“As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.” (Isaiah 37:1–2, ESV)
I had a friend once, a member of the church, who was struggling with his marriage. He ended up leaving the church because of this. You might think that he left to participate in another fellowship, but this was not the case. He indicated that he would be back when he sorted out the difficulty. This method of dealing with difficulties is not from heavenly wisdom.
You might think that this scenario is just one obscure example of the foolish ways of man to resolve problems, but it is not. Repeatedly I find that often people back away from the church when they are struggling. This is not an infrequent problem. On another occasion I ran into a professing Christian who was experiencing financial difficulties. He told me that he would participate in church again when he got his finances in order.
What should one do when things go bad? Well, the answer is not to drop out of the fellowship in the church. Look at the situation for Hezekiah, king of Judah. He had a serious threat from Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Hezekiah, realized that Assyria was militarily strong and, feared that they could defeat Judah. Yet he did not run away from God like so many do today. Instead, he did the exact opposite.
So what did Hezekiah do? First, he expressed humility. The tearing of garments and wearing of sackcloth is a symbol and display of great anguish. Hezekiah realized his peril and his inability to do anything humanly to solve the problem. This demonstrated humility. When we have struggles, we need to maintain a posture of humility. What is this posture? A line in one of my favorite hymns characterizes it, “I am weak but Thou art strong.” In everything we must realize that we are weak, but our Lord is mighty.
Second, Hezekiah goes into the “house of the Lord.” Rather than dropping out of the faith until he might fix the problem, he drew closer to God. This action can only spring forth from humility. When we realize that we are weak we will draw closer to the Lord. Rather than separating ourselves from the fellowship of believers we will become more actively engaged in it. The church, the body of Christ, is the place where one receives the encouragement, challenge, and support of others. All of this is vital in one’s times of struggle.
Third, Hezekiah sought the counsel of Isaiah, the man of God. How often do we seek biblical guidance when we have a struggle in life? Many professing believers cover up their difficulties. Many do not call or speak to anyone when they are in a period of stress over a situation. The Bible exhorts believers to seek the counsel of God’s word, and this includes seeking the counsel of spiritually mature believers.
Last, Hezekiah prayed to God about the situation (v14-20). In this prayer, Hezekiah poured his heart out to God. In this way, Hezekiah joined the Lord in His sovereign program. When we struggle, we ought to pray. We will deal with this in a later devotion.
When it is all said and done, when people ignore the fellowship of the church during times of struggle the main issue is that of pride. We do not want to admit that we are weak, that we do not have the answers, and that we need help. We may feel embarrassed or insecure in speaking to others about our issues, yet this is what we must do. It requires humility.
In times when you experience issues in life, and you need help, do not think you have to solve the problem yourself. The church is there to help you.
Renewing the Heart 