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Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends!
Today is the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend… I wonder how your heart is today as you head back into your normal lives again? Are you refreshed from these past days? As you look ahead to the final month of this traumatic year of 2020 what do you foresee is ahead for you? If in fact a COVID vaccine becomes available before the end of this year, are you among those rushing to get injected? That is only one of what will likely be many important decisions ahead for us in these next four weeks as you and I close out a year that will go down in history as unforgettable for many reasons.
Join me in turning back to the life of king Hezekiah where we’ve been these past several days, seeking to learn important lessons for living our lives in this tumultuous season of history. Following the remarkable miracle of God’s deliverance of Jerusalem from the invasion of the huge Assyrian army which had ravaged many lands, Hezekiah suddenly faced a new and unexpected personal challenge. He became very ill and was close to death, and he sent for Isaiah the prophet to inquire of God on his behalf. God’s answer was shocking! “The LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die, you will not recover from this illness.” (Isaiah 38:1)
Friends, have you ever received such shocking news? Have you seen the look on your doctor’s face when you heard the words ‘it’s terminal’? Have you ever been with a dear friend when they received such terrifying news? Do you remember the empty feeling, the sudden nausea and total inability to think straight? What did you do in that moment? Hezekiah was evidently lying on his sickbed and Isaiah records “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ‘Remember O LORD how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” (Is. 38:2)
We’ve just come through what I hope was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend for you and your loved ones. I hope you had ample time to tell and listen to the personal stories of God’s grace and goodness in your lives. I hope you step into this Monday greatly encouraged, as Hezekiah did after all that we’ve seen of the great blessings of God in the days of his leadership in 2 Chronicles 29-32. If we are honest, do we now expect that God, in response to our “Thanksgiving” will bless us? Is that what Hezekiah was expecting?
Do you suppose after Hezekiah recovered a bit from the shock of the news, that he began to wrestle with feelings of frustration with God, unfairness, maybe even anger? You know I like to ask important questions, so here’s another one: how do you respond when life seems to deal you an injustice, a tragedy, a trauma that doesn’t seem fair, especially if you’ve been trying to ‘walk with Jesus’ to the best of your ability?
While Hezekiah’s illness story is told in 2 Kings 20, let’s focus on Isaiah’s record of this remarkable event in Isaiah 38. Do you remember the prophet Samuel when confronting king Saul for his failure in following God’s instructions said to Saul: “The LORD who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” (1 Samuel 15:29)? And yet, look at what happened to Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:4 “Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, ‘Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add 15 years to your life…”
The remainder of chapter 38 of Isaiah are some of his deep, soul reflections written down by king Hezekiah as he pondered how close he came to death and God’s unexpected kindness in healing Hezekiah and granting him yet 15 more years to live and reign as king over Jerusalem and God’s people. This Scripture is one of the reasons God’s people pray earnestly for healing, when a follower of Jesus is very ill.
Often we link this Hezekiah miracle with James 3:14,15 and John 14:12,13 & 16:23, as we pray in faith for God’s healing. We leave to God the privilege He has of being Sovereign, and we do as He has invited us… we pray in great faith believing God is able to do anything, anytime, anywhere that He desires, for His great glory.
The ongoing story of Hezekiah does not tell us a great deal of what transpired during those 15 years, but there are two significant events recorded for us. First, as we can imagine word spread far and wide of God’s healing of king Hezekiah, and a delegation from the kingdom of Babylon came to meet this king and hear his account of how God had both protected Jerusalem from the Assyrian army, and how God had raised Hezekiah up from his death bed. While I don’t know with certainty what the motivation was for king Hezekiah to give the Babylonian delegation a full tour of Jerusalem and God’s bountiful blessing, what we do know is when Isaiah heard of what happened he visited king Hezekiah with a shocking prediction from God regarding the future.
It would have been almost impossible for Hezekiah to believe, considering how safe and secure, how blessed and bountiful these years had been, but God could look into the future and see dark days ahead, and so Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that you fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your own descendants will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon!” (Is. 39:5-7)
No message from God could have been more frightful to Hezekiah or anyone who overheard the prophet Isaiah foretelling this future for Jerusalem! Everything seemed so wonderful at that moment. Ah my friends, we need to learn this lesson well. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us… “The devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” The dark kingdom of Satan is always scheming, always working to undermine and oppose every good thing which comes from God or God is doing in our world. What might Satan and his demons be working on right now, that has you, your family, your church, your community as the target?
You see, the second thing of significance which occurred in those blessed 15 additional, miraculous years God gave to Hezekiah after his healing, was a son. Manasseh was born in the 3rd year after Hezekiah’s near death. I would assume he was seen by Hezekiah as a very special gift from God, and perhaps that is why he was chosen to succeed his father on the throne. But as we will see tomorrow, this boy had no interest in hearing his father Hezekiah speak of all the great blessings of God. No interest in understanding the history of God protecting, guiding, providing for His people. It was due to the terrible, failed leadership of Manasseh, the boy who would never have been born if Hezekiah had died when God told him he was going to die… that the prediction of Isaiah about Babylon became the dreadful reality for Jerusalem!
Now friends, only God knows what the future will hold for any of us, our families, our churches or our nations. What we do know is God does not change and He wants to be glorified and honored in our lives, our families, our churches, our businesses, our nations. I’m asking you to give serious consideration to how you can finish 2020 well. How can you and I be greatly honoring to God in EVERY aspect of our lives?
I have found a new great YouTube song to help us close our time in worship, reflection and prayer… listen carefully to the words:
“What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone! Christ alone!
What is our only confidence? That our souls to HIM belong.
Who holds our days within His hand? What comes apart from His command?
And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ in which we stand!
O Sing, Hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal.
O Sing, Hallelujah, now and ever we confess,
Christ our hope in life and death….”
These words seem to be what Hezekiah said as he reflected on his miracle… and I hope this song is your heart and mine this Monday as we praise God today! And please notice we’ve added a link to the Audio Bible portion of God’s Word we’ve studied today, at the bottom of this page. I hope it helps you…now let’s worship. . .
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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