Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-13
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
For May IS, 1924-lSrael and the Assyrian Crisis
Kings Is, 49, ISa. Sc, 81.
BY DR. MARION MICH. HULL


not so foolish as to fail to appreciate
the need OF help, or to bl1ndly trust
to fate or to Providence to work out
some deliverance. But he had
learned where to go for help; he had
met difficulties before and had them
solved in the place of prayer.
He sent word to Isaiah concerning
his present difficulty. He had grown
UP as a boy under the ministry Of
Isaiah. He know that Isaiah knew
Jehovah; and it was fro~n Jehovah
that he expected help and wisdom
for the crisis. In his message to
Isaiah he speaks to him of the Lord
thy God and of their bla pheming
against Him. And Isaiah's God,
who was also Hezekiah's, sent him
a comforting message through His
servant, the prophet. Read it in 2
Kings 1876, Z. That Thus saith the
Lord came to pass to the very let
ter!
A Prayer and Its Answer
The Rabshekah learned that SEN
nacherib had engaged Lebnah in a
battle and had left Lachish. Hear
ing tn the king of Ethiopia was ad-
vancing against them and realizing
direction at the present, he sent a.
letter back to Hezekiah more bias
phemous, more boastful, and more
insolent than his personal message
had been and demanding his surren-
der.
Hezekiah received the letter and
read it. Then he went to his accus-
toned place of prayer-It is a
10
customed place of prayer)-and
spread the letter before the Lord as
if for Him to read it. In this way
he put the matter of his need before
his God. Then he prayed. Notice in
that prayer in Kings 19:15-19 that
he recognized Gods Personnel o-
ovah; Gods Covenant-God cf Israel;
Gods mercy-which dwellest be-
tween the cherubim they were just
over the mercy-seat and sprinkled
with blood; Gods power-the creator
and ruler Of ,the universe; God S
honor at STALE; Gods unity--the
"alone" God. all these others that
have been unable to stand before
the king of Assyria were nothing
but works of mems hands; Gods
glory-save us that all the earth
may know that Thou art the Lord
God. even Thou Only!
Of course that prayer was an
sweredi Such a prayer can never
fail an answer. Many of the prayers
today lack the elements necessary to
success and go no higher than the
upper lip of the prayer! But prayer
that ha1 the elements of HeZekiah's
reaches the heart of God in the high
est heavens and finds immediate re-
Spouse. Sometimes it comes to pass
that night as in the case of Hez-
ekiah and Sennacherib; sometimes
the outworking of the answer takes
a bit longer time, but one day with
the Lord is as a thousand years and
a thousand years as enc day. The
answer is started Immediately; the
actual outworking may be apparently
delayed because of the obstacles to
be overcome either in you who pray
or in the one for whom you are pray
ing.
Isaiah brought to Hezekiah Cod
answer to his prayer. In his mes
sage, conveying to Hezekiah God S
words, there is found an interesting
sidelight on human history. In
verses 23 and "a e Kings 10 the
personal pronoun "I'' is the king of
Assyria recounting all his successes.
In V. 25 the 81" is Jehovah and shows
that Sennacherib's successes were by
Jehovah's permission only in carry
ing out His plans. In verse % the
'I'' is still Jehovah, and Sennacherib
learned whose was the power.
In verse 20 Jehovah turns from
addressing Assyria to speak comfort
ing words to Judah, and the 'I' in
verse "a gives the reason for it-not
Juldahs, but for His own names
sake that had been blasphemed and
for David's, to whom He had sworn
with an oath!
How that prophecy was answered
that night! BY some sudden catas-
trophe from God 1856 900 of the Assyr-
ian army dided in a night and the
remnant went back home by a diff
ferent route. At Ninevah, the king
was slain by his own sons. Gods
words were fulfilled to the very
letter.
Yes, when we have an accustomed
place for prayer, like Hezekiah;
when in time of trouble, like him, we
go there and spread the matter be-
fore Jehovah and plead with Him on
covenant grounds and for His own
glory, the answer is sure to come.
Sometimes we do not recognize it at
once, but it is there just the same.
In this connection the following
words of saint of Gods will be an
appropriate illustration:
Much that perplexes us in our
Christian, experience is the answer
to our prayers.
We pray for patience and God
sends tribulation; for tribulation
worketh patience. Rom. 5:3-5
We pray for submission and God
sends suffering; 70 rive learn obedi-
ence by the things We suffer
Heb. SIS.
We pray for unselfishness and
God gives us opportunities to sacri-
flee ourselves by thinking on the
things of others, and by laying down
our lives for the brethren. Phil.
"a, Matt. 27-42, John SIG.
We pray for victory and the
things of the world swoop down upon
us in storm of temptation; for this
is the victory that overcomath the
world, even our faith. I John 5;4.
We pray for strength and humil-
1ty and some messenger of Satan tor.
ments us until we lie in the dust
CRYING for its removal II Cor. 1877.
We pray for union with Jesus and
God sewers natural ties, and lets our
best friends misunderstood us and
seem Indifferent to us; and calls on
us to walk "alone." lisa. 51:2, 63:9.
We pray for love and God sends
peculiar suffering and puts us with
apparently unlovely people, and let's
them say things which rasp the
nerves and lacerate the heart. for
love suffereth long and is kind, love
is not impolite, love is not provoked.
love beareth all things, believeth.
hopeth, endareth; love never faiIeth.
| Cor. 13:4-S
We pray for likenesses to Jesus
and the answer is, II have chosen
thee in the furnace of affliction. Can
thine heart endure or can thy hands