Do you ever feel like you’re just moving from one crisis to the next? Whether it’s financial pressure, a health scare, or relational turmoil, life on this side of heaven can feel like a relentless succession of dilemmas.

The wonderful, anchoring truth for every believer is that God is intimately aware of your situation, and He is with you in the fire. Becoming a Christian does not eliminate our problems, but it gives us a divine, proven roadmap for walking through them.

We can look to the story of King Hezekiah when the mighty Assyrian army, led by Sennacherib, surrounded Jerusalem. This was an overwhelming, terrifying threat, as recorded in 2 Kings 19. Hezekiah’s response in the face of annihilation gives us eight powerful, actionable truths for dealing with our own challenges today.

The Core Anchor: An Unchangeable God

Hold fast to this: God, who possesses unfailing love and limitless power, will carry you through every difficulty. Problems are solved when we stop relying on our limited ability and turn instead to prayer and absolute dependence on His strength.

Here are concrete actions you can take to reclaim your focus when trouble strikes:

1. God Cares Deeply About Your Situation.

When King Sennacherib sent a threatening letter—a declaration of certain defeat—to Hezekiah, the king’s immediate action was to take that letter and spread it out before the Lord in the temple (2 Kings 19:14). This simple act shows an unshakable belief that God was not only real but also interested in the mundane details and dire threats of His life. Your concerns, however large or small, matter to your Heavenly Father.

2. God’s Power Exceeds Your Biggest Problem.

The Assyrian army was an unstoppable global superpower, yet Hezekiah declared in prayer, “You are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth” (2 Kings 19:15).

Their army was a tiny problem compared to the Creator of the universe. This teaches us that there is no challenge in your life—no addiction, no diagnosis, no financial hole—that is too great for Him. Remember the question God once posed: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27) The answer is no.

3. Our Instinct Must Be to Seek His Kingdom First.

Hezekiah ran straight to the Lord’s house, making God his immediate priority. Before calling the troops or organizing the defense, he sought counsel from the prophet Isaiah.

As followers of Christ, seeking God should be our natural, default response. As Jesus taught: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). When we focus on His greatness, our perspective shifts, and the problem begins to lose its colossal shadow.

4. God Often Works Through Corporate Prayer.

When Hezekiah received the terrifying news, he sent his chief officials to seek help from the prophet Isaiah, and the entire nation was involved in the prayer and fasting (implied by the setting). The king knew the difficulty facing him was a crisis for all of Judah.

Difficulties that touch our families, churches, or communities benefit immensely from shared faith. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). Don’t forget: when you watch God answer a brother or sister’s prayer, it strengthens your own faith, and vice versa.

5. God’s Solution Centers on Our Spiritual Growth.

God may not give us an immediate or easy path to a solution. His primary interest is not merely fixing a situation but refining us. Our trials are instruments in His hand. As the Apostle Peter writes: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Every difficulty is designed to press us into the image of Christ, which is His ultimate, non-negotiable goal.

6. Our Prayers Must Magnify God, Not the Trial.

Hezekiah’s prayer wasn’t a lament focused solely on the size of Sennacherib’s army; it was a hymn to God’s uniqueness and glory among all the gods of the earth (2 Kings 19:15-19).

When we focus our prayer on the majesty and history of God, the Holy Spirit invigorates our faith that is often suffocated by anxiety. God transforms our life while we are in the midst of the problem.

7. God’s Way Out Demands a Leap of Faith.

In the Assyrian crisis, God’s promise was not a call to arms but an assurance: “He shall not come into this city… For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake” (2 Kings 19:32, 34). The act of faith here was radical rest—trusting God to fight a battle that was humanly unwinnable.

God sometimes asks us to do something that looks impossible to the world. When He does, remember: If God gives you the instruction, you already have the guaranteed victory. He will not lead you into defeat; He seeks your unqualified trust.

8. God’s Deliverance is Always Perfect.

Because of our limitations, we could never engineer a perfect solution to a problem. But an omnipotent, omniscient God can. The Bible records that night, “the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians” (2 Kings 19:35). It was a complete, supernatural deliverance.

Every difficulty is an invitation to deepen your trust. Problems strengthen us in ways that ease and comfort simply cannot, always culminating in a solution that demonstrates God’s perfect wisdom.

Continuing the Conversation

1. Think about a current problem. How does your emotional response to it compare with Hezekiah’s first action of spreading the letter before the Lord?
2. Do you find it easier to focus on the size of your mountain or the size of your God? How can the truth from Matthew 6:33 (Point 3) help you recenter your focus in prayer today?

Pray with Me