prayers of his children he actually invites them while his son was on earth Jesus told us

parables about how we should pray and what his father is like we must watch our God even even in the bad news even in the days of distress even in the trials God he God I like how one scholar puts it he has this sentence he writes

he says sometimes God's compassions lie hidden in a bundle of trouble sometimes God's compassions lie hidden in a bundle of trouble what incredible deliverance would Hezekiah see though right

in the face of death what did he see he saw a God who was able to extend life he saw a God who was willing to save a city and he did but you know what about 700 years from this point God would do even more than that he would not just extend

life for a Davidic royal heir he would resurrect it literally so that in the face of failure whether this kings or all of ours he could extend grace into our lives because

of Jesus our great and true son of David we can humble ourselves as we watch our hearts and fix our eyes of faith on him and so let's watch our hearts and let's watch our faith and let's watch

our God amen let me ask you if you would stand with me as we pray the team is going to come Lord I don't know which among us here today was going through something where it's difficult to keep our eyes fixed on you

we know our own nature and how easy it is to become so obsessed with circumstances some of us Lord are in trials struggles and we need deliverance Lord help us to watch our hearts as we wait

Lord help us to have a strong faith in you as we keep our eyes fixed on you and Lord for others of us we're in a moment of blessing maybe things are going well maybe things are happening Father within the family or on a job front or some other area

of life where hey the world is noticing I'm doing well God help us to watch our heart then too because we would never cease to need faith in you to put our trust in you because all that this world can offer is nothing if we don't

have forgiveness in the name of your son but you have provided it Lord we're coming into a season where we are celebrating this time where your son came and lived and died and gave himself as a ransom for everyone who will call upon his name and so we praise you Jesus for your gift

and Father we want to keep our eyes fixed on you we pray this together in the name of your son in Jesus name amen amen