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Sunday, September 11, 2005
Rev. Dr. Harold E Kidd
REMEMBERING
9/11
"Hezekiah
turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord."
Isaiah 38:2
This past week has been
filled not only with continuing coverage of recovery in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina but as well special programs remembering 9/11, 2001. Friday
evening, even as the benefit concert was being broadcast on most major
stations, the Discovery Channel showed extensive footage of the planes crashing
into the World Trade Center towers, people running for cover, and film of
persons jumping out of windows from above the 89th floor. Lord,
help. They did interviews with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and one
of the comments he made was that we must remember 9/11 so that we will
make every effort not to see
that something like this ever happens again. Immediately after 9/11 the war on
terrorism went into high gear.
On this particular weekend
and during these early days of September our nation and compassionate
sympathizers around the world are inundated (which means to be overwhelmed as with a flood) with the shock and
tragedy of Hurricane Katrina while at the same time through our many services
of remembrance we relive the great loss of life incurred on 9/11 three years
ago. It can become overwhelming.
Perhaps you woke up to the
news this morning that Al-Qaeda has issued a new videotape threatening
And so one of the questions
we might ask ourselves is, how do we make it through one major tragedy after
another? How does one make it through one storm after another? When inundated
with one crisis after another, it is possible for persons to become so
overwhelmed until we suffer from "battle fatigue", post-traumatic
stress syndrome.
We live in a world of high
anxiety. People are just anxious. Too much drama and too much uncertainty. Our
nerves can take only so much stress. Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the
Family, recently sent out an e-mail encouraging prayers for not only the
victims of Hurricane Katrina but prayers as well for the nation as we mobilize
our resources in outpourings of concern and care. He spoke about the danger of compassion fatigue, which was
experienced by many after 9/11. Compassion fatigue, when one is bombarded with
so many calls for help until they literally burn out because of the emotional
and physical drain.
The words in that favorite
hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” attest to the reality that if we turn to
it, if we rely upon it, prayer becomes a mighty force in the lives of God's
people which can bring hope, renewal.
"What a friend we have in Jesus all our sins
and grief to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O
what peace we often
forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because
we do not carry everything to God in prayer."
Yes, prayer will keep us
when it seems nothing else will.
Our text speaks to us about
the power of prayer to heal, to renew, and to bring hope. King Hezekiah was one
of
As we remember 9/11 this
morning, we should also be reminded that the terrorism of bombs, planes, and
bullets is not the only kind of terrorism that exists. What took place in
One of the distinguishing
qualities we learn about Hezekiah as a person and as a king was that he
believed in God. He gave himself to a vibrant prayer life for God's people. He
gave himself to prayer for the security of his nation, and he gave himself to
prayer for his own divine healing.
And so there is a element in
the message this morning which relates to our praying for each other with all
kinds of prayers and our praying for our leaders that they would know God, that
they will draw closer to God because they realize they need divine help in
leading this country out of our downward spiral, and pray to God, as did
Solomon, for God's wisdom to lead his people. That the complex problems and
crises coming upon the world today need to be bathed in much prayer.
In 2 Chronicles 32, when
Assyria under the leadership of Sennacherib had surrounded the holy city of
Jerusalem and were intent upon its destruction and forcing Hezekiah's
surrender, Hezekiah went to the temple, God's House – amen -- along with the
prophet Isaiah. Verse 20 of that text says King Hezekiah and the prophet
Isaiah, son of Amoz, cried out in prayer to heaven about this. He was a
prayerful leader.
And here, in a time of national
crisis, the Bible gives us this example of a leader who kept himself before God
with fervent intercessions on behalf of God's people. In a time of national
crisis Hezekiah was found praying in the House of God. And notice he was not
hiding in the temple from the threat of national crisis, but he was found
praying from the temple. Amen.
And prayer is what the Lord
has given to the church as a gift in its campaign for the
Another of Paul's
instructions on prayer given to the church is found in 1 Timothy 2: "I
urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings, and all those in authority, that
we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness." Although
God is all-knowing and all-powerful, He has enlisted the church to help Him
transform this world through our prayers. Amen.
I wonder what would happen
if all of a sudden the Congress turned its meeting into a prayer meeting. I
wonder what would happen if we put prayer back in the schools. I wonder what
would happen if we started giving ourselves to prayer back in the church. I
wonder what would happen if believers began to fast and pray one day a week.
And in these days of one
national crisis after another, our nation will be all the more blessed with a
praying people and leaders who believe in the power of prayer. Leaders who
don't come to the church because they need a vote but who come to the church
because they need some prayer.
Hezekiah prayed to the Lord,
and the Lord heard his prayer. Then there came a day, not soon after, when
Hezekiah became seriously ill. Verse 1 of chapter 38 informs us that he was at
the point of death. The divine call came to the king, God speaking to the king
through the prophet Isaiah, "Prepare to leave this world." Yet in the
midst of being told he was going to die, Hezekiah turned to God, his only
refuge, and pleaded with God for a continuation of life.
And we have from these
accounts in the life of Hezekiah, the words of encouragement that God can save a
nation from the threat of national crisis and disaster on behalf of a praying
people. God will bless a people whose heart is turned to Him. God is concerned
about the well-being and life of his people. When a people willingly live under
the commands of God, love thy neighbor as we do ourselves, to treat others as
we would like to be treated, that nation will be a blessed people.
But we also learn from the
life of Hezekiah, don't ever give up hope and praying that God will turn back
the tide. That God will make a way of escape. That God will give a season of
remission. That God will heal. That God will restore and renew. That God will
reconcile what seems irreconcilable. That God will bring deliverance. That God
will turn his people back to himself. Never give up hoping in what you pray
for. God did hear Hezekiah's prayer; He healed the king's illness, and He added
15 years to his life.
This text tells us that in
response to our prayers: (1) God will never ignore fervent and sincere prayer.
(2) God can move in radical ways that defy human logic if it fulfills his
purposes for our life. (3) God has the power to change the course of our lives.
I remember a good friend by
the name of Ronald P. Ronald had been diagnosed with cancer and was given only
so many months to live, but the church prayed and kept on praying, friends and
family prayed and kept on praying, Ronald prayed and kept on praying. Ronald would be in intensive care one week
and out the next, and this in-and-out hospitalization repeated itself any
number of times.
Like Hezekiah, Ronald had a
desire to live. And God gave a witness, because Ronald lived almost nine years
after he was given the diagnosis that he was terminal. And he did not spend
these nine years living sickly, but he and his wife moved into a new home, he
got to see his first grandchild, he spent many a day being able to smell the
roses of life.
How prayer works yet remains
a mystery, but it is a reality. Prayer does work. For we know that God has
answered and does answer our prayers. Prayers can turn back the tide. Prayers
can create a breakthrough when nothing else will. Prayers can initiate the
goodwill to be reconciled when we've tried everything else.
Our prayers can keep the
flames of hope alive when hope is just a flicker away from being snuffed out by
the winds of too much drama. Our prayers can promote healing and remission when
doctors have done all that they can do. And I believe that prayers can keep the
mind and heart from cracking up under the pressures of this constantly changing
and demanding world. To spend time in quiet meditation with God, to be still
and know that he is God, may be the only preservative we have to keep us from
being overwhelmed by a sense of it all.