A Card and Prayer

Welcome, my friend, to today's Word of Encouragement from Our Daily Bread. The devotional for today, titled A Card and Prayer, was written by Dave Brannon. The recently widowed woman was growing concerned. To collect some vital funds from an insurance policy, she needed key information about the accident that had taken her husband's life. She had talked to a police officer who said he'd help her, but then she lost his business card. So she prayed, pleading with God for help. A short time later, she was at her church when she walked by a window and saw a card, the policeman's card, on a windowsill. She had no idea how it got there, but she knew why. She took prayer seriously.

And why not? Scripture says that God is listening for our requests. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, Peter wrote in 1 Peter 3, and his ears are attentive to their prayer. The Bible gives us examples of how God responded to prayer.

One is Hezekiah, the king of Judah, who became ill. He had even received word from Isaiah, a prophet, saying he was going to die. The king knew what to do. He prayed to the Lord. Immediately, God told Isaiah to give the king this message from him, I have heard your prayer.

Hezekiah was granted 15 more years of life. God doesn't always answer prayers with things like a card on a windowsill, but he assures us that when difficult situations arise, we don't face them alone. God sees us, and he's with us, attentive to our prayers. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is taken from the Old Testament book of 2 Kings chapter 20 verses 1 through 7. In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, went to him and said, This is what the Lord says. Put your house in order, because you are going to die.

You will not recover. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him. Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says. I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. On the third day from now, you will go up to the temple of the Lord.

I will add 15 years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David. Then Isaiah said, Prepare a poultice of figs.

They did so and applied it to the boil and he recovered. Now let's go to the Lord God in prayer together. Father, thank you for being there and for hearing our prayers. Even when the answer to our prayers is not what we'd hoped for, would you help us to trust that you're working on our behalf and you're working out your plan in our lives. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thanks so much for listening today. My name is Wes Ward and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.