2 Kings 19: Hezekiah's Prayer, a Prayer That God Hears

Introduction

Twenty-five or twenty-six years ago, Pastor Ogino's second son, who was three or four years old and not yet in nursery school, came to find him while he was working: "Daddy, at the grown-ups' service, someone prays for the service, and while they pray the others say 'amen, amen.' What does that mean?" His father explained that "amen" means "yes, that is so": the words of the one praying also express what I feel. The child looked very disappointed. He had thought that "amen" meant: "Your prayer is too long, hurry up and finish."

"A new interpretation," the pastor smiles, adding that even today, when he says "amen" during someone's prayer, it is in the first sense. In explaining it to his son, he was taught something himself: prayer is made with all the heart. This is the theme of this message, preached on September 20, 2026 at the Sion Christian Church of Numazu, from the prayer of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19:14-20.

He draws three points from it: prayer is the place where we tell God frankly what is on our heart, the prayer that God hears begins with praise, and the Lord hears and answers.

Outline of the message

1. A story told twice in the Bible

• The same story is found in 2 Kings 19 and in Isaiah 37. If the Bible reports it twice, it is because it is important for believers and unforgettable for the people of Israel.
• The northern kingdom, Israel, fell to the Assyrian empire. Carried by that momentum, around 720 BC according to the preacher, Assyria attacked the southern kingdom, Judah, and seized one city after another.
• Only Zion, Jerusalem, remained, surrounded by the Assyrian army and about to fall.
• The pastor invites us to reread the whole of chapter 19 at home.

2. Praying is saying frankly what is on your heart

• "When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh" (2 Kings 19:1). The house of Yahweh was the temple where worship took place; for us, it is this church. All that is left for him to do is pray.
• In an emergency as in everyday prayer, praying means telling God frankly what you really think. Verses 1 to 14 teach this.
• Hezekiah does not pray alone. He prays, he asks his servants to pray, and he seeks the reinforcement of the prophet's prayer: "Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left" (2 Kings 19:4).
• When you are cornered or a prayer request weighs on you, do not keep it to yourself. Ask your brothers and sisters in the faith and your pastor to pray. There is no shame in it. The prayer of a united heart, two rather than one, three rather than two, is a force that God listens to.

3. Praying for one another: the one who prays is the first to be blessed

• More than ten years ago, a brother from the church, who gave his testimony earlier in the service, entrusted to the pastor, so that he would pray, the list of names of the children in a gathering he leads, those irreplaceable children among whom he invests himself. The pastor still prays for them through the week today, and he assures this brother that he also prays for him in return.
• In Numazu, in Yokohama and in the other places, prayer requests are shared and people pray for one another. "That is, I believe, where the strength of the Church lies, and even its reason for being."
• A pastor for about 33 years, he is sometimes invited to preach in a church of another denomination. A sister of that church, now with the Lord, always came to tell him that she prayed for him at the same time as for her own pastor. When he offered to pray for her, she answered: "Do not pray for me, pray for this church," because in her eyes he was also a pastor of their church. He received encouragement from it, and also the weight of a heavy responsibility. He thinks she is still praying for them in heaven. "Prayer blesses the one who prays," he says.
• To those who return to church after having drifted away and who ask how not to leave God again, he always answers: pray for yourself and your family, but also for the topics in the church bulletin, for the sick and those going through trials, for your loved ones who are not yet saved. "When you pray for others, you have no time to stumble."
• The pastor, who calls himself "narrow of heart," admits that he is not free from weariness or discouragement. But when he prays for those who, in Numazu, in Yokohama and throughout the Sion Church, are going through hard difficulties, fighting for their health or bearing the sufferings of their family, and yet faithfully serve the Lord, the church and others, his own problem, which seemed as big as Mount Fuji, becomes smaller than a pebble at the side of the road.
• Recently, a sister confided to him that she prayed every morning that he would not have an accident. As he apologized for worrying her, she answered: "I am truly worried, so I pray for you even before praying for my family." He smiles: "If you want people to worry about you, I recommend becoming a pastor!" Then, more seriously, he tells himself that he must pray for this sister with even more heart. Praying for others means experiencing being carried by prayer yourself.

4. The prayer that God hears begins with praise

• Hezekiah knew how to pray frankly himself, and that is why he asked for Isaiah's prayer. The content of his prayer is found in verses 15 to 20.
• The Bible reports many prayers of servants of God: Nehemiah, Moses, Peter, Paul and many others. The pastor dares to say it: the prayer that God hears begins with praise.
• "Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth" (2 Kings 19:15). Hezekiah does not sing to a melody, but he exalts the Lord: it is praise.
• You can ask for everything, demand everything, lay everything out before God. But begin by thanking him: you who can pray in the name of Jesus, you who have been saved and made a child of God by his immense love shown at the cross, you who are alive, who see the stars, the sun, the sky and the sea, and who know that a God created them.
• A prayer that begins with praise and gratitude never ends in complaint or whim, even if the request looks, in hindsight, quite selfish. It keeps to the line of faith: God governs all things, and the Creator of heaven and earth works everything together for good (Romans 8:28).
• Daniel's three friends, threatened with being thrown into the furnace because they refused to worship the king's statue, declared that God would deliver them, "but if not," that they would worship only him (Daniel 3:17-18). After laying everything out before God, you can say: "I believe that everything will be changed into good in the Lord, and I place everything in your hands."

5. Praying boldly

• Looking back, the pastor sums up what he has lived this way: "Nothing goes the way I would like, but everything exceeds what I asked." He admits that it sounds like "draw me a round triangle," but those who pray know that it is true.
• Things may not turn out the way you want, but they are changed into a blessing thirty, sixty, a hundred times greater than what you asked (see Mark 4:20). "There is no doubt about it."
• "That is why I am standing here today." Without this certainty, he says, he could not preach, still less in front of the brothers and sisters of Numazu: he would stammer. But the Lord lets him experience that he changes everything into good, and behind his ministry there are the prayers of the congregation, for which he thanks them.
• So let us pray boldly, about everything. Hezekiah does so: "Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent him to defy the living God" (2 Kings 19:16). Even the Japanese Shinkaiyaku 2017 translation, though careful, renders the verb "send" here with a blunt, colloquial word; the original is said to be even more violent. Hezekiah speaks to God in his own words.

6. "I have heard your prayer"

• Third point: the Lord hears and answers. "Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, 'Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, "Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you"'" (2 Kings 19:20).
• If you keep only one verse today, keep the end of verse 20: "I have heard you." The God who said it to Hezekiah answers you in the same way.
• Keep this word in your heart and recall it when you pray at home. The pastor himself ends his prayers this way: "Lord, you have heard me. Since you have heard me, I thank you for working all things together for good." Then he gets up.
• He encourages us to get into the habit of concluding prayer, instead of praying without ever concluding: "Lord, you have heard me, haven't you? You promised it in your Word. Thank you. The rest is yours." And that is enough.

7. Precious in God's eyes

• It was Isaiah who answered Hezekiah, but through that same prophet God also declares to each of us, in a well-known word: "Since you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you; therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life" (Isaiah 43:4).
• God proved it by giving his only Son at the cross. Jesus died there in our place, for our sins: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
• An evangelist, whose pastor husband has gone to be with the Lord, used to say: "My husband is currently on a transfer to heaven, without his family." The pastor thought that he is probably still working there, in the service of prayer and praise. They are not separated forever: they will see each other again and live together.
• The Father who gave us so great a salvation hears prayers made in the name of Jesus. Jesus repeated it in the Gospel of John: pray in my name, and the Father will give it to you (John 15:16). The pastor invites us to reread John 15 at home.
• "Prayer is a very real force." The Father cannot leave a prayer made in the name of Jesus unanswered.

Key takeaways

• Praying means telling God frankly what is on your heart, in an emergency and in everyday life.
• Do not carry your burdens alone: there is no shame in asking your brothers and sisters to pray, and praying for others puts your own problems in perspective.
• Begin your prayer with praise and gratitude: it will not stop at complaint, it will keep to the line of faith.
• God answers those who pray to him as he answered Hezekiah: "I have heard you."
• You are precious in God's eyes, and he proved it at the cross, and the Father hears prayer made in the name of Jesus.

Personal application

1. What topic are you carrying alone today that you could entrust to the prayer of a brother, a sister or your pastor?
2. For whom could you pray regularly this week: a sick person, someone going through a trial, a loved one who does not yet know Jesus?
3. How do you usually begin your prayers? What would change if you began with praise?
4. Can you get into the habit of concluding your prayers by thanking God for having heard you, then getting up and leaving the rest to him?

Verses cited

• 2 Kings 19:14-20
• 2 Kings 19:1
• 2 Kings 19:3-4
• Isaiah 37
• Daniel 3:17-18
• Romans 8:28
• Mark 4:20
• Isaiah 43:4
• John 3:16
• John 15:16

Frequently asked questions

What does Hezekiah do when Jerusalem is threatened by Assyria?

He tears his clothes, covers himself with sackcloth and goes into the house of Yahweh (2 Kings 19:1). He prays himself, asks his servants to pray and seeks out the prophet Isaiah. For Pastor Ogino, prayer is the place where we tell God what is really on our heart, and where we do not carry our burden alone.

Why begin prayer with praise?

Hezekiah begins by acknowledging that Yahweh is the only God of all the kingdoms and that he made heaven and earth (2 Kings 19:15). Pastor Ogino explains that a prayer that begins with praise and gratitude never stops at complaint or whim: it rests on faith that God governs all things.

Which verse should we keep from Hezekiah's prayer?

Pastor Ogino invites us to keep the end of 2 Kings 19:20: "I have heard you." He advises ending every prayer by recalling this promise to God, thanking him for having heard, then getting up and leaving the rest to him.