So That All May Know

“Deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.” (Isaiah 37:20)

Consider our prayers for deliverance, and specifically, our motivation behind them. In Isaiah 37, King Hezekiah prayed as the unstoppable nation of Assyria stood at the doorsteps of Judah seeking to overthrow it. The scene was ominous, the people of Judah were scared, and Hezekiah prayed for deliverance SO THAT “all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God”. David was willing to face Goliath “SO THAT all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:46). Elijah faced down all the other false prophets and prayed “Answer me, LORD, answer me, SO THAT this people may know that You, LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.” (1 Kings 18:37).

Do we pray like this? Or do we pray for proverbial pillows of comfort? Jesus certainly didn’t. ‘Not My will, but Thine’, as He sweated drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22). And in that moment, when all logical hope seemed to be lost and God seemed least in control as Jesus hung on the Cross, He was actually MOST in control doing His GREATEST work known to mankind, reconciling the world to Himself. If our theology is truly rooted in the Cross, then how shameful it is that we pray our comfort over God’s glory, and how much we’re missing out on by seeking deliverance for our own sake. Remember the order of prayer, ‘Thine kingdom come, Thine will be done’, and then ‘Give us this day our daily bread’.

We are not called from comfort to comfort; rather, we are called from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), and for most of us men, we’re not content with peace through a loving embrace in times of trouble. Our true contentment is only found in trusting an Almighty God who actually counts us worthy to call us according to His purposes for His good pleasure and for His glory. We are His chosen vessels; mere man with the incalculable privilege of being used by God. In this troubled world, deliverance for the sake of comfort isn’t enough. It never has been. The glory of God is, and it is to the utmost.

In the words of Isaiah 25:9, may our lives be a living testimony of “Behold, this is our God…”.