Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
Yes, this anguish was good for me…
(Isaiah 38:17 NLT)
Observation
King Hezekiah of Judah has fallen ill, and the prophet Isaiah brings him this message: “Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.” (Isaiah 38:1 NLT)
Now that’ll get your attention! It probably wasn’t only the announcement of impending death that got Hezekiah’s attention, but also the very likely probability that at this point Hezekiah had no son…no descendent to take the throne…upon his death.
The Bible doesn’t identify any specific reason why God brought this message to Hezekiah at this moment—that is, there’s no indication that this pronouncement is a word of judgment for sin or such. Perhaps Hezekiah had simply been unwilling to recognize and prepare for his own inevitable demise and therefore God needed to press the issue a bit. Nobody wants to acknowledge that even *someday* they’re going to die—and it’s clear that Hezekiah had thought (up to this moment, anyway) that he was in the prime of his life (Isaiah 38:10).
Bottom line, Hezekiah is deathly ill, and God’s message that he’ll not recover has been delivered. In desperation (hmmmm, sounds like yesterday’s reading…) Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord” (Isaiah 38:2) and God graciously intervened. And when all was said and done, Hezekiah was grateful to have walked “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4, of course).
I think I understand why. Look at your own life. Don’t we generally learn so much more from our trials than from our blessings? Nobody would *choose* difficulty, given the option, but most everybody I know wouldn’t trade what they learned in the valley for even all the joys of the mountaintop.
And most everybody knows that's the truth. What’s difficult is embracing that reality wholeheartedly in the middle of the trial! And so I pray…
“Lord, in the middle of the trial…in the middle of the anguish…give me eyes of faith for the lessons that will be understood at the end, and for the blessings which await those who faithfully persevere! Remind me of the promise of Revelation 3:21—'To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.'” (Revelation 3:21 NIV)
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1 comment:
Pastor Kent,
Your comments today line up very well with something I recently read in Mark Batterson's book, "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day". "We should stop asking God to *get us out* of difficult circumstances and start asking Him what He wants us *to get out of* those difficult circumstances."
Your reference to Psalm 23:4 also reminds me that we are to walk *through* the valley of the shadow of death. I can't find anything in my Bible that suggests we should camp there.
Good stuff.
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