Say to Hezekiah, “Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?”
– Isaiah 36:4
Oh, man, I love this verse. Here’s the scene. Get the context. This leader from the Assyrians is taunting the people of Israel and saying, as a representative of the King of Assyria, who’s threatening to totally destroy Jerusalem at this point, to totally destroy God’s people, and he’s basically talking trash and he says, “Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria. On what do you,” and listen to the language, “Rest this trust of yours?” Basically, he’s saying, “Who are you trusting in?” And he goes on to talk trash about God, saying, “Are you going to trust in God?” The king of Assyria throws down Gods all over the place, and he’s going to do the same with your God. “So on what are you resting your trust?”
Isaiah 36:4 reminds us that God is worthy of our trust.
And you read the rest of the story, and it is sobering, it’s humbling, it’s awesome. It is basically God showing that the king of Assyria is simply in the palm of his hand, that God holds the king of Assyria and the entire Assyrian army filled with hundreds of thousands of people, he holds them in the palm of his hand, and it is right and good for Hezekiah and the people of God to rest their trust on God. And God shows that for all who trust in him, he will always, always, always show he’s worthy of their trust, that you can rest your trust. And so that’s the language I just want to encourage you with today.
I want to pray over you today. I want to encourage you in this moment right now to find rest through trust in God, amidst whatever is going on in your life, amidst everything going on in the world, to rest in this moment, to rest today. God has designed us to live with this kind of rest on trust in him, that when we trust in him, we can know his word is not going to fail. He holds us and everything in the world in his hands, and he will always, always, always show himself trustworthy.
And so God, I pray in light of this language in Isaiah 36:4, I pray for rest for every single one of us, and I include myself in this. Oh God, amidst all the things my family and others around me are walking through, God, I pray for your rest for all of us as we trust in you.
Isaiah 36:4 reminds us that trusting God provides true rest for our souls.
And God, we praise you for the rest you provide as we trust in you. We praise you because you are infinitely trustworthy and we don’t have to be anxious or worried. You free us, Matthew 6, Philippians 4, from these things. You give us rest. Even as we prayed in light of Isaiah 26… You keep us in perfect peace. And our mind has stayed on you because we trust in you. So God, I just pray for that rest, I pray for that peace, I pray for that strength over every single person listening to this right now.
And God, we pray you to help us to lead others to this rest. God, as we talk with different people today who are going through different things… Lord, please help us to encourage them with the rest and the trust that they can find in you. God, help us to point people who don’t know you to the eternal rest and joy and peace that’s found through trust in you, Jesus.
Prayer for the Nayadi People
And then we pray for the Nayadi people of India. Almost a hundred thousand of them who can’t rest in the way we’re praying right now because they’ve never heard of your love for them in Jesus. God, please change that. Please bring the Nayadi people of India to rest on trust in you. We pray for the spread of the gospel to them. Please, God, save them. Cause the gospel to go to them. Raise up workers to get the gospel to them. Open their eyes, oh God. We pray to believe and receive salvation and rest eternally through trust in you. We pray all this in light of your Word, which we love, in Isaiah 36:4. In Jesus’ name, 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.
