Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
We’ve all been there. Where? That place of deep agony when it seems we’ve cried so much that we don’t have any tears left to cry. That’s where I left you yesterday with king Hezekiah. Why would a KING cry till he runs out of tears? Because this remarkably good, God honoring king Hezekiah, living in the euphoria of God’s deliverance of Jerusalem from a pending attack by emperor Sennacharib and his Assyrian army, had just received word from the prophet Isaiah that he would not recover from the illness he was suffering!
Isaiah had told him, “This is what the LORD says:’Put your house in order because you are going to die, you will not recover.” (Is. 38:1) As Hezekiah reflected on the emotions and thoughts which had filled his heart, Hezekiah wrote something Isaiah calls “A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery.” (Is. 38:9) Today let’s continue looking at some key statements in this unusual writing of King Hezekiah.
“I waited patiently till dawn…I cried…I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. Come to my aid O LORD.” (Is.38:13,14) What sustains you while you weep and cry out to God waiting for the answers only God can bring you? I have found two things which have sustained me there…
First, my confidence that God hears my prayer; that God cares very much about ALL that is going on in my life and that God is compassionate and loving and God will NOT ignore, NOT overlook, NOT turn away from my prayer.
How do I know that? That’s the consistent, frequently repeated story of the Bible and God’s response to people who cry out to Him. That is why Hagar gave God the name “El Roi”, as she said “You are the God who sees me.” (Gen. 16:13) It’s what God told Moses at the burning bush when God said “I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt, and I have heard them crying out because of their misery and I am concerned about their sufferings. So I have come down to rescue them…” (Ex. 3:7,8)
Second is my confidence that God does not change. “I the LORD do not change.” (Malachi 3:6) And nothing can separate me from God’s great love which God pours out to me in Christ Jesus, His Son. (Romans 8:37-39)
That is one reason I love digging into the Old Testament where we find centuries filled with stories of God responding to the cries of His beloved people. So while Hezekiah cried and prayed, he also trusted that God would do whatever would be best for the people of Jerusalem, best for king Hezekiah and best for people like you and me hundreds of years later, who would read this “writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery.”
I’m delighted to tell you my friends that right in the middle of Hezekiah’s writing there’s a ‘U turn’, God’s answer! Look at vs. 15 “But what can I say? The LORD has spoken to me and HE Himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. You restored me to health and let me live!” (Is. 38:15,16) Isaiah had returned to king Hezekiah and proclaimed to him that God had heard his prayer, seen his tears, and was healing his illness.
It would not end in death, but rather God was granting king Hezekiah 15 more years of life and reign on the throne in Jerusalem! While I’m a cancer survivor and I presume many of you, my friends, have also been given second chances at life by God, can you imagine how amazing this was for Hezekiah, Isaiah and the people of Judah? I wonder if there are new values, new commitments by which you are living your second chance at life?
Listen to this next statement of praise and thanks from Hezekiah: “Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love, O LORD, You kept me from the pit of destruction, You have put all my sins behind Your back!” (Is. 38:17) Now that, my friends, is one of those statements which causes me to step back, take a deep breath and prepare for some serious reflection.
It’s very, very rare for someone to thank God for their miserable experience and then declare ‘Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish.’ Can you say that my friends, about any major point of suffering in your past? I can say that about my cancer, for several reasons I have discussed with God several times. Do you see it is God’s great love for you, your family, and the world you impact that God has spared you from your ‘pit of destruction’ while allowing you to pass through a valley of great anguish?
And then do you see the power of that final statement Hezekiah made: “You have put all my sins behind Your back”? Of course Hezekiah was writing 2700 years before God the Son, Jesus the Christ, came to earth and paid the full death penalty so you and I could be fully forgiven of our sins against God! In Old Testament times those people who participated in the sacrificial system God had proclaimed to Moses and His people. they knew their sins were covered by the blood of these sacrifices and their faith that God would accept their sacrifices and their repentance. The idea of God putting their sins behind His back was the same as David’s expression in Psalm 103:11,12 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God’s love for those who fear Him, as far as east is from west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us…”.
Now with Jesus it’s far more than putting our sins behind God’s back, isn’t it my friends? Now we can be justified by God and totally cleansed from any stain of our sin. We stand purified by Holy God as He applies the holiness of Jesus to our lives as His Holy Spirit cleanses us from all sin and Jesus reconciles us to the Father in a glorious Father-son, Father-daughter relationship! Hezekiah was pointing forward to what you and I can live, even though he did not yet fully understand it.
So these questions as we close today my friends reflecting on this ‘writing of Hezekiah’:
1. Are Hezekiah’s words true and are they my living experience? Are you confident God hears, cares and responds to your tears, your cries in your times of deep agony?
2. Have you found God can teach you very important life lessons in your times of anguish that can benefit you greatly in the rest of your life?
3. Have you and I both experienced, as Hezekiah did, the power and presence of God BOTH in our desperation times and our rejoicing with Jesus times?
Let’s spend some time thanking Him today with this worship song…
Today’s Scripture: Is. 38:9-20.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“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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