2 Kings 19:1-7
"19 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”"
It is interesting and instructive to see the process by which Hezekiah was brought from his lack of trust to a complete dependence upon God. God, it seems, allowed the matter of Rabshakeh to go to its furthest extremity, in order to bring the king to an end of all fleshly reliance. Only thus is He free to work on our behalf. We are reminded of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, where he speaks of being 'pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life; but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver ..'. The king was not as yet come fully to this point - still further pressures from Rabshakeh's threats were to come before the longed-for deliverance was wrought, as the next reading will show. But, in the meanwhile - and this is a great word of encouragement for the spiritual life - there was the reassurance from the Lord through the prophet Isaiah in 6 that all would yet be well. This promise was like a momentary gleam of light in the darkness, and presently the crisis was as acute as ever - and yet it could never be quite the same again, for God had spoken, and to the trusting soul this is sufficient to bring peace. We think once more of Paul's experience in Acts 27:23-25 when, in a similar crisis he received the assurance of God, and responded in the glorious affirmation of faith 'Be of good cheer: for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me.' It is worth a very great deal of pressure to be brought to such a place of calm confidence and trust.