The Bible says Hezekiah king of Judah was successful in everything he undertook, because God was with him. The next thing it mentions is that he rebelled against the king of Assyria. How do you suppose that went for him? The kingdom of Israel had been completely conquered by Assyria at that time. But Hezekiah of Judah must have had nothing but success, right?

Well, it says the king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Unless Hezekiah didn’t even bother trying to stop him, it seems Hezekiah has already failed at something here.

Then Hezekiah tried to get the king of Assyria to withdraw from Judah by paying him lots of gold and silver. The king of Assyria accepted the money, but he didn’t back down. Instead, he sent men to say he intended to destroy Hezekiah’s country. That’s probably not the response Hezekiah was going for.

Hezekiah did eventually get the king of Assyria to withdraw, by praying. But he was not successful when he undertook to get him to withdraw by paying.