He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered.
– 2 Kings 18:5–7
This is the way 2 Kings describes Hezekiah. These verses are like light in the middle of darkness. There are so many descriptions of kings. All the northern kings in Israel, and so many of the southern kings in Judah who are described with the exact opposite language. They did evil in the sight of the Lord. They did more evil than all those who were before them.
And here is Hezekiah comes on the scene and listen to this description. “He trusted in the Lord, he held fast to the Lord.”
2 Kings 18:5–7 encourages us to trust God wholeheartedly.
And as I read that, I think that’s it, that was the key to success for a king. And the key to success for the people of God for the king to do one thing, to trust the Lord, to hold fast to the Lord. That’s why verse seven says, “He prospered and the people of God prospered because he and they were trusting the Lord.”
And I just want to encourage you with this word today. And part of this out of the overflow of, well, honestly, without going into details, repentance in my own heart. I’ll just confess that I … My time with the Lord recently just needed to repent for a lack of trust, a lack of faith. A lack of trust that God could do something in particular or would do something in particular. And really, ultimately, just a lack of trust in who God is, and his power, and his wisdom, and his love. And I just want to encourage you, with the overflow of conviction in my own heart but most importantly straight from God’s Word in 2 Kings 18, “Trust in the Lord. Hold fast to the Lord.”
I obviously don’t know all that you’re walking through, but I am assuming that you are tempted to not trust in God in some particular way in your life. And when you think about even sin in our life, all sin is a lack of trust. It’s us saying, “We know better than God. We trust ourselves more than God.” I don’t know how you are tempted to not trust in God or not hold fast to God, but I just want to encourage you today with these words straight from God in 2 Kings 18 and to pray for this over you and me.
2 Kings 18:5–7 challenges us to live fully dependent on God.
God, we pray that what was said about Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18 would be true of us today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. Even as we think about what we want to hear you say on the day we come face to face with you, “Well done, good and faithful servant full of faith.” God, help us to live full of faith today, trusting in you.
With everything that’s going on in our lives, our families, work, church, in the world around us, God, you are our trust, you are infinitely trustworthy. You are perfect in power, perfect in love, perfect in wisdom. God, forgive us for all the ways we have trusted ourselves more than you or trusted anyone or anything else more than you. You alone are worthy of all our trust.
So we pray, help us to live by faith today, help us to trust in you with all the things we don’t understand. Help us to trust in you in all the ways we are tempted to turn from you towards sin and to trust in ourselves. And, God, we pray that you would help us to hold fast to you. And even as we pray that we praise you for your promise to hold fast to us, for your faithfulness to us, even when we are unfaithful to you.
Oh God, we pray, help us to live by faith in you and to lead others to faith in you. God, help us to point others to your trustworthiness. Help us to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ and their faith today. Help us to lead somebody who doesn’t have faith in Jesus to faith today through the gospel.
Prayer for the Bunu People
God, we pray for the Bunu people of China, this … One of the largest unreached people groups in China with no single church. God, we pray for the spread of faith in Jesus to the Bunu people of China. Please, God, cause it to be so that they might trust in you, hold fast to you, and experience eternal life through faith in you. Oh God, we pray all this according to your Word in 2 Kings 18:5–7. In Jesus’ name, in the name of the faithful one, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
