THE SPREAD LETTER
‘And Hezekiah received the letter … and spread it before the Lord.’
I. Here is a good man whose first thought in trouble is to carry the distress to God.—The Temple and the altar are Hezekiah’s natural and inevitable refuge; he never thinks of going anywhere else. I would be like him. I would flee to God before consulting with any human helper, and before sitting down to ponder the matter in my own mind.
II. Here is a good man who does not presume to dictate to God how He is to act.—Hezekiah spreads the insulting letter of the Assyrian prince before the heavenly King; he explains his own sorrow and need; and there he stops. He does not prescribe to One so much wiser than himself. Thus, having told my Father everything, let me leave Him to decide what to do. He makes no mistakes. He will choose the right path.
III. Here is a good man who feels that God’s honour and glory are bound up with his deliverance.—And if I am joined with Christ, God’s dear Son, the same conviction should be mine. He cannot suffer me to perish. His own character demands that I shall be more than a conqueror.
Illustration
‘No one of us knows how soon he may have occasion to practise this lesson. No one of us knows how soon some distressing letter, some heavy tidings, may come suddenly upon him, and the only thing he can do with it will be to go and spread it before the Lord: no relief, no consolation, but to betake himself to our Lord Jesus Christ, tell Him the whole grief, cast all the burden upon Him. If such a moment should come, and come it will sooner or later, should we live any long time in the world, to every one of us; what a blessing will it prove, should we have been trained beforehand to seek the Lord, to commit all to Him in regular prayer! What a help, what a privilege at such a time to be conscious that you are not in the agony of the moment setting about something which you have never been used to before! you are not resorting in your extremity to an untried physician, but to Him Whose healing power you have known by happy experience all your life long unto this day!’