II Kings 20:5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
Problems never come at the right time and they never play fairly. As to the time when problems appear, if they came when you expected or wanted them, they wouldn’t really be problems anymore. What makes a problem a problem is the inopportune time at which it appears. Problems always show up at the wrong time. Problems never play fairly, which is to say they usually don’t come one at a time at your leisure. They come all at once and overwhelm you like a pack of wolves. That is what makes them problems.
In II Kings 20, we find King Hezekiah, a man who was not just beset by a problem but probably by a whole pack of them. Many Bible scholars believe that the story we find here of Hezekiah’s sickness unto death was at the same time that he was surrounded by the Assyrian army.
The Bible says, “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.” This was so dogmatic that the prophet Isaiah came and said, “Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” He said, “You had better get your house and kingdom in order because you will die, and to be perfectly clear, you will not live.”
The Bible says that “he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD.” Hezekiah prayed. He actually made a statement that he had walked before God and truth with a perfect heart, but God knew his heart and what he meant. Then the Bible says that even before Isaiah was gone out to the middle court, God gave a word to him saying, “Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.” And the Bible says that Hezekiah recovered. God is willing to hear our prayers. God is willing to answer our prayers.
In Isaiah 38:20, Hezekiah is speaking of this incident when he says, “The LORD was ready to save me.” That is so obvious when you see how quickly such a major request was answered. There are times when God is teaching patience, when God says, “No.” But don’t allow your questions about prayer and about God to obscure God’s willingness. Can He answer prayer? Yes! Will He answer prayer? In any given specific situation I may or may not know. But does prayer matter? Yes! Don’t become too smart that you feel like you have God figured out and that prayer becomes nothing, a religious exercise.
Prayer matters. God responds to the prayers of His people. My relationship to God is not primarily based upon how much I understand Him, because God is infinite and beyond my understanding. My relationship to God is based upon whether or not I will trust Him. If I trust Him, I will pray. If I pray, then I can know that God is ready to hear my prayers. He hears my prayers, He sees my tears, and He cares about my need. Prayer matters because God responds to it.