Isaiah 38
-In those days of seeing God’s
Hand of deliverance from Assyria, Hezekiah became mortally ill with some type
of boil that the LORD, through the prophet Isaiah, said would take his life
(Isaiah 38:1a, 21). The king was told to get his house in order for he would
shortly die and enter eternity. With the hearing of this catastrophic news,
Hezekiah set his face away from all distractions toward the wall and prayed to
the LORD. His prayer is significant for us. He asked the LORD fervently to
remember how he had walked before his King in
truth and with a whole heart,
and how he had done what was good in the
LORD’s sight. He wept bitterly
before his God with reckless abandon in complete distress (Isaiah 38:1b-3).
Isaiah got a further word from the LORD at this point to go to Hezekiah with
splendid news. The king would be given fifteen more years to his life since God
had heard his prayer and seen his tears (Isaiah 38:4-5). God promised continued
deliverance from Assyria as the city’s Defender. He gave the king a sign of
moving the shadow on the stairway back ten steps. God was showing that He is
the Controller of time and all events on the earth and in the universe (Isaiah
38:6-8). *Application* Our prayers are heard and our situation is seen when we
live a life worthy of the LORD’s calling. Sometimes He will put us in
situations that require our all-out beseeching before Him in prayer and
petition so He can come through in miraculous ways. God always loves to hear
our cries for help and somehow draws us closer to Him through them. The lesson
for us is to always passionately pray in the important matters of our lives.
-Hezekiah produces a writing that
is recorded in the Scriptural text through the next twelve verses (Isaiah
38:9-20). He spoke of his state in the middle of his life and the depravation
he felt when removal was ordained. He spoke of the composure of his soul in
constant and unrelenting praying through the night as it felt like God was
breaking all of his bones like a lion. He was laid weak as a bird as he looked
up for help to the Almighty in his oppression. He pined for security in the
Savior. He resigned himself to the possibility of the bitterness of the soul in
his state, but then recognized that “by these things men (really) live, and in
all these is the life of my spirit.” The restoration of health from
insurmountable distress is an overcoming worth testifying. Hezekiah gives God
His glory for it is solely His power that that kept his soul from nothingness,
and it is God who casts all sin away behind His back. There is no praise in
Sheol, death cannot give glory to the King of all. The lost without a Savior
cannot hope for His faithfulness. It is the spiritual living who can give
thanks to the LORD as Hezekiah was doing. He will tell of the LORD’s great and
mighty deeds of faithfulness to his sons, for the LORD surely saves. He will
sing in jubilation on stringed instruments all the days of his remaining
earthly life at the House of the LORD. *Application* Recognize that life events
allowed by the LORD, which are hard and difficult to handle, actually bring us
into a closer intimacy with our God so that we can have a great testimony of
His goodness. Don’t waste the hurtful times in your life. See how God has used
them to make you better as a person who can share with others. Life is about
learning and growing in our relationship and fellowship with our Creator.
-Isaiah gives the command to take
a cake of figs and apply it to the boil on the king so that he would recover
(Isaiah 38:21). The chapter ends with a question in the Masoretic text from
whence we get most of our translations, “What is the sign that I shall go up to
the house of the LORD (Isaiah 38:22)?” This is a difficult verse for
interpretation, which may be best understood in the Septuagint’s rendering of
it as a statement rather than an interrogative, “This [is]
the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord God.” If this is a
question, there is certainly room to interpret this as Hezekiah’s statement of
a possible double-minded unbelief in expecting more and more out of the LORD.
If we take the Septuagint’s understanding, we take a more positive approach and
see that Hezekiah is accepting the LORD’s sign of the previous moving shadow
and health provision so as to give glory to His redeeming actions.
Verse to Memorize: Isaiah 38:5
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