The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 348

he grew older he became wiser. A short time before, when Sennacherib was capturing his cities, nnd had advanced upon JerufJalem, Hezekiah sent a message to him, saying, "I ho.ve offended; return from rr.e: that which thou puttest on me will I bear." Sennacherib appointed him the exorbitant tribute of three hundred talents of silver o.nd thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah was in great straits for means to meet this demand. In his difficulty he imitated the foolish action of his own father Ahaz, and took the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, besides cutting off the gold from the doors and pillars of the temple, and then sent this as a peace offerin~ to Sennacherib. But notwithstanding all this, Sennacherib did rwt give up his warlike intentions. He once more threatened Jerusalem. Tbis time Hezekiah acts differently. He had learned rww the mistake of ra.~hly yielding to difficulties. It is a les.~on we all need to learn. If we yield to our difficulties, they will return again, and with renewed force. One difficulty yielded to makes the next one harder to resist. One difficulty resisted makes the next one far easier to overcome. 1. Hezekiah's first act, after he had read Sennacherib's letter, u·as to go up into the house of the Lord. There he showed his wisdom. If we want advice in sickness, advice as to our bodily health, we go to the house of our physician. If we want to purchase food or clothing, we go where these necessaries of life are to be obtained. Hezekiah was now in a difficulty where human help could be of little or no use to him. So he goes to the one place where alone he might expect help-to the honse of the Lord. The very act of going to the house of the Lord is a wise one. It reminds us that there is another world than that which is seen-the world of spirits, the world of the invisible. It reminds us that there is One in whose band every human life is, One to whom in all ages human hearts have turned, in every time of sorrow, of difficulty, and of helplessness, and One whose power and whose goodness men have acknowledged by raising temples for his honour and for their own and others' good. Every true Christian must testify what a blessing the house of the Lord has been to him. How should we have fared without its precious privileges? How often have we felt, when the Sunday morning came round, and we joined in the song of praise, and approached the mercy-seat in company with other anxious, sinful, troubled, human hearts like our own; as we listened to the words of everlasting life; as we heard of him who is the "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," as we heard him saying to us," Come unto me, all yo that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; "-how often have we felt that the difficulties of the week vanished ; the burdens of the week were lightened ; the cloud of sorrow that hung over us seemed suddenly to lift; we went forth again with new hope in our hearts, and with new strength in our lives; and upon our lips, perhaps, were such words as these- "Goodness and mercy nil my life Shall surely follow me, And in God's honse for evermore My dwelling-place shall be"I Heztkiah, then, did a wise thing in going to the place where blessing was to be found. But he did more than that. 2. He spread the letter before the Lord. What a faith in God's presence lhat showed 1-a real presence, indeed, not of body, but of that ever- present Spirit, in whom we live and move and have our being! What a confidence it showed in God's interest in the affairs of all his people I What a lesson it is for us all I The best thing we can do with our difficulties is to spread them out before God. Perhaps when we begin to spread them out before him, sowe of them will seem hardly worth talking a.bout, hardly w01th spreading, and the very act of doing so will bring us relief. But whatever it may be that gives us trouble, even though it be a small matter-something unkind that has been said about us, an unpleasant letter that we have received, an unexpected loss in business, let us spread it out before God. Your Sunday morning, before you go into God's house, would be well spent in thinking over the mercies you have to Lhank God fur, the sins you have to confess, and the difficulties which trouble you, and then you would go into God's house asking just fur wha.t you need. I know a servant of God who told me that he always made it a rule to be in his place in church at least five minutes before the service bega.11. That gave him time, he Ila.id, to calm his mind, anu to look into his own heart. Tho good seed theu  396 THE SECOND IlOOK OF THE KINGS. [en. XIX. 1-37,