← Don't Miss This Study
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Hi, there. Welcome to Don't Miss this, a scripture study podcast with Dave Butler and Grace Freeman.
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Each week we point out things in the scriptures that we love and think you don't want to miss.
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Thanks for listening. Hi, there. I'm Dave Butler.
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And I'm Grace Freeman Smith.
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Welcome to Don't Miss this. Grace, I'm proud of you.
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Thank you.
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I'm on trend inside, everyone. I'm on trend inside in this so that Grace remembers who she is and the family name she bears.
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Thank you, Gordon B. I thought you
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were referring to my middle name, which is Gordon and boy. Yes, Gordon. Wow. Okay.
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You said I was being a little more formal. We're doing the whole name thing.
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So welcome if you're new. Yes. Welcome to no Mrs. If you're new. It's because Grace can't remember her name. She just got married.
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And David's middle name is Corden.
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My middle name is Corden. We're so happy that you're here. We move through the scriptures week by week, point out things that we just love and think you don't want to miss. We hope that the study of scripture and the things that we talk about here and the things that you read above all just make you fall in love with the heart of God and grow closer to him and have more of his influence and love and mercy and graciousness, that's going to be our word. I just saw it when I looked out of the corner of my eye. So if you missed last week, last week was a. Was a circus because we were jumping back and forth between two kings and two Chronicles, which we're going to do again today. But today's a little bit more simple because again, we're talking about some of the same people we talked about last time. We're in the period of the kings of the two kingdoms, right? So remember, after King Solomon, we have Saul, no one cared about. David, who we love, and then Solomon, who no one cares about. Okay? Right. We had those three kings. And then the kingdom splits into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, okay? 10 tribes up north, 2 tribes down south, and they have all of these different kings, and they run parallel to each other. The northern kingdom gets conquered by assyria in about 722 BC and then about a hundred some odd years later, the southern kingdom is going to be conquered by Babylon. Okay? And then the history of the Bible is going to just follow the southern kingdom, only because the lost one's north. So we're in that period of the two kingdoms. Now, why Did David. Why do you keep saying this? Because when we get to prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah, Habakkuk, Joel, just seeing how many I could.
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Yeah, that was. I like you.
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Kept going. Pretty impressive. When we get to those prophets that come at the end of the Old Testament, they are coming to the people in the northern and southern kingdoms. So there's. At the end of the Bible, you can almost take them and say that, oh, yeah, they came. So this is a time period that all of those prophets that we know from. We know their names, at least from the end of the Bible, are going to be prophesying to and guiding and directing the people of these two split kingdoms. So it's kind of a significant time period in. In the Bible. So today we're looking. We decided we're going to take these three Kings, not the ones at Christmas, Asa, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah, and watch how each of them offered this prayer as part of their story. And today is going to be that study on these prayers during times of distress, during times of heartache and trouble to turn to the Lord God. And we just love that all three of these kings do that. And last week we talked about all the different ways of turning our hearts back to God. And we on purpose to not mention prayer because we're going to focus so much on it today. And above all the things, I just feel like if someone were to say, if someone were to ask me, what's the number one bit of spiritual advice you'd give to a person, Easy. It would be to pray because it's so simple and God is so accessible. And I particularly love that it's the kings who are praying, because in ancient culture, the king was the boss and the king actually represented the God of the country. But in these three Kings, we see ones who say who. Who turn their hearts to the Lord, who ask for help. And I. And it's just so awesome. So that's what we're gonna do for today. We're in second kings and two chronicles, both during this time of the two kingdoms. And we're gonna look at these three kings prayers.
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Okay, I'm gonna start with two chronicles. We're gonna be in chapter 14. And we are going to start with Asa, which, by the way, why is that the cutest name ever that I'm just being in?
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And you should start collecting names. Great.
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True, Asa. It's so cute.
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I'm just loving that babies.
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And chapter 14 starts.
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And there was an announcement.
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I know.
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A hard launch or a Soft launch.
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I'm married. I've been married for two weeks. What happens is Q. Asa becomes the king. And I do love that in 2 Chronicles and 2nd Kings, all of these are starting out. And when it introduces you to a king, I love when it tells you that it's a good one. And it's just so cute. It just says this. And Asa did that, which was good and right in the eyes of his God. And first of all, what a good introduction. You just know. Yeah. It's like, here's what you need to know about Asa. That he was just good. He just did that, which was good. Yeah. And that is your first introduction to him. And what's gonna happen is he starts taking away all the bad things, and he starts bringing all the good things. This is what all the kings do. We learned that last week. And then all of a sudden, in verse number nine, a fight is going to begin, and the king, or an Ethiopian is gonna show up with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots. Listen to me. I am not great at math. I'm not going to times together a thousand and a thousand. I don't need to. I don't even need to know. Thank you. It's a million. It's a million. Of course it is a million. That's even scarier. A million people. There's a million people and 300 chariots, which would have been scary in and of itself. Okay. And all of a sudden, everyone's panicked, and Asa's like, okay. And he doesn't even hesitate. He sees 1 million people coming to fight against him. 1 million people and 300 chariots. And he looks and he says, I know what to do. And he goes out against him, and they set the battle array. They start the battle. And then verse number 11. And Asa cries unto the Lord his God, and he says, lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or whether with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord, our God. And it would have been so easy for Asa to look at 1 million people going to battle against him and say, we do not have a chance. I can list you 1 million reasons why this is not going to work out. I can name them. Actually, there are 1 million reasons why we are going to lose. This is too much. Except he didn't, because he knew something about God. He knew that God didn't use logic to win battles. That's not how this worked. He knew that it didn't matter how many or how few people they had. He had a God that was victorious. And I read this, and I was just thinking about my life, and I was like, you know what? It is so easy for me to just count all the reasons why things aren't gonna work out, to just go and list the million reasons why it's a disaster, why I should give up, why things won't work out for me. And I forget that we believe in a God who doesn't need to count. It's not that he can't. God knew there was a million people there. He just doesn't need to. He didn't need to count. He didn't need to know all of the problems. He could just win. And that's what happens in verse 12. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. That's how long it took. One prayer. The answer was immediate. He was bigger than the issue. A million issues. He was bigger than 1 million issues. And that's what I just realized in my life is I'm like, you know what? When there are 1 million problems, I hope my first instinct is to go to God and say, I know you can take care of this. And I can't, because 1 million is really overwhelming to me, and it's zero overwhelming to you. So can you just be in charge of this problem? And that's the God we believe in is the God who is.
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Yeah, I love that line, too, in that verse 11, where he says, oh, Lord, thou art our God. And I just. And there's so many times in scripture, and I think I've heard people, you know, teach this before, that if you were to wrap up, summarize the Abrahamic covenant, right? The covenants to promise promised Israel. What's that line? The covenants to covenant. The promises to covenant Israel. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Remember that was so popular for so long, that if you were to take the promises to covenant Israel. Oh, my gosh. They're right here in our book every week. Duh. The promises to covenant Israel. And you were to wrap it up, it would be God saying, I am your God and you are my people. And Asa could have said, you know, why would God answer someone like me? And God would answer back, because I'm your God and you're my people. I'm available and you can ask. So awesome. Okay. The next prayer is actually one of my favorite spots in all of the scriptures. It's in Second Chronicles, chapter 20. This is Asa's son, whose name is Jehoshaphat, one of the great kings of the southern kingdom. And one of the reasons that the southern kingdom is. Is turns around. He's one of the. The good kings. And in chapter 20, there are these neighboring armies that come. This is the story of the Old Testament, right? There's always somebody attacking somebody, right? But ain't that the truth? Ain't that the truth about. Wasn't even an Old Testament problem. It's just like, why, why, why can we not have. You know, remember Joseph got seven years of plenty where the. You know, why can I just have one good year? You know, but just always feeling like people are being attacked. So that's maybe why we relate to the book so much. And in chapter 20, this is what happens. This army's coming. We learned at the beginning. And then in three, it says, jehoshaphat, oh, this is so good. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all of. Of Judah. I just gotta see how that says it in my other Bible that I love so much, because I know it's gonna sound so good. Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news, and he begged the Lord for guidance. Oh, those are just so good, both of those. But I do. I am drawn to that phrase and set himself to seek the Lord because there are things that scare us and there are things that make us afraid. Fear is one of the great enemies of this world. It's interesting to me that God's most repeated phrase in scripture, if you were to count all of his words, number one is, ask, ask me for help. And number two most often is, do not fear. And here comes something that he's afraid of. And I don't know what you're afraid of right now, but perhaps you want to set yourself to seek the Lord. And it says, and Judah gathered themselves all together to ask help of the Lord. One of the principles of prayer from Jehoshaphat's prayer I love so much, is gather people together to ask. We're going to see this again with Esther, so we won't jump too much into it right now. But there's something about asking others gathering together to ask the Lord for help, to gather an army of. Of prayers. Prayers. And it says, and Joseph, Jehoshaphat, verse 5, stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. And he says this, O Lord, God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest thou not over the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might art Thou not our God. And then he says this. If when evil comes upon us as the sword or judgment or pestilence or famine, I like when it gives lists, because then it just says, whatever it is, if something bad has come upon you, we stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear us. And he's looking back at the promise that was made in First Kings, chapter 8 during the dedication of that temple that Solomon offered. And he says, and Solomon puts a blessing on that temple. God puts a blessing through Solomon on that temple. That says, when you are in a place of danger, whether it be pestilence or famine or judgment or sword or your own mistakes, First Kings 8 talks about that a lot. He says, come to this place and offer up your prayers. I will hear you. This is my house. And I've just. I was so captured by that when we did that episode on First Kings 8, that it has now become a weekly pattern of mine to go to my temple. And I open up First Kings, chapter eight, and I bring up all of my swords, judgments, pestilences and famines. And I am taking that promise to the bank. And the banker is good, and he is sure, and he is kind. And Jehoshaphat believes that. And he says, you promised God that if we brought you our problems to this house that you would help us in our hour of need. And he does. And he goes, verse 12. So great he says, oh, our God, we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do. There's another reason someone might need a prayer. We don't know what to do. And then this line. But our eyes are on you. We don't know what to do, but we're looking to you for help. Aren't these such great prayers? They're so, so good. Then someone in the congregation. Someone in the The. I've never used the word congregation in a thousand years. Someone in the crowd that's there is inspired and says, hearken, all ye Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you. This is verse 15. Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude. For the battle is not yours, but God's. And what? I had a friend who's just called as a bishop, and I got a chance to talk to his wife, and I said, tell him this. Because someone gave me this advice when I was called as bishop. And the advice was this Battle is not yours, but it is God's. And he says, so don't take on a battle that isn't yours. And that has been such great advice. And it's a line I've even borrowed in some of my own prayers. I know this battle is not mine. It's yours. I don't know what to do. Please help. And of course, as you would expect, God does help. And God delivers them out of this terrible situation that they're in. And then what's so cool right after that is in celebration. Look at verse 21. He consulted with the people, and he appointed singers unto the Lord that they should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and said, praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. And when they began to sing and to praise verse 22, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon and Moab. I just think that's so cool that the moment they started singing their praises, the answer and the strength actually came. We're not going to go into music again. Go back last year. We did that because we've been on that. We've been on that path. And they win that. That battle. And then one last part. On the fourth day, verse 26, they assembled themselves together in the valley of Beruka, which. This is so sad. This is where you want the other translation. You can look in the footnotes because that's going to help so much. But do you know what that word means? That means blessing. So they renamed that valley the Valley of Blessing. And they said, and it's still called that name to this day. And isn't that fantastic? Like to think that valley used to be called the Valley of Fear. It used to be called the Valley of Outnumbered. It used to be called the Valley of. I don't know what to do. And once God came into the picture, that's a place that can now be called the Valley of Blessing.
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So good. And I just want. This became my favorite verse of all time in the history of the world. I loved it. I just wanted to circle it 8 million times. Verse 12. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.
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Right.
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And it just is. So I just think there's such a good lesson there to be learned about prayer is where are your eyes facing when you're praying? And I know that sounds so confusing, but honestly, like, I was just remembering this from maybe a year ago or two years ago, I think I might have talked about it, but one of my friends told me that when they pray they close their eyes and they imagine entering into the throne room of God. And when they say their prayers, they're imagining them talking to the king. And they were talking about how that changed what they prayed for, because they realized, like, he was capable of so much more than what they were usually asking him for. Because we're praying to the King of Kings. We're praying to our Father. We're praying to our best friends. But if we don't know who we're praying for, we might not ask for everything that we could. We might be limiting our prayers. We might be really casual in the way that we pray. And there's something really important to me in my life right now that I'm really trying to do intentionally when I'm praying, and it's just keeping my eyes on him. And when I say my prayers and when I think about my life and when I don't know what to do, I think about the God I believe in. I believe in the King of Kings. That means he can give me things that no one else can give me. I believe in a Father in heaven, and that means that he is accessible to me at all hours of the day, just like a good father is. I believe that he is my best friend, which means that I can open up to him about anything and everything. I believe he's the creator of the universe, which means that he can create things. He can. Like. He can draw pictures into my life. He's the author of my story. He can write what happens next. And when I remember and look at the one that I really believe in, when my eyes are on him, it changes my prayers. And I love that that's how. That's how they prayed.
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Yeah. And it's just making me think about how often in these prayers that they will start off like that, like Jehoshaphatz does. Like, you are might, aren't you? Are you not the God who said this? Are you not the God who promised that? Are you not mightier than all of the things? And there's something about speaking those words in our prayers that I think stirs up faith in us. It stokes the fire of faith to remember, wait, to remember these two things. He is both capable, and he's willing to help. And it's good to be reminded of those things. And when we speak them, I think we give life to that. And we. And we do. We stir that faith up in our. In our hearts when. When we do that. So. And I was going to say one other thing, too. I also love when in These prayers, when they say, you are the God of our fathers, the God of our ancestors, or the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And because it's just remembering what he did for them. And then it helps my heart expect and anticipate and believe that such a thing could happen for me, too. This isn't the first time he's done something like this. This is not the first battle that he's won. So, like, I could even pray to the Lord God of Jehoshaphat, right? As a way of, like, remembering. I remember what you did for him in this book, and Jehoshaphat does it. I remember what you promised my great, great, great grandpa Solomon. And I believe that same for me, too. So it's just awesome. Okay, one other prayer, you guys. Today it's Hezekiah. Back to Hezekiah, who we met last time, you remember? And we're gonna go to 2 Kings for this one. So his story is in 2 Chronicles, but also in 2 Kings, and the 2nd Kings version is just a little bit better. And if you missed last week, two Kings and two Chronicles cover the same time period. Did I say that at the beginning of this lesson? I just remember what words I say when I say them. But here's a reminder, if not second Kings and second Chronicles, first and second Kings, and first and second Chronicles are covering the same time period. It's like reading two of the Gospels, right? Same stories, but emphasizing some different aspects of those stories as you read. So we're going to go to the second Kings version and second Kings 19. You may remember that the country, nation, whatever of Assyria has conquered the northern kingdom and enslaved them and killed them and just destroyed the whole. And now they're lost, right? They're the lost 10 tribes. And now their eye turns on the southern kingdom of Judah where King Hezekiah is the king. And. And they send their representatives, and we talked about this last week, but they start to threaten them and tell them, you have no hope, you have no chance. There's no way out of this problem. Don't believe you're king. He's given you false hopes. Nothing. Nothing. You're. You're never, ever going to win this battle. And it says that Hezekiah hears all of it and he actually tears his clothes, which is a symbol of, like, just grief in Old Testament times. And he's just like, oh, my gosh, look at verse three. This day is a day of trouble, you know? And ain't that the truth right here we're learning what to do on Our. On our days of trouble also. And he's just so worried about this, this problem that's in front of him that's too big for him. And this is what I love that he does. First, he goes and seeks the prophet who at the time of Hezekiah is named Isaiah. So that is the. The Isaiah that wrote the famous book that we're going to get into. And Isaiah gives these words of encouragement to Hezekiah in verse 6. Thus saith the Lord, be not afraid of the words which you have heard, which the servants of the king of. Of Assyria have. Have said. And I promise I'm going to take care of this. Well, then the king of Assyria writes it all down, all the words that he said, and sends the letter to Hezekiah. And when Hezekiah gets the letter, this is such a cool part, he takes it in verse 14, and it says, and Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and he spread it out before the Lord, and he prayed before the Lord and said, o Lord, God of Israel, which dwelleth between the angels, the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of this earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, Come close and hear. Open Lord thine eyes and see and rescue us. And you know, Grace, we've talked about this before. You know this. I think both have this habit. We watched that movie called War Room one time where this woman writes out her prayers and hangs them on her wall. And I was so inspired by that that I just started doing it and the methodology has changed a little bit. Now I do pictures. Do you know that about me? Yes, that I did the Polaroid. Yeah, my Polaroid. Pictures of things. And I just love this idea of unfolding the problem before the Lord, laying it out before the Lord and just saying, lord, this is what's happening in my life. Please bless this, please fix this. Please guide my next steps in this. And whether it's done physically, actually, or just with our words to him, the Lord wants us to pour out our fears. There's that moment on the Sea of Galilee when there's the storm happening and the disciples go, wake up Jesus, and they say, we're going to die and you don't even care. And Jesus asks them, what are you afraid of? And I used to think that was patronizing. I was like, what do you mean, what are we afraid of? Look, the boat's cracked in half. But I think that was his invitation to them. Like, tell me, lay out your fears, pour them out. Everything you're worried about, everything that's troubling you, just unfold it in front of me and pray over those specific things. The imagery of that just calls to
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my heart so good. And most of you are probably thinking in your head, I didn't even know that Hezekiah existed before today. At least that is how I always felt about Hezekiah. And I remember the day that I learned about Hezekiah and I was in the middle of Costa Rica on an HXP trip. And what happened is.
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Excuse me, is that before or after you went to Israel?
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I would like you to know it was. It was probably after.
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Crazy.
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And I don't have any words for you about that.
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We walked through. Fill in the blank. Whose tunnel?
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But I need you to know that even to this day, I don't know why we love the tunnel. I just know why I like to walk through it. That is my problem.
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I am going to say because the tunnel is built because of this battle. So should I just tell you?
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Yeah, you should.
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Okay, team. Team. One day you're going to come to Israel and we're going to walk through Hezekiah and you're going to like it.
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It's really fun. That's what I know to be true. I don't know why we love it, but I know that it is a
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tunnel that is 3,000 years old. And there's a spring that was outside the walls of the city of David, Jerusalem, at the time. And when the army was coming, they were going to poison the spring or like, you know, you have to have the water. So King Hezekiah had a tunnel built from the actual source of the spring and would channel the water into the city. So they, like, threw the bedrock. It's like four football fields long, chipped through the bedrock at a downward slope. So now that water. And the water still flows. It still flows. It's 3,000 years old. The water still flows. And brought it into this. I love that tunnel so much because you're in it and you're like, how 3,000 years ago, does somebody know where to dig and where to meet in the middle?
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Yeah.
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And how to make it. It's like a really, really small grade. It always reminds me of that story of President Nelson where he's going to perform that surgery and he sees in his mind, like, where to, you know, where to cut the lines and stuff like that. I just feel like that was part of the answer to this prayer is Lord's like, is what I want you to do. Build this. Build this tunnel and bring the water into the city so when you walk through it, Grace.
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Okay, I'm learning. I'm learning. I.
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You're actually walking through an answer to prayer is what you're walking through.
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Well, that is really cute.
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I know.
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Crap. We love it. Okay, I didn't know that I loved it, you guys. I just liked it. It was refreshing and it was underground, so it was not degrees. Okay? But I like it for both reasons. Now what happened is I was in the middle of Costa Rica and I was being a trip leader for HXP trips. They're humanitarian trips that you take youth with you inside a group of like, 19 teenagers. And while we were down there, I met one of the boys on the trip, and we had been talking about his relationship with God. We only talked about it one time, and he just said, you know what? I actually don't really care about God because God doesn't really care about me. And I've tried and tried and tried to pray to him, and he's never, once again. And I've never felt the spirit, and I don't really care about, like, trying to grow a relationship with a God that's never tried to grow his relationship with me. And we had that conversation and we kind of both walked away. And I couldn't stop thinking about it, but I didn't know what to say, and I didn't know what the solution was, because he really had tried to have a relationship with God. And it really did feel like God was ghosting him. And so it was just like, well, I don't know what to say because hopefully that just resolves itself, but I don't know. And about a week after that conversation, we were still on the trip, and we decided that we wanted to write each kid on the trip a little letter that said, like a character in the scriptures that each of them reminded us of. And we were going through kid by kid, kid by kid. And we got to him and we couldn't think of anyone over and over. So we just kept putting him to the back of the pile. And we're like, something will come. And then finally we had like, 20 seconds to write something down. And my. The other trip leader was like, well, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? And I just said hezekiah out loud. And he looked at me and he said, heza who? And I was like, I would like you to know I don't really know. But like my mom changes all the contacts in her phone to scripture people. And I know that Hezekiah is one of the people, like that's one of her contacts. And I was like. So he's probably like someone, like, it's probably a good story. And he was like, okay, well like, find out where it is. And so I text my mom and I'm like, where's the story of Hezekiah? And she just replies back, what? And I say, hurry. And she says 2 Kings 20 and tells me the verses and I like, hurry and write them on the note. And the other trip leader is like, well, like, what's the story about? And I said, we don't care at this point. Like he just needs to have a paper so he's not left out. Make something up like about why it works for him. And he's like, okay. And like we like write it and we pass them all out. And then three minutes later the boy comes up and he like throws his scriptures at me. He was using my scriptures, he threw them at me. And he was like, that was pretty weird. And I was like. And my coach like, what are you gonna do? Like that. And I was like, yeah, I know. Like, scripture is so hard to understand. I had no idea what the story was. And he's like, will you teach it to me? And my co was like, yeah, Grace, teach him. And I was like, we'll read it together, that's perfect. And then we started reading and it's a good thing that God is way smarter than me. And it's a story about Hezekiah and he is so sick he's gonna die. And Isaiah the prophet goes up to him and says, listen, the Lord told me what's about to happen with you and you really are gonna die, so you should write your will and set your things in order and get ready to die because you're not gonna open overcome this sickness. And what happens next in verse number two, Bible scholars are gonna probably tell you something different. Okay, but I'm just a girl. And that was a 17 year old boy that was reading the story with me. And it says, then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord. And we sat there and I was like, what do you think that means? And he looked and he's like, oh, I know exactly what that means. He says, you know when it like you're talking, you use that phrase like you're talking to a wall and it means you're talking, but no one's talking talking back. And then he paused and he said, you know, I wonder if Hezekiah felt like he was trying really hard to get an answer from God and he was just talking to a wall. And I was not a Bible scholar, so I nodded my head. And if you want to tell me that that means something different, I don't want to hear it, okay? Because that is what we loved about the story. And then we kept going. And it says, I beseech thee, O Lord, and this is his prayer. Remember now how I have walked before you in truth and a perfect heart, and I've done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And I thought about that boy that I was reading my scriptures. We were sitting right next to each other. And I thought of how he told me that he had been trying his whole entire life to hear God and he tried to be such a good kid, and he just felt like God was ignoring him. And I thought about how many times that he must have prayed and cried and wept, just like Hezekiah. And he falls asleep, and then Isaiah comes back to him, and actually he doesn't fall asleep. I just made that up.
- [31:56]
A
But I just felt like he's tired.
- [31:59]
B
It was just the end of the night, okay?
- [32:01]
A
He's crying, you all.
- [32:02]
B
That's our basic freedom. Okay? Usually it feels like if you're gonna cry, that's what happens. And then Isaiah goes back and he says, go tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord says, that I have heard your prayers and I have seen your tears, and I will heal thee. And we read that story together. And then he kind of walked away. And that night we kind of talked. And he gave me this letter that he wrote his parents on the trip. They don't have their phones, and so they just write their parents. They write them a letter once on the trip. And he said, grace, I want you to send this to my parents, but also I want you to read it and you can keep it. And. And he said, I also had an experience this morning where our trip leader gave everyone a scripture person who reminded them of her of them. And she gave me Hezekiah, which at first I was confused. Okay. Also helpful to know that I explained to her exactly how I feel about the church because of my trying experiences of growing my testimony. But I've never felt the dang spirit. And it is so annoying because I try and get absolutely nothing in response. Okay. Anyway, this morning I asked her why, and she told me to read 2 Kings, chapter 21 through 5 and she read it with me. And for the first time in my life, like, ever, I felt as if God were aware of me and loves me. When it talks about him praying to a wall, which is what it feels like to me, praying and having it bounce off the ceiling. It goes on to say the most powerful words I've ever seen. I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. This shows me he is aware and he hears my prayers. I just hope I can always remember this and not let my everyday life forget that. And that night in the middle of Costa Rica, when he gave me that, he looked at me and he said, you know, Grace, I think I met God in Costa Rica today. And I laughed a little and I said, yeah, I think you did too. And then I'll never forget, he just said so quietly, you know, he was worth waiting for. And the best part about these prayers is that all of them are different and they all have different problems. But God always answers. And he answers Asa and he answers Jehoshaphat and he answers Hezekiah and he answers 17 year old boys who say prayers in the middle of Costa Rica. And how beautiful that we have a God that answers.
- [34:21]
A
Yeah, and I just, you know, we have a word a week and this week it's gracious. And it comes from a scripture in 2nd Chronicles 30 talking about this God for the Lord. Your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you. And I think that would be a great reminder to have sitting up just to remember that that's what he's is like. The Hebrew of that is to stoop down in kindness to someone lower than to favor, to give, to entreat and to make supplication. And that's who we pray to, that's who we unfold our problems to, that's who we approach in the things that feel too big for us. And so hopefully this is a great week to just remember one, what he's like and two, his invitation to approach him in prayer at any time, in any place. So anyways, we love those stories in the middle of a crazy part of the history, right?
- [35:26]
B
It's like.
- [35:27]
A
Because life can be like that, the strength these people find is through simple prayer. So, all right, y', all, hope you have a great week and we'll see you next week. If you want to follow along in everything we're doing, you can find us on Instagram at don'tmissthis study at thisweeksgrace and rdavebutler.
- [35:45]
B
And if you want to subscribe to the app or get our weekly newsletter, all of the information can be found at don'tmissthisstudy.com See you next week.