Life - He has Done it for Us!

Isaiah 38:9-22

9 This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10 I said,
"In the prime of my life
I shall go to the gates of Sheol;
I am deprived of the remainder of my years."

11 I said,
"I shall not see YAH,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

12 My life span is gone,
Taken from me like a shepherd's tent;
I have cut off my life like a weaver.
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.

13 I have considered until morning—
Like a lion,
So He breaks all my bones;
From day until night You make an end of me.

14 Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered;
I mourned like a dove;
My eyes fail from looking upward.
O LORD, I am oppressed;
Undertake for me!

15 "What shall I say?
He has both spoken to me,
And He Himself has done it.
I shall walk carefully 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 You will restore me and make me live.

17 Indeed it was for my own peace
That I had great bitterness;
But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

18 For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.

19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You,
As I do this day;
The father shall make known Your truth to the children.

20 "The LORD was ready to save me;
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments
All the days of our life, in the house of the LORD."

21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover."

22 And Hezekiah had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"

This passage is a responsive prayer of king Hezekiah after being granted an extension to his life by a pleading prayer of intercession for himself, a life which was to have ended abruptly and far too soon.  He thought his life would be cut short in the prime of his life which was told would be taken away from him by God’s decree through Isaiah.  He mourned over not seeing the LORD in the land of the living for much longer nor anyone else.  He wanted to live.  Yes, he saw his his end as life to be taken away abruptly like a stolen tent over his head or cut off like a carpet on a loom before it was completed.  He was to be ended like a lion consuming him and chattered as a nervous bird and a mournful dove at the thought of it all.  But Yah his God had personally spoken to him through His messenger and had done the work of restoring his life for fifteen years longer as an answered prayer.  In response, Hezekiah promised to live more carefully in following the LORD with the bitter memories of what might have been.  He wanted to live.  He was thankful.  He had hope in restoration.  He saw his own bitterness over a death sentence as a blessing of peace with God in disguise.  The king realized that his salvation was because of grace in which the Lord God had cast his sins behind His back (Micah 7:19, Psalm 103:12) in forgiveness and life so he could live for God in response of thanksgiving (Psalm 119:67).  He could not so praise God if he had died, but desired to do so ever more in life.  He promised further that he would make this forgiving grace known to others in his praises.  For the rest of his life he would sing of his salvation which God was willing to do for him as he himself could not and was not able to do.  The sign of his recovery was this thankful heart of a changed life, not the turning back of time for the portion of a day.  We in like manner can reflect on our own deliverance from God’s wrath on our sin and sing songs of thanksgiving as a testimony to His grace in Christ Jesus our Lord for such undeserved salvation from the punishment of deserved death and a life extend into eternity instead of a decade and a half like Hezekiah.  He has both spoken this grace to us and He has done it for us (Romans 5:6, 8, 1 Corinthians 15:3, Psalm 22:30-31)!