3rd.: First, Ask the Lord
King Hezekiah began his kingdom, with the King of Assyria over him.
King Hezekiah got tired of this so,
“… and he [Hezekiah] rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.” (2nd Kings 18:7b)
The Assyrian king did not accept this.
When the Assyrian king came to give Hezekiah the 'what-for'. Hezekiah quickly pleaded for peace,
“And Hezekiah king of Judah, sent to the King of Assyria to Lachish, saying, ‘I have offended, return from me: that which thou puts on me, I will bear.’ And the king of Assyria appointed Hezekiah king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house.” (2ND. Kings 18:14).
This situation took place before Jan. 2nd’s article.
Hezekiah had not taken this concern to the Lord.
We must ask the question.
What would have happened if King Hezekiah had gone to the Lord, rather than pleading for peace in 2nd Kings 18:14?
It's dangerous to second guess.
Nevertheless, based on what happened in 2nd Kings 19, we can conjecture that the Lord would have been with King Hezekiah at that time. It is possible King Hezekiah would not have had to give any silver and gold to the king of Assyria.
Sometime between these two invasions, Hezekiah learned to take his concerns to the Lord.
Let us learn to be quick to lift our requests to the Lord.
“It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes.” (Ps. 118:9)