TUESDAY, TWELFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
2 Kgs 19: 9-11, 14-21, 31-36 Ps 48:2-4, 10-11 Mt 7:6, 12-14
THE POWER OF CONFIDENT PRAYER
Our God is faithful. He is a God of the covenant and therefore He defends His people. In Israel’s covenantal scheme, the people of Israel are called upon to accept God as the only God and worship Him with all their hearts. In turn, God would protect them and take care of them. In the first reading of today, the people of Israel are threatened by the enemy king to destroy them through war. However, King Hezekiah remained faithful to his God and puts all his trust in him and the Lord through Prophet Isaiah, promises to stand by King Hezekiah to protect his people.
There are two important aspects in the prayer of Hezekiah:
- Hezekiah’s absolute faith in God. Hezekiah knows the strength of the enemy king, but he is surer of the power of Almighty God. He is the God of the entire Universe. All kingdoms including the kingdom of the enemy king belong to Him alone. Therefore nothing shakes Him, nothing frightens him.
- Hezekiah is well aware that he and his people are precious to His God. Therefore, anyone who attacks God’s people attacks God himself, since they belong to Him alone. Hence God protects them both to save his people and his own precious name.
We are God’s possession; holy and precious to Him in Christ Jesus. Hence while God takes care of us and protects us, we are called upon to live a life worthy of our call, in holiness and is precious to the Lord, therefore not to throw ourselves as cheap and unholy before the swine and dogs respectively. It is our self-consciousness and self-dignity that we belong to God alone as His cherished possession that will help us to build a life of absolute faith in Him and childlike love and confidence. Prayer is nothing but the manifestation of our absolute faith and total confidence in God in our day-to-day lives.
Response: God establishes his city forever.
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