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   Spurgeon emphasizes that when Hezekiah received the blasphemous letter   
   from Sennacherib’s captain Rabshakeh, the king’s response was   
   exemplary—he brought the letter to God in prayer rather than answering   
   with insults. Spurgeon notes this demonstrates wisdom, since responding   
   to hostility with hostility reveals weakness on both sides of a   
   conflict. He considers prayer over a threatening letter far superior to   
   legal retaliation.[1]   
      
   Spurgeon highlights the theological strategy underlying Hezekiah’s   
   prayer: after acknowledging Assyria’s military power and noting that   
   other nations’ gods were merely human creations, the king appeals to   
   God’s honor and reality. Spurgeon observes that appeals grounded in   
   God’s honor carry particular weight in prayer and should form our   
   greatest concern and confidence.[1]   
      
   On the resolution of the crisis, Spurgeon stresses God’s swift   
   action—describing divine preparations for conflict as always complete   
   and well-supplied. He characterizes the outcome as decisive: a single   
   word and blow eliminated the Assyrian threat permanently.[1] Spurgeon   
   notes that Hezekiah’s prayer benefited surrounding nations as well,   
   bringing them relief from Assyrian aggression.[1] He observes that   
   Sennacherib’s death at his own idol’s feet—killed by his own sons—meant   
   his blasphemies were silenced forever.[1]   
      
   In another reflection, Spurgeon uses Hezekiah’s action of spreading the   
   threatening letter before God as an exemplary model for believers facing   
   anxiety, contrasting this faithful response with the tendency to nurse   
   difficulties rather than casting cares upon God.[2]   
      
   [1] C. H. Spurgeon, The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (Grand   
   Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1964), 404, 406.   
   [2] Spurgeon, The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes (Nashville, TN: Holman   
   Bible Publishers, 2017), 1227.   
      
      
   --   
   Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (†), and God   
   raised Him from the dead?   
      
   That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death   
   penalty. That God raised Him from the dead shows Christ's death   
   satisfied God's righteous demands against our sin (Romans 3:25; 1 John   
   2:1-2). This means God can now remain just, while forgiving you of your   
   sins, and saving you from eternal damnation.   
      
   On the basis of Christ's death and resurrection for our sins, call on   
   the name of the Lord to save you: "For 'everyone who calls on the name   
   of the Lord will be saved'" (Romans 10:13, ESV).   
      
   https://christrose.news/salvation   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)