CHAPTER 38
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 38, VS1-8
1In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord,
3 And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4 Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,
5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken;
8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 38, VS 1-8
“In those days”…What days? We are to assume it was the same time as the previous two chapters when his city was being threatened by the king of Assyria, which we symbolized as the devil threatening a Believer. To continue in that mode, on top of the demonic attacks and depression, he found out he had a fatal illness. As he had prayed, or was at that time praying for his city, he also prayed for a longer life to Praise the Lord and live for Him. He was a humble person who loved the Lord. God heard him on both prayers. He saved his city (got satan off his back) and healed him, adding 15 years to his life. As proof, He set the clock back, we assume, for the time of his prayer. Many times in our lives, things come on us all at once, and we feel like the bottom fell out of our lives. Turning honestly, humbly to Our Lord, will always bring results that are in His will. This may not look like it to us, but we don’t know His will from His eternal eyes. He will ALWAYS do the best for us for eternity!
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 38, VS 9-22
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:
10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.”
18For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.”
20 The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.
21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.
22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 38, VS 9-22
This is King Hezekiah’s testimony about those days, when the bottom fell out of his life. He was under attack from the King of Assyria (in our lives, this is satan’s messengers attacking us personally), he was depressed, and terminally ill. He regretted not having a longer life to serve the Lord and his people. He was a humble man, and he laid himself bare before the Lord, as we must do in our lives. Then He praises the Lord for His wonderful salvation, healing, and protection. Notice, in verse 20, instead of saying that he deserved these things, or that his prayers brought them about, he says, “The Lord was ready to save me.” In other words, He had submitted to the Lord’s Perfect Plan, and humbled himself in repentance, accepting the verdict from the Lord, and it was God’s decision that He was ready to do this.
END OF CHAPTER 38