Our Daily Bread devotional, September 1, 2016 - “Because You Prayed”

Topic: “Because You Prayed” [September 1, 2016]

Read: Isaiah 37:9–22, 33, Bible in a Year: Psalms 135–136; 1 Corinthians 12

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. - Philippians 4:6

What do you do with your worries? Do you turn them inward, or turn them upward?

When the brutal Assyrian King Sennacherib was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, he sent a message to King Hezekiah saying that Judah would be no different from all the other nations he had conquered. Hezekiah took this message to the temple in Jerusalem, and “spread it out before the Lord” (Isa. 37:14). He then prayed and asked for help from Almighty God.

Soon afterward Isaiah the prophet delivered this message to Hezekiah from the Lord: “Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, the Lord has spoken” (Isa. 37:21–22 nlt). Scripture tells us that Hezekiah’s prayer was answered that very night. God intervened miraculously, conquering the enemy forces outside the city gates. The Assyrian army didn’t even “shoot an arrow” (v. 33). Sennacherib would leave Jerusalem, never to return.

Three words in God’s message to Hezekiah—“Because you prayed”—show us the best place to go with our worries. Because Hezekiah turned to God, He rescued him and his people. When we turn our worries into prayer, we discover that God is faithful in unexpected ways!

Prayer: Father, please help me to turn my worries into prayer. My problems are better in Your hands than in my own.

This message was written by James Banks [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]