God Responds to Hezekiah

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To view the Leader Guide for this week, click here.

To view a .docx version of this guide, click here.

Introduction 

Last week we talked about the story of Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal to a contest to prove if his God, Yahweh, or their god, Baal was more powerful and/or real. God provided fire from heaven to show he is real, provided rain for Israel, and provided guidance and comfort for Elijah in the wilderness after the contest. 

Discuss with your group how they have been trying to trust God’s provision with something new in their lives since last week. 

After your time of connecting, begin your meeting with prayer.  

Connect

• What is your normal response to someone giving you bad news? What actions do you usually take in those situations? 
• How do you balance your emotions in positive and negative situations?  
• What is your common reaction to someone telling you about an outcome that you disagree with?

Opening Thought 

How we respond to things in life can build us into a stronger more resilient person if we are wise. When we make decisions, there can be consequences, either good or bad, and we can choose to accept or fight those. Similarly, how we trust in God to deliver us from challenges in life can develop our faith. We may hear some unwelcome news that affects us and choose to fix it on our own or we may accept it and move on, thinking it’ll just work itself out. God invites us to choose a third choice: going to him first about any troubles or successes. This is one way to build our relationship with God and stay faithful to have God at the center of our lives. 

This leads us to our main idea for this week:  

Main idea for the week
We can be faithful to God by humbly
accepting God’s decisions

The Story so Far

The Israelite kingdom has been split into two kingdoms: the norther kingdom of Israel (or Ephraim) and the southern kingdom of Judah. Some of the kings of both nations are faithful to God, but many of the kings of both nations were unfaithful to God, specifically Israel. As a result, God sent prophets to guide the northern kingdom (Israel) to guide the people back to worship him, two of the most prominent prophets were Elijah and his successor Elisha. Many of Israel’s kings became increasingly evil and unfaithful to God and as a result, God allowed the Assyrian (a major nation at the time) King Shalmanesar to conquer the northern kingdom of Israel, scatter them among the Assyrian nation, and bring foreigners into Israel to mix with them. This was part of how Assyrian would subjugate the people they conquered. As a result, the people of Israel in the north are scattered and have lost their national identity, fulfilling the warnings that many prophets gave about what would happen if the Israelite people did not return to and be faithful to God.  

Here’s where we are this week

The southern kingdom of Judah, while having evil kings, remains faithful to worshipping God, or treating him as holy and as their only God, for much longer than its northern cousins. This week, we will talk about one of Judah’s kings named Hezekiah, who was one of the most prominent and faithful kings of Judah (2 Kings 18:5). Eight years after the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire, a new Assyrian king named Sennacherib tries and fails to invade Jerusalem. After first trying to take care of things on his own, Hezekiah asks for guidance from the prophet Isaiah, who calls him to show his faithfulness and dedication to God by trusting that God would take care of his people. When Hezekiah sought God’s help in this way, it resulted in God protecting the city of Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13-19:37).  

The story we will discuss today happens shortly after the Assyrian invasion. Despite the events seen so far in his story, Hezekiah becomes terminally ill, but he does not lose faithfulness to God. As a result, God shows his power miraculously through him, despite Hezekiah later showing that he is flawed and human.  

Unpack 

Read each set of verses out loud as a group, making observations as you go. Afterward discuss each of the connected questions before moving to the next set of verses: 

Read  

2 Kings 20:1-7 

Unpack 

• What is Hezekiah’s first response to hearing that he is going to die? What would have caused this to be his first reaction? 
  • How does Hezekiah’s reaction to his illness demonstrate his faith in God? 
    • How much do you desire a similar faith in your own life? What are some steps you could take to practice your faith more? 
• Why do you think God told Hezekiah he would not recover from his illness only to then heal Hezekiah?  
  • How often do you believe in the power and necessity of prayer? How does this story inspire you to pray and seek God’s intervention in difficult times? 
    • How do we still live faithfully to God when he doesn’t answer our prayers how we hope he will? 

Read  

2 Kings 20:8-11 

Unpack 

• Why do you think Hezekiah asked God for a sign that he would be healed? Why do you think God decided to show Hezekiah a sign? 
  • Why was the shadow receding (most likely on a sundial or steps of some kind to show time) instead of going forward significant?  
    • What do you think this says about God’s power over time and nature? How could keeping this in mind give us confidence? 

The Books of Chronicles in the Old Testament are a later retelling of the books of Samuel and Kings with different emphasis. 2 Chronicles 32:24-26 tells us that after Hezekiah was healed, he became “proud” and had to repent because it angered God that he reacted that way.  

• Why do you think Hezekiah became proud after being healed? Why do you think God became angry that Hezekiah was proud when it was due to God healing him? 
• How does this passage foreshadow Hezekiah’s interaction with the Babylonians? 

Read  

2 Kings 20:12-21 

Unpack 

• Why do you think Hezekiah chose to show his treasures to the Babylonian envoys? Why was being friendly and showing the kingdom to the envoys a problem in the first place? 
  • What are some ways we can seek humility with what God has given us instead of boasting?  
• Why do you think Hezekiah responded to the prophecy about Babylon in the way he did?  
  • What can Hezekiah’s response to the prophecy about Babylon teach us about facing the consequences of our actions? 
• How can we apply Hezekiah’s acceptance of the prophecy about Jerusalem’s downfall to situations where we must accept unpleasant truths in our own lives? 

Apply 

Based on the verses we just read, there are some things that we can do in response. Take a moment to discuss these questions as a group to decide what your personal action steps for the week can be: 

• How will you trust God to work out a challenging situation in your life, even if it doesn’t get resolved how you think it should? 
• How does today’s story challenge or encourage you in your personal journey to follow Jesus?  
• How will we as a group look to encourage each other to be patient and wait for God’s timing in each other’s lives? 

Closing 

Read the first section to your group, then read the verse out loud to the group, and finally, move to the Prayer and Verses section: 

God wants us to have him at the center of our minds. One way we can do that is to accept the way he wants to lead our lives, be wise in the way we live, and give him glory for anything he has done for us. This week, try to have God at the front of your mind for everything you do. This is one more way we can grow in our relationship with him and be able to see how God calls us to live as his followers.  

Prayer and Verses 

Ask for prayer requests and conclude your time with prayer then share the Key Verse for the Week and Daily Devotional Verses with the group. 

Thematic Reflection Verse for the Week

*Read this verse, then encourage the practice of memorization through the week. 

Psalm 27:14 

“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”\ 

**When practiced consistently, memorizing Bible verses can be an important spiritual practice that centers your mind around the truth that God has given us. 

Daily Devotional Verses  

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Use the S.O.A.P. method to reflect on the verses below. 

Scripture: Read the verses several times. Reading out loud can be helpful as well. 
Observation: What can you see about the scripture you read? 
Application: What is God wanting you to believe, do, or feel, based on what you have read? 
Prayer: This is a chance to talk to God about what you have read and ask him for help in living out what you’ve learned. 

Day 1: 2 Peter 3:9 

Day 2: Philippians 4:6 

Day 3: Proverbs 16:32 

Day 4: Ephesians 4:1-3 

Day 5: Proverbs 11:12 

Day 6: 1 Peter 5:6