Transcript
In his helpful book Trusting God, Jerry Bridges introduces a chapter on “Can you trust God?” by saying: “The letter did not bring good news. A close relative, very dear to me, had just learned she had bone cancer. Malignant cells from a previous bout with cancer had lain dormant for eight years before invading the skeletal parts of her body. One hip was already almost destroyed; the doctor was amazed she was still able to walk. Such incidents are all too common these days. In fact, during the writing of this chapter I had seven friends, all with cancer, listed on my “urgent” prayer page.
“But cancer or other physical ailments are obviously not the only source of anxiety. Over lunch a few weeks ago a businessman friend confided that his company is perilously close to bankruptcy; another experiences heartache over a spiritually rebellious teenager. The truth is, all of us face adversity in various forms and at different times. A recent best-selling book by a secular psychiatrist put it very well with this simple opening statement: “Life is difficult.”
“Adversity and its accompanying emotional pain comes in many forms. There may be the heartache of an unhappy marriage, or the disappointment of a miscarried pregnancy, or grief over a spiritually indifferent or rebellious child. There is the anxiety of the family breadwinner who has just lost his job and the despair of the young mother who has learned she has a terminal illness.
“Others experience the frustration of dashed hopes and unfulfilled dreams; a business that turned sour, or a career that never developed. Still others experience the sting of injustice, the dull ache of loneliness, and the stabbing pain of unexpected grief. There is the humiliation of rejection by others, of demotion at work and, worst of all, of failure that is one’s own fault. Finally, there is the despair of realizing that some difficult circumstances—a physical infirmity of your own or perhaps a severely handicapped child—will never change.
“All of these circumstances and scores more contribute to the anxiety and emotional pain we all experience at various times and in varying degrees. Some pain is sudden, traumatic, and devastating. Other adversities are chronic, persistent, and seemingly designed to wear down our spirits over time.
Now that Bridges has set the scene for us, I wonder how all of these examples and illustrations relate to your trust in God. How does it go for you when life turns rough? How does your confidence in God continue? How do you keep moving along? Today is the first Sunday of the New Year; I'd like to know what you're building your life on the right at this moment to prepare yourself for what this year might bring. Suppose God allows you to face a season of suffering (or continue in it); what might be helpful as you move forward? And what about Jesus? Didn’t we try to build hope in our lives by seeing that His birth means that God is with us? Why doesn’t it feel like that? These are all the types of conundrums we’ll deal with in today’s sermon. Today kicks off a week of prayer for us. By the end of this sermon, I hope you’ll see how trust and prayer go together. So, join me as we continue to worship God through His Word, seeing three ways trust is built in our lives…
Read Isaiah 36:1-10 (This is God’s Word; thanks be to God)
3 ways trust is built in our lives…
I. Our trust in God will be challenged. (36:1-37:13) 4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, We trustin the LORD our God, is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
In my translation, the issue of trust comes up six times in these opening verses. And it’s a familiar voice that comes all too often to us. In this case, it’s a representative of an opposing army coming to intimidate and drive people into fear. In our case, it might be the world, our flesh, or the devil speaking these things. “Did God really say?” “We often face voices—internal and external—that tempt us to second-guess God’s commitment to us. If we say we trust in God, these voices counter that others have claimed divine protection only to end up helpless and exposed (vv. 7–10). Anticipating Hezekiah’s plea to the people, the Assyrian commander intimidates the besieged people in their native tongue, warning them not to listen to Hezekiah’s cries to trust in Yahweh for deliverance. No other god has been able to stand up to the Assyrian forces thus far. What makes them think Yahweh will be any different? (vv. 13–20).”
As chapter 36 wraps up, the people are silent and don’t answer a word to this accuser because the king has told them not to respond. As chapter 37 begins, a reprieve in the action comes. Hezekiah tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the Lord’s house. They ask the prophet Isaiah to intervene with this meddler who is mocking God Himself. They also ask Isaiah to pray for them (vv.1-4)
As they come to Isaiah, he already has a message from God for them: don’t fear the words you heard, which the young men of the king of Assyria have used to revile God. God is in control. And God is going to act. But…as vv.8ff shows, haters are gonna hate. Threats are coming from afar against the king of Assyria, so he sends his messengers with one final push to demoralize the people. Listen to this in 37:10, “Don’t let your God who you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be given into the king’s hands.” And, then, this messenger proceeds to rattle off the history of other nations who weren’t delivered, who worshipped gods, who had power and might.
Do you identify with all that Hezekiah is feeling at this point? What do you do when the hard times come into your life, and your trust in God is challenged? Think of this: these naysayers know Hezekiah believes in God, and they are mocking the nation, rubbing their faces in their faith. Hezekiah feels the urge to maintain a stiff upper lip by going to the prophet. What does the prophet encourage? “Do not be afraid.” We know our trust is being challenged when fear is at work in us. I hope it’s encouraging for you to see that it is perfectly normal for trust in God to be challenged. Sometimes, we get so down because we imagine we are all alone and no one else has ever experienced what we face. But, if we zoom out a bit, we can see that having our confidence in God challenged is pretty consistent for those who know Him. Trust is built in us as it is challenged. That’s where this narrative begins.
Secondly, trust is built in our lives as II. Prayer stabilizes us when we are bombarded. (37:14-35) 14 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. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: 16 “O LORD of hosts, 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. 17 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
These verses are the heart of this sermon. Notice how Hezekiah responds to the latest threat: he takes it directly to the Lord. He lays it before God in the temple and prays. Don’t lose sight of this: prayer is a way to build trust.
And, I love the prayer of vv.16-20. Listen to all that Hezekiah says to God. Verse sixteen is all praise. The Lord is the true God of Armies, the Lord of hosts. He’s the God of Israel, keeping promises to His people. He’s enthroned above the cherubim, speaking of how He draws near to look past the sins of His people. The Lord is God alone, not the king of Assyria. And God is over all the kingdoms because He has made them. Verse seventeen is the request: asking God to incline His ear to hear and open His eyes to see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has said to mock the living God. And, vv.18-19 point to the gravity: truly this king is powerful, laying waste nations and lands, destroying little “g,” no-name gods. Verse twenty concludes with an appeal for God to save his people so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that He alone is the Lord. God will surely answer this prayer. Whether He sustains His people in suffering or vindicates them miraculously, His glory will be seen among all the earth's kingdoms.
Isaiah responds with the answer. Let me read this (from vv.21-35) because we can’t improve on God’s answer: 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:
“‘She despises you, she scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
23 “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon,
to cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.
26 “‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.
28 “‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’
30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
33 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
God answers and says He has an amazing plan to work for His glory among the peoples. And His plan will be to sustain His people and deal with Sennacherib. I find v.21 very compelling: “Because you’ve prayed to me…” It’s almost as if God rewards those who diligently seek Him. I wonder how many of us talk about praying but never actually pray? If what comes from God’s mouth here is that prayer is the key to trusting God, how does that actually play out for us? You might say, well, I don’t want to pray wrong. I don’t want to mess up and ask for something that isn’t God’s will. Or, I don’t want to presume on God. And this passage suggests that we need not worry about that. Just talk to God about it. Further, for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, we have the confidence in our High Priest that Hebrews 4 speaks of: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” When we are bombarded, prayer is how we are stabilized. The sure and better promises we know in Christ Jesus, our Lord, propel our confidence in praying. And, trust is built in us, then, as…
III. God gives stability. (37:36-38)
36 And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Look at how chapter 37 ends to build up our hearts, oh us of little faith. God did exactly what He promised to do. He made good on this promise. He cared for His people and brought stability to them. All of this seemed to hinge on Hezekiah’s prayer. And God answered.
In conclusion, we’ve seen three ways trust is built in our lives…
I. Our trust in God will be challenged. (36:1-37:13)
II. Prayer stabilizes us when we are bombarded. (37:14-35)
III. God gives stability. (37:36-38)
Hezekiah's relationship with the Lord made a difference in this passage. What is your relationship with Him like today? Maybe you don’t have one, and this passage has helped move you to see what it might be like to get the stability of God. Jesus came so that we might have peace. So, today, would you turn from managing your life to trusting it to Jesus? Believe in Him and know His salvation.
This relationship with Jesus means that the rubber will often meet the road regarding our lives and our trust in God. I know many in this body deal with struggles in persistent pain, emotional battles, or even keeping our eyes on Jesus through the storms. One simple application in this sermon is to pray confidently because 1) Jesus is with you, and 2) prayer stabilizes us when we are bombarded. David spoke this way in the Psalms: “Hear my cry, O Lord, attend unto my prayer. From the ends of the earth, will I cry out to You. And, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.” Would you trust Him with all that you're facing this year in prayer?
Third, our Week of Prayer is kicking off today. So, I’d love you to pray about how we can step into life together in deeper ways. There is a prayer guide available at the Info Desk or online. We will pray this week for ways we can pursue life together. This flows out of today’s sermon and the Ephesians series last fall. We have a small group brochure at the Information Desk. As you pray, would you eye that brochure and consider what next steps you can pursue? We’re re-launching our small group ministries to start this year. People have come together to be equipped as leaders, and we’d love for you to engage. But we want to pursue this patiently and with prayer. So, would you consider these things when we pray together this week?
Trust and prayer are ways that God works to build stability within us. So, might we be a people who are confident in Him—not fearful—as we seek to know Jesus and make Him known so we may glorify and enjoy Him forever?
In this sermon from Isaiah 36-37, Phil Auxier kicks off our 2025 Week of Prayer, inviting us to step into prayer to boost our trust in God when we are bombarded.
Week of Prayer 2025 Prayer Guide
Resource Info
