welcome to the together on mission podcast where we seek to be with and we seek to be like jesus as we begin our conversations each day with jesus through scripture prayer and meditation and then we continue that conversation with him for the rest of our day your host is travis twyman the pastor at the inland vineyard church in corona california in this season of the podcast we'll be traveling through the old testament where we will be examining some of life's greatest characters that have changed the course of history in our series summer of stories good morning everyone and welcome to the daily together on mission podcast this is travis and it's great to be with all of you this morning it really is we are continuing our journey through first and second kings the long old testament narrative about the kings of israel and the kings of judah and we're going to be this morning in second kings 19 through 20 and we're going to look at the story of a man named hezekiah hezekiah was an amazing king and as you now know since we've been taking this journey together it's very rare to have an amazing king in first and second kings there were only five or six of them and hezekiah is one of those and hezekiah was a man of prayer so we're gonna get to that in just a moment the title of the podcast is end of my rope and the reality is we often find ourselves at the end of our rope we find ourselves there more than we like to find ourselves there and maybe it's because a rising superpower from the east is besieging our city now that was hezekiah's story it's probably not yours but you could have some enemies after you you could be around people regularly that are hurting you or driving you crazy so that could have you at the end of your rope or you could have lost a job and the fear of finances is overwhelming or you might be struggling with an illness or someone you love might be struggling with an illness you might want something so bad but you can't seem to get it or you had something that was wonderful but you lost it or a vision is not coming to fruition or your kids are struggling or a relationship is not smooth or you can't seem to get free from something or you've got to make a big decision and you don't have clarity whatever it might be there are so many things that bring us to the end of our ropes we know the situation so well and sometimes we bring these situations on ourselves but sometimes it's just the result of living in a broken and a fallen world often almost all the time not all the time but often when we are in one of these end of our rope situations we feel alone we feel like nobody can relate we feel like where is everybody and the reality is there's one person at least that is always there at the end of our rope to grab us when there is absolutely no rope left and that person is god and that brings us to the story of hezekiah now before we go there maybe you could think for a moment how is it that you are at the end of your rope because when we encounter hezekiah in second kings chapter 19 what we find is that sennacherib who's the king of assyria has already sacked northern israel and exiled northern israel and so now sennacherib and his army is moving south and has besieged and has surrounded judah jerusalem and hezekiah is the king and hezekiah needless to say is at the end of his rope too many enemies and they have too much power and so sennacherib sends this letter to hezekiah and in second kings 19 verse 14 hezekiah receives the letter from the messengers and reads it and then he goes up to the temple of the lord his god and he spreads the letter out before the lord and hezekiah prays to the lord lord god of israel in throne between the chair of you alone are god over all the kings of the earth you have made the heavens and the lord open your eyes and hear sennacherib is ridiculing your people and so hezekiah is at the end of his rope and he goes to the one person that is always there at the end of his rope to grab him when there is no rope left and that is the lord his god now i can't tell the whole story but god does move and rescues judah from the hands of sennacherib and hezekiah continues to be a godly king keeping the commandments of the law and ruling israel now a couple years later this is in chapter 20 verse 1 in those days hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death and isaiah the prophet came to him and said hezekiah put your house in order because you will not recover now in verse 2 hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the lord remember me lord remember me and hezekiah wept bitterly and before isaiah could even get out of the palace god spoke to isaiah and said go back and tell hezekiah that i will heal you hezekiah and on the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the lord and god does heal hezekiah but whether it was surrounding armies enemies illnesses whatever it was that brought hezekiah to the end of his rope he always knew that the lord his god was there at the end of his rope to grab him to hold him when there was absolutely no rope left hezekiah turned to the lord in prayer when he was being besieged he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the lord when he had an illness and he didn't know where to go or what to do we're talking about prayer we're talking about what prayer actually is prayer is going to god whenever going to god when we're at the end of our rope going to god when we just don't know where else to go that's prayer going to god we don't want to go to anybody else because we don't feel like anybody else is going to understand what we're going through when we're at the end of our rope for whatever reason we're at the end of our rope that's prayer when we don't know what to say going to god in prayer because you don't have to say anything just be there because true prayer has nothing to do with wordsmithing or any kind of a script has certainly nothing to do with pressure and prayer has been over complicated and prayer for hezekiah and prayer for you and for me is simply this. God is always there. He is wise, compassionate, centered, interesting, interested in you, full of grace, full of patience, even when the deck is stacked against you, even when you feel like you failed. God is the father or the parent that you did not have.
The unconditional loving one prayer is not about doing a discipline, getting it right, saying the right thing. Prayer is simply knowing that someone is always there, always cares, always is interested, always has your back, always has your best in mind. That's prayer. And God, even if nobody else is, God is always there when you and I are at the end of our rope.
He's there when there's no rope left. And prayer is knowing that. And prayer doesn't necessarily involve talking. It can simply be listening.
It can be breathing. It can be going to your prayer closet or walking down Main Street. It's simply a conversation with a God that is supremely interested in you and is there at the end of your rope and nobody else is there at the end of your rope. And this is what we see in the life of Hezekiah because it seems that Hezekiah knew that prayer was just as natural as breathing.
And so at the end of his rope, he just leaned into God who he knew was interested in his life in the big picture and in the details. So whatever has you at the end of your rope, whatever has me at the end of my rope, however we're feeling in this moment, prayer is simply leaning in to God. No pressure, no expectations, no script, no guilt, just simply realizing that a very interesting God and a God that is very interested in you is right there, regardless of where you are. He will never leave you and He will never forsake you.
So this morning, whatever has you at the end of your rope, let's do what one of Jesus' best friend, Peter, encouraged us to do. Cast your cares upon Him because He cares for you. So whatever is heavy on you, whatever has you at the end of your rope this morning, just simply cast your cares upon Him. And whether that involves talking or just sitting quietly in the presence of Jesus, cast your cares upon Him because He genuinely, totally, supremely cares for you.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Together on Mission podcast. We hope that you were truly blessed and encouraged by it today. If you had any questions about Inland Vineyard, our ministries, our Sunday services, connect with us on our app, which you can find in Apple and Google Play app stores. We also have a social media page, which you can find with the tag at Inland Vineyard, just to see what's going on with our community, within our church events, our revival youth group, as well as our children's ministry.
Or you can just check us out on our website at inlandvineyard.org. Inland Vineyard, we'll see you in the next episode of the Together on Mission podcast. We'll see you in the next episode of the Together on Mission podcast. We'll see you in the next episode of the Together on Mission podcast.
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