Life can change in a moment. A text message pops up with good news and things may never be the same. A phone call brings bad news, and your world is turned upside down. Most change takes a long time, but this is not because God is unable to come to our aid. When His time is right, He is fully capable of fixing things instantly.

Confronted with the encircling armies of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, Hezekiah finally turned to the Lord for help. With the visible symbols of repentance on his body, torn clothing and sackcloth, he went into the Temple (v. 2). At the same time, he sent servants to Isaiah, the prophet, asking, “Pray for the remnant that still survives.” (v. 4). The cities of Judah had been destroyed. The capital of the country was surrounded. Hezekiah had tried everything! Now he was down to his last hope—the God of Israel.

Isaiah’s response came quickly. “This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard” (v. 6). It seems Hezekiah took these words to heart, because when Sennacherib sent another disheartening communiqué, he took the letter into the Temple and laid it out before the Lord. “Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God” (v. 16). He asked God to deliver them, “so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God” (v. 19).

God heard Hezekiah’s cry for help. Through the prophet Isaiah, He assured the king that his enemies would not enter the city. “I will defend this city and save it,” the Lord said. The defense came suddenly, and in one evening the lives of the Judeans were delivered (v. 35)!

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