Keeping God’s Glory Central
There’s one more little phrase in Hezekiah’s prayer that we need to talk about. It is the last part of 2 Kings 19:19, where he says “Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God.”
"Prayer for Judah's Salvation to Reveal God's Greatness"
Remember earlier in the prayer he declared that God alone was God. Now he repeats that thought, but this time he is asking that God save Judah so that more people will come to know God. In fact he believes that their deliverance would show the whole earth that God is great.
This reminded me that we must always keep God’s glory central in our lives. There are many things that we should be praying for. But in each of those, we must be keeping the glory of God at the centre. Everything we pray for should have that end in mind – that God be praised, and known as great!
This reminds of me of my friend Beppie. You might remember the week of devotions I did with her earlier this year. Beppie died a short time ago after a fierce battle with cancer. And she was blind, but oh boy the glory of God shone through her! And she came to the point where she realized that God could shine through her more by her being a faithful blind Christian, then by her being healed on her blindness. Her life as a joyful and passionate follower of Jesus even though she was blind was her way of glorifying God. So for her, praying for deliverance from blindness wasn’t the answer – but to be delivered from self-pity and bitterness was more important, and she kept God central in her life by doing so.
How about you and me? Are we asking God to deliver us – so that his glory may be seen in us?
"Turning Trials into Opportunities for God's Glory"
Are we seeing our difficulties as opportunities to glorify God? Hezekiah saw that this situation was actually an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed. Maybe we need to see our trials and troubles and difficulties in the same way? Maybe we need to ask God to use us even in the worse times, so that by looking at us and our stories, people will see God’s power and wonder?
Let’s pray this prayer with Hezekiah today, and ask for God to show himself through us. It’s a wonderful thing, having God’s glory shine out of you, so that others see him in your situation. I pray that we will be open to God using even the difficult part of our lives for this great purpose.
