Isaiah 37 starts off in the middle of the story of the threat of Assyrian invasion. King Hezekiah’s officials hear all the threats and report them to Hezekiah. Hezekiah reacts.

Verse 1: “As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.”

As soon as he hears of it, his reaction is to humble himself and seek the Lord’s help.

What’s your reaction to the bad news?

A pipe bursts, there’s been an accident, the longed for visit has been canceled, the job is lost, etc., things that not just affect right now but have a threat of long-term loss and pain, what is your reaction? Is it to call on the Lord? “I need Your help, Lord!”

We need Him to be our first thought, our best thought, our only thought! He can take care of it. He may miracle you out of the situation or He may point you to what you should do, but He should be our help. We should call on Him as our first responder.

Hezekiah didn’t just cry out to God while running down to see what was going on. He stopped what he was doing. He humbled himself. He went to go be with the Lord.

This isn’t a, “Lord, help us,” prayer thrown out while working yourself to fix things, though it’s good to acknowledge the Lord and ask for help. But there’s a much better way because that way you are still bearing this burden of fixing things yourself.

It’s a much better idea to give the burden over to the Lord to handle things for you.

He is willing and able to fight for you. You don’t have to fight your battles. You can just rest. You can just be still. You can stay silent. Let the Lord fight your battle. Don’t deceive yourself into believing you still have to fight, that you have to do something.

In this story God shows two different ways that He could solve Hezekiah’s dilemmas on His own without Hezekiah and his armies doing a thing. He can cause him to hear a rumor and return. He can just wipe them out. It only takes One to wipe out an army. It’s a little thing to the Lord.