Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria… (Isaiah 37:21 NIV, 7-24-11)

Very few stories outside of the Gospels are in the Bible twice. Even including the Gospels, few stories are in the Bible three times. This is one of those.

Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah all retell this story of a man’s insolence and God’s power. But there are a couple of interesting points.

For one, it’s not your typical “They challenge God, God zaps em” story.” It’s hard, even with the repetition, to get at exactly what happens. There’s some army movement, some political intrigue, and some zapping in different places spread over quite a bit of time, all of it wrapped up in God accomplishing His program.

The second interesting point is that this one is bound up in prayer. “Because you have prayed…” God worked all those circumstances, struck down those people, took advantage of family rivalries because of prayer.

Because you have prayed.

When you pray, you don’t know how God intends to answer, only that He will.

[Father, help me to pray with confidence that You hear and will answer Your way.]