Isaiah 41:8-10 - Serving a faithful God

Through Isaiah, God had told Judah that their chastening would include their exile in Babylon. However, God would raise Cyrus to free them from captivity. But at the coming of Cyrus, the nations in the far reaches of the earth would be confounded. For Cyrus would come conquering and destroying the nations. In fear and trembling, the nations would seek each other’s support and encouragement. Their craftsmen would come together to fashion idols hoping that their man-made idols could cope with the menacing Cyrus. But in contrast, the people of Judah would be dealt with differently. Though they had faltered and were unfaithful to Him, God would remain faithful and stay committed to them. In Isaiah 41:8-20, God told them why He would treat them differently, and then made promises that He would deliver them.

In our discussion of verses 8-10 today, we will see the reason why God would deal with Judah differently. Although they disappointed Him, yet He would remain faithful to them and would deliver them. In referring to Israel, God was pointing to them as a nation. As a nation, Israel was called to serve God alone. And because they were the descendants of Jacob, they became His chosen. God made it clear in verse 8 that it was in Abraham, His friend, that they as his descendants, still had a unique relationship with Him.

 

The central issue here is the truth that Israel was God’s chosen. He had chosen Israel to be His unique and special people. It was not the other way round. Being the chosen of God is a privilege. That privilege included their security. He would not reject them, neither would He forsake them. As their God, He would strengthen, help, and uphold them with His righteous right hand. Hence, they should have no fear of the rise of Cyrus. However, like all privileges, their calling came with a responsibility. They were called to serve.

 

God through Christ has called us into a unique relationship with Him. Because of this relationship, we can find our security in Him. But like Israel with God, our relationship with Him through Christ is also a privilege. It also comes with responsibilities. Each one of us is called and chosen to be a witness of Christ to the world. Hear the assuring words of our Lord in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain ….” Let us enjoy our privilege in Christ, but serve Him we must.

Isaiah 41:1-7 – Trusting God even in our bewilderment

Throughout chapter 41, Isaiah quoting the Word of the LORD directly spoke in the first person. Through Isaiah, God was addressing the nations personally. Notice the opening phrase “Listen to Me in silence.” What an apt call! If one is to hear the Word of God clearly and discern what He is saying, there is a need to be silent before Him. It is in quiet listening that we will be able to discern the clear voice of the LORD.  So let him who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. Here, in Isaiah 41:1-7, God was addressing the nations, calling them to listen to what He Himself intends to do. He invited them to come and listen so that they could give their opinions concerning what would soon take place.

In verse 2, God announced His plan to raise a powerful person from the east. Here King Cyrus is alluded to and his tasks described. God would turn the nations over to him. His dominating force would come subduing, conquering, and destroying nations, something he had not done before. Raising Cyrus up to do what he eventually did was not an issue with God. For as the Sovereign LORD everything happens according to His plan and schedule. This has been the case for generations. Kings would come and go according to His plan to fulfill His timetable.  

 

In the last line of verse 4, God referred to Himself, saying “I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.” He is and will always be the immutable eternal God. He was present at the beginning of time and will be there when time has ended, and earth will be no more. There had never been one like Him and never will there be another like Him. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Fist and the Last.  

 

Mockingly, verses 6-7 described the apprehension the people would experience at the coming of Cyrus. They would be fearful and trembling. So they would come together to try and support each other and encourage one another.  In their panic-stricken state, their craftsmen would come together to fashion idols that they hoped could alleviate them from the hand of Cyrus, God’s chosen vessel. Each craftsman would try to encourage the other in their parts in fashioning the idol. Unwittingly they were deceiving one another into believing in the capability of an idol. How pathetic!

 

When we are bewildered by life’s circumstances, it is time to pause, listen, and discern what God is saying to us in our confusion. He is our safe refuge, and we do not have to turn to other man-made means of security. Stay still and know that Jesus our unchanging God is always there, and He is in control. He wants to take us through.   Remember, yesterday, today, and forever, Jesus our Lord is the same. All may change but He will never change. Yes, all glory to His name!

 

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Isaiah 40: 21-31 - Journeying with our Sovereign God

It had been said that Isaiah 1-39 were written for the prophet’s contemporaries, but Isaiah 40-66 were written for Judah’s future generations, especially those in the Babylonian captivity. The second half of Isaiah was composed to help those in exile to look forward and find great hope in God. So in Isaiah 40:12-20, Isaiah presented undeniable truths that God is trustworthy. They show firstly that He is all-knowing and secondly, that He is all-powerful. Although knowing these two truths would have been enough to motivate one to trust Him, yet Isaiah did not just leave his audience with only these two truths about God. He knew that there were so much more to know about Him and so went on from verses 21-31 to show more compelling truths of this great God. Knowing these other aspects of God should seal our absolute trust in Him and make us wait on Him confidently. So verses 21-31 set out to do just that and urge believers to make time to wait upon the Lord in full hope and confidence.

Asking a series of rhetorical questions again, Isaiah in verses 21-24 show us that God is not only Supreme but is also Sovereign. He, the Eternal One existed before time. He was there at the beginning of time and creation. From thence, He has been on the throne located on the circle of the globe, making heavens the curtains of His dwelling place. And from there He rules, maintains, and preserves all that exists. As the Supreme Ruler of all, there is absolutely no other ruler who could ever be greater than Him. No matter how the remnant of Judah might have viewed the mighty Babylonians, they were nothing in comparison to God. Like it or not, all earthly powers have to yield to His authority. He alone can take away their power instantly. At His breath, they would wither like plants and be blown away like stubble.  

 

Considering all that had been said about God’s greatness, the obvious question in verse 25 to ask then is: “Who can be compared with God?” By looking at the heavenly bodies, one could see His hand behind their orderliness. He had put each one of them in its place and there is none out of place and none missing. In fact, God had even called each one of the stars by name. For people who trust in astrology, what Isaiah said here should debunk astrology. Implicitly, we should not believe in astrological signs such as Leo, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Taurus, or Aquarius, and the likes. Neither should we believe that we were born in the year of the rat, cow, tiger or rabbit, etc. All of us believers are born under the sign of the Cross.     

 

Verse 27 tells us that God is all-seeing, and nothing is hidden from his watchful eye. Like He told the people of Israel, He also tells us today that all that happens to us are ever before His eye. Nothing is ever hidden from Him. According to Psalm 121, God neither slumbers nor sleeps because He does not need to. Isaiah then confidently declared that He never grows tired or weary. What a God He is! He is waiting to strengthen everyone who trusts Him and will wait on Him. He will make those who wait on Him to soar like an eagle. And He will give them strength whether in running or in strolling. Therefore, we will not be wrong to place our lives totally in Him. So let us journey with our magnificent and eternal God confidently!

Isaiah 40:12-20 – God is all-knowing and all-powerful

In Isaiah 40:12-31, we see a description of the greatness of God. He had promised that a remnant of Judah would be delivered from their Babylonian exile and return to their homeland. The purpose of these verses then is clearly to inspire confidence in this God. Here Isaiah painted a portrait of the great God. As we interact with this presentation of God, we can see why this God alone deserves our total trust and allegiance. Know that He alone deserves our worship and service. In our reflection today, we will explore verses 12-20.  

Two attributes of God are revealed in verses 12-20. Firstly, God is all-knowing. Verse 12 tells us that He alone holds the water of the whole earth with the palm of His hand, and measures the length and breadth of the earth. Besides, He alone knows how much dust there is on earth and how heavy every mountain truly is. Verses 13-14 say that He knows everything about everyone, so He needs no one’s guide or counsel. Secondly, verses 15-17 tell us that He is all-powerful. All the nations in comparison with Him are collectively only a drop of water in a bucket and a small and insignificant speck of dust on the weighing scale. Verse 16 says that so great is He that there is no sacrifice enough to offer to Him. Even if all the woods and animals in the forests of Lebanon were to be presented as one big burnt-offering to Him, they collectively would still be too insignificant a sacrifice for such a great God.

So great is this God that verses 18-20 tell us not to compare Him with a man-made idol. It would be a great insult and a gross injustice to attempt to fashion Him into the likeness of an idol made with destructible materials. How could anyone ever make a perfect idol that would never stumble? It is guaranteed that everyone who trusts in man-made idols would be destroyed.  

 

The thought here is that we worship and serve a great God. Because He is all-knowing, He understands all that we are going through in this life. Because He is all-powerful, He can take us through the toughest circumstance of life. We may not know what our tomorrow will hold but we know that He holds our tomorrow in His hand. What a  deep assurance to know that our unknown tomorrow is safe in the hands of the all-knowing and all-powerful God. He is our help and our salvation. So learn to rejoice in all circumstances and to give thanks to Him in everything!  

Isaiah 40:1-11 – In God, the perfect consolation

Collectively, Isaiah 40-48 is known as the Book of Cyrus, a king of Persia who eventually authorized Judah’s release from exile. His name was referred to several times, thus these chapters have alluded to him. We have noted in the earlier chapters of Isaiah that Judah had gone through much at the hand of Sennacherib. We learned how they were severely dealt with by the Assyrians who had seized many of her fortified cities. Even Jerusalem was nearly captured. However, from Isaiah 39 we were told that their greater blow would be at the hand of Babylon. Under them, Judah’s goods and youths would be deported and taken into exile. As we come to Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah began a series of positive prophecies. His purpose was for Judah to look to the future so that they could be comforted in their present sufferings. Anticipating their deliverance from oppression, and their deliverance from exile that would surely take place, Isaiah brought messages of consolation. Though his messages speak of deliverance from captivity, they carry a greater message of mankind’s deliverance from the dominion of sin.  

Today, let us consider Isaiah 40:1-11 in our reflection. Activating our sanctified imagination, let us envision the feeling of the remnant of Judah who had returned from the exile. They were recalling the past and how as a nation, they had failed their God miserably. They were sorely in need of comfort and consolation. As they were reminiscing, four voices of comfort were given.

 

In verses 1-2, the first voice of comfort assured them that their past was forgiven. Yes, as a nation they had indeed sinned against their faithful God. But they were also chastised much. God had allowed them to go through much to discipline them. But it was all because of His great love for them. Like them, we need to know that those whom God loves, He chastens. We are told in Hebrews 12:11 that “…all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”  

 

The second voice of comfort is recorded in verses 3-5. It was a voice of divine intervention. God, Himself would prepare the way for them. He would send a messenger to assist them to prepare the way for them to return to glory. Indeed God did it for them in their return from exile. Cyrus literally prepared the way for them to return. Eventually, they could rebuild the walls and the temple, and restore worship. In the Gospels, John the Baptist came to fulfill this voice. He came to prepare the way for sinners to return to God. He came to prepare the way for the first coming of the Lord.

 

The third voice of comfort in verses 6-8 stresses the permanent Word of God. Here we are shown how temporal everything truly is. Everything is like flesh that would be here today and gone tomorrow. The Assyrians as well as the Babylonians did not last forever. After they had executed God’s purposes, they all faded away. But the Word of God will last through all eternity. It will stand forever. We must take the eternal Word of God seriously. We must be diligent to accurately handle the word of truth.

 

The fourth voice of comfort in verses 9-11 is the proclamation of the message of peace. Here we see a picture of the coming of the Lord. He would come not only as the mighty Conqueror, but he would also come like the gentle Shepherd. We see both these characteristics in our Lord Jesus Christ. He will help us to conquer our sin and circumstances, but He will also carry us gently in His arm. With Him, we will find safety and security. Beloved, we have a God who forgives and provides. Furthermore, He has given us His eternal word to guide us and in Him, we will be secure and safe. Hallelujah! What a God!

Isaiah 39:3-8 - The high price of choosing a low road

It is understandable for Isaiah to be uneasy about Hezekiah’s unwise move to show the emissary of Babylon all that Judah possessed. That was probably the reason he came inquiring of the king. He asked, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” It was a two-part question in which Hezekiah only answered the second part but not the first. He did not answer the first part of the question because he probably knew the sentiment of Isaiah concerning an alliance with a foreign power. So he avoided the first question altogether. Being a wise counselor, Isaiah could quite easily guess the reason for the visit of the Babylonian dignitary. When Isaiah asked the follow-up question “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah still did not feel the seriousness of what he had done. So he unceremoniously said, “They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not let them see.”

Hezekiah’s casualness about the matter led Isaiah to pronounce what the Babylonians would do to Judah. Acutely, Isaiah then said to the  king, “Hear the words of the LORD of  Hosts, ‘Behold days are coming when everything that that is in your house, and what your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ‘And some of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”  His message suggested that Judah’s exile would not be at the hand of the Assyrians, but the Babylonians. And that it would not happen during Hezekiah’s watch.

Why did Hezekiah choose to ostentatiously display the nation’s wealth and military resources? His casual display of all the national assets was an indication that pride had usurped God on the throne of his heart. In his response to Isaiah in verse 8, we see a myopic man. He was only concerned about what would happen in his time but not what would happen to his posterity in the future. His answer reveals a tint of selfishness in him. His attitude seems to be, “If it does not happen during my watch, it is alright with me.”

Here are three lessons for our application: (1) We need to know that the best of us is susceptible to failure. Therefore be sure to walk circumspectly and be watchful over our relationship with God. Being circumspect will help us to bring our activities into alignment with God’s will. (2) We must not make life’s decisions casually. Always take into consideration the wider implication and the would-be outcome of any decision. Know it or not, we are only one decision away from a totally different life. (3) Do not trivialize a sin. Never pass over any sin and regard them as a trifle. Why? Because sin, no matter how small, always has a far-reaching consequence than we know. The effect of our offense could affect our posterity. So let us be circumspect, make decisions wisely, and amend a wrong immediately. The attitude of our heart matters so do watch out! 

Isaiah 39:1-2 – Trust God, the giver and not the gift

Isaiah 39 leaves us with the lesson that our lives are ever before the watchful eye of God who wants us to place our complete trust in Him. Our confidence must always be in Him alone and not in ourselves, not in the riches He has granted us to possess, nor in our worldly standing. Bear in mind that if we do not guard our walk with God, we can be susceptible to the temptation to trust what we have been blessed with rather than in God, the Giver. The blessings God gave us are the greatest test to see if we would remain faithful to Him.

The backdrop to Isaiah 38-39 can be found in Second Chronicles 32. In verses 27-30 we read “Now Hezekiah had immense riches and honor; and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles, also storehouses for the produce of grain, wine, and oil; stalls for all kinds of cattle, and sheepfolds for the flocks. He made cities for himself and acquired flocks and herds in abundance because God had given him very great wealth.  It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah was successful in everything that he did.”

Isaiah 39:1 then introduced Merodach-balagan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon. When he heard of Hezekiah’s recovery from his near-death illness, he seized the opportunity and initiated contact with him. As an instigator against Assyria, his motive was clear. His meeting with the recovered Hezekiah was to canvass for support to rebel against Assyria. However, there is another side to the whole account. God was using the incident to assess the king to see if he would remain faithful to Him. So we read in 2 Chronicles 32:31, “Even in the matter of the messengers of the rulers of Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land; God left him alone only to test him, so that He might know everything that was in his heart.”

Isaiah 39:2 indicates that Hezekiah had failed the test. Pride took the better of him. Boastfully he showed all that he had amassed to Merodach-baladan. He held nothing back but allowed the ambassador from Babylon to see all the wealth and military hardware he had acquired. He had forgotten how little the weaponry he had acquired was able to assure him against the threat of Assyria. Sadly, this shows us how the godly Hezekiah had faltered. He fell into this temptation of trusting in what he possessed than in God. Let this be a lesson for us. We must trust God in hard times, but always remain faithfully trusting when the tide has turned for the better. Man tends to forget God in times of blessings and plenty. So beware!

Isaiah 38:21-22 – Ultimately, it is God who heals

The last two verses of Isaiah 38 are like the appendices to the account given in the first eight verses of the chapter. Isaiah, as we know, was sent with a message to Hezekiah telling him to set his house in order, for the illness that he was inflicted with was a terminal one and he would soon die. We were not told what his life-threatening illness was. Here in verse 21 reveals what he was suffering from. It was a boil, although which part of his body the boil was afflicting was not known. A boil ordinarily seems like a small growth that could hardly be life-threatening. Since this boil that Hezekiah suffered from was life-threatening, it was more likely to be a carbuncle. A carbuncle is a huge boil. It is a huge abscess, much like a tumor, which typically grows on a person’s buttock or the back of the neck.

Verse 21 recorded that Isaiah advised the king to apply a fig poultice over it. A fig poultice is like plaster made of crushed fig that could be applied like a dressing to the boil. Fig apparently had some medicinal value and could promote healing. The instruction given by Isaiah indicates that the healing the king experienced was not instant. It took a process of time to heal. This underscores for us that while we should pray for our sickness, we should not discount that God could use medicine as a means of healing. Pray, we must, but do not downplay the role of doctors and medical science.

In the earlier part of Isaiah 38, the sign God gave to prove that His promise of healing was sure to take place seemed unsolicited. But here in verse 22, Hezekiah was said to have asked for a sign. This is supported by the account given in 2 Kings 20. It could well be that Isaiah first announced that the Lord would give him a sign to assure him. It was then that Hezekiah asked, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I will go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” (2 Kings 20:8). Graciously Isaiah then asked him which he preferred: for the shadow of the sun to move forward ten steps or backward ten steps. The king then chose the latter and so it happened as he had preferred.

Healing is God’s gift. He does heal supernaturally as well as through medical science and doctors. Verse 21 suggests that God used medicine to bring about Hezekiah’s healing. Bear in mind that ultimately all healings come from God. Even if we see a doctor, and take the prescribed medication, the healing of that sickness is granted by the Lord. What the doctor does is only prescribing the means to help create a conducive condition so that God’s healing can then take effect. The tablets a person takes only alleviate his pain and allow him to rest, but the underlying condition remains there. Ultimately, it takes God to heal and bring wholeness. We must understand first of all that God is our real healer. So when we are inflicted with sickness, let Him be the first option we seek in prayer. Secondly, don’t discount the role of a doctor. They can help to promote the condition so that healing can take place. Thirdly, bear in mind also that sickness could be an invitation to seek God and find out which areas of our lives we need to amend to make right our relationship with Him. God is in the business of getting us whole: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically, if we let Him.    

Isaiah 38:18-20 – Give God our prime not our residues

In Isaiah 38:18-20, we come to the last three lines of Hezekiah’s poem. The first of these three lines show us what he thought about death. His words showed how apprehensive he was then with the prospect of facing death. Especially when he was in the prime of his life. So here he was giving reasons wishing for God to spare his life from death in his prime. He was putting words into what he was musing then.

In saying that “…Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness” Hezekiah was not suggesting that at death the soul of a person would be obliterated. He was merely saying that when physical life ceases, one could no longer give thanks or offer praise to the Lord in the flesh. He further insisted that a dead person could no longer respond to God’s faithfulness. And it is true that only those who are physically alive can respond to God’s faithful dealings. But once a person has died, any hope of responding to God will be gone and one’s destiny will be sealed forever. As we think of what Hezekiah had said, it should motivate us to want to respond to God, to offer Him our best in the prime of our lives. Never give to God the leftovers of our lives. Listen to the words of Ecclesiastes 12:1 that says,  “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’”   

 

In verse 19, Hezekiah further asserted that only a person alive could teach his children to praise God and to respond to His faithfulness. This was something he did when God spared him from death. These are things we parents must emulate. We must never cease to teach our children to praise God and to respond gratefully to His kind overtures. These are our God granted privileges as parents.  

 

The last line of this poem ended with Hezekiah’s expression of confidence that the Lord will deliver him. Therefore, he and all his people would continue to praise God and sing to Him in the temple. This poem leaves us with the thought that death is everyone’s inevitable experience, no matter how robust we may be. The issue is what should we do while we still have the strength and vitality? The obvious answer is:- to  know God, give our lives to worship and serve Him. May the words of Horatius Bonar inspire us to do so:

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,
  In every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim
  Thy being and Thy ways.

Not for the lip of praise alone,
  Nor e’en the praising heart,
I ask, but for a life made up
  Of praise in every part:

Praise in the common things of life,
  Its goings out and in;
Praise in each duty and each deed,
  However small and mean.

Fill every part of me with praise;
  Let all my being speak
Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord,
  Poor though I be and weak.

 

So shall no part of day or night
  From sacredness be free,
But all my life, in every step,
  Be fellowship with Thee.

Isaiah 38:15-17 – Living fully for God in the meanwhile

In the middle of his solemn poem, Hezekiah changed his tone in verse 15. He paused to ask a rhetorical question – what shall I say? This was his sobering and contemplative moment. It is like asking oneself, “How should I respond to this wonderful overture of God’s love?” Would to God that all of us will take time to contemplate His goodness and gratuitously reciprocate His gesture of love towards us. Remember in Hezekiah’s case, in one shocking moment he was told he would die, and then shortly in another, he was told he would not, and that 15 more years would be added to his life. What more could he expect when God had so graciously kept His Word and spared his life? How would anyone of us have responded if we were in Hezekiah’s shoes?

Verses 15-17 described Hezekiah’s positive responses to God’s overtures of love that had impacted his life. Recognizing God’s hand in his experience, he firstly vouched to remain quiet and humble before Him for the remaining years of his life. Secondly, he acknowledged that it was only because of God’s intervention that he had a new lease on life. He recognized that  only God’s word and actions have the power to sustain life. Thirdly, he chose to fully rely on God, so he prayed to ask for full restoration of his health and life. Fourthly, he appreciated the grace of God in the preservation of his life. He remembered that it was God who had kept “his soul from the pit of nothingness.” And finally, he conceded that in prolonging his life, God had “hurled” his sin “behind His back”, and God had forgiven him and remembered his sin no more.

It is understandable that Hezekiah should pause to sombrely consider what he should do with his redeemed life. He was literally snatched from the hand of death and given 15 more years to live. For one who had gone through such a traumatizing experience, it would not be wrong to say that he would henceforth not take life lightly. On the contrary, he would take life seriously and live it more purposefully. But honestly speaking, none of us should need such an experience to decide to live life purposefully. For Paul has reminded us in Ephesians 2 that we too were once dead in our trespasses and sins, but “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings make us alive together with Christ.” Would we also like Hezekiah now pause to consider life? How ought we to live in the light of God’s mercy? We need to take heed to Paul’s words recorded in Romans 12:1-2. Let us give our lives to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him. And with a renewed mind be determined to live in the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. This is the only way to live! Since we have already trusted Him with our eternal life, we should now also trust Him in our daily living.    

Isaiah 38:9-14 – Life is transitory, so make it count

Isaiah 38:9-20 is a poem that Hezekiah composed after he recovered from his near-death encounter. They contained thoughts of his harrowing experience and struggles with the thought of death. Although much of this poem contained the morbid reflection of death and life-after, he did make space to describe God’s response to his prayer and to show his gratitude. Looking at this poem in perspective, it is more a lament than a thanksgiving song. Reflecting on this poem portion by portion, today’s  reflection will cover verses 10-14.

In verses 10-11, Hezekiah whined about death that had threatened him at the prime of his life. In this crushing condition, he felt as if he was heading for Sheol, the place of the departed spirit. He saw it as a place deprived of meaningful engagement with God and worship. Besides, he felt in that place, he would be cut off from interaction with other mankind. It’s true that in death he would be cut off from all meaningful engagement with other fellow human beings.

In verses 12-14, he then described the transitory nature of human existence. Life, he surmised, was like a tent of the traveling shepherds or the desert Bedouins. Like a tent, it would be folded and rolled up to be transported, to be pitched in another place. Life, Hezekiah felt, was also like hanging on a single thread of a weaved web that God could cut off at any time. Struggling with the pain and the thought of impending death, Hezekiah looked to God in anguish. He was struggling as it were like the prey of a lion whose bones had been crushed and waiting to die. He also likened himself to a crane or swallow anxiously twitting, or a dove pining for her companion. So he turned to God, yearning for the safety that He alone could provide.   

What can we learn as we consider death and the brevity of life that Hezekiah had reflected? Firstly, we must adopt the right attitude in life and make every living minute we have, count. Secondly, we must make time for God and depend on Him absolutely, for both the big and small things of life. Thirdly, we must discern the lesson of each moment and each encounter, to keep on improving life, so that we can become the person God intends for us to be.   

 

Isaiah 38:4-8 – Trusting God for the impossible

God responded to Hezekiah’s sincere prayer immediately. Hardly had Isaiah left the palace ground that the LORD sent him back with words for the king. Hezekiah was told that his prayer was heard. God saw his honest contrition. However, it must be said that the answer to his prayer was simply God’s grace and not due to the merit of what he had done. Whatever the case may be, it is important for us to know that God answers the sincere prayers of His people when they are offered with humility.

Hezekiah did not ask for another fifteen years to live. Neither did he ask for Jerusalem to be protected and delivered from the king of Assyria. Yet God made the promise to lengthen his life by that duration of years and to deliver and protect Jerusalem. From this account, we learn that God always knows what is best to do to prosper us. From God’s response to King Hezekiah, we learn that the answers to our prayers are a demonstration of His grace, and what He would do would often exceed our expectations. It is just as the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 3:20-21, that He will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or imagine. He knows what is best for our lives, not only for now but also for the future.

Unsolicited, verses 7-8 tell us that God offered King Hezekiah a sign. This sign again was a demonstration of His grace. He wanted him to be fully assured of the certainty of His promise. We all know that God has set an order in how the universe should function. A sign is God intervening in that order to bring about a miracle that would otherwise be impossible. What God did to assure Hezekiah was a scientific impossibility. But with God nothing is impossible. He made the sun to stop rotating in its usual movement and the whole solar system to go in reverse order for a while. This movement then made the shadow of the sun, cast on the step of the stairway that Ahaz had built, to go back ten steps. What God did shows us to what length He would go with His grace to assure us of His love.   

Two things to motivate us to pray. Firstly, be assured that God always hears the sincere prayers of His people. Especially when we make amendments to a wrong and come before Him in contrition. Be assured that His answer to our prayer will often exceed our expectations. Secondly, know that God would go to great lengths to meet the needs of our life if we let Him do it in His way. God will not lead us to where His grace cannot sustain us. Trust Him and be diligent in prayer!  

Isaiah 38:1-3 – Our lives are under divine scrutiny

Collectively, Isaiah 36-39 is rightly termed the book of Hezekiah because they narrate the events that took place in his life. And the events recorded in these chapters were not put in chronological order. What we are about to explore in chapter 38 took place before the threat of Sennacherib and Assyria, recorded in chapters 36-37. How do we know? From Isaiah 38:6 we read “And I will save you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city.” God’s deliverance had already been described in Isaiah 37 and this promise seems to be given after it had happened.

Isaiah 38 began by revealing that Hezekiah was inflicted with a serious and terminal illness and death was looming. The LORD sent the Prophet Isaiah with a message for him. In not so many words, Isaiah told him God wanted him to set his house in order, for he would be dying soon. In a sense, this is the mercy of God. Being sovereign, it was not necessary for Him to inform Hezekiah of his impending death, but He did. Why? It was probably that He was giving the king an opportunity to straighten his life and a chance to plead his case.

 

How Hezekiah responded and framed his prayer shows us that he was an unassuming man. He knew what God was saying. The message “to set his house in order” suggests that there could be some flaws, though hidden from the eyes of others, but not from the sight of God. Humbly, the king accepted the message, turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to God in deep contrition. We are told that he wept profusely.

 

His prayer captured in verse 3 said, “Please, Lord, just remember how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight.”  What he said to God reveals that he acknowledged God’s sovereignty in his life and knew that he was under divine scrutiny. He knew God was aware of how he had conducted his life and work. Or else, he would not have dared to ask God to consider his righteous life and works, had he not truly lived that way. His intercession for his own life tells us that he knew nothing in his life was ever hidden from the sight of the all-knowing God.

 

These three verses also show us how we should conduct our lives. How we live and what we do are never hidden from God’s eye. They also tell us that God wants us to have an ordered life and that He does take notice of how we conduct our lives. He will give the opportunity to those who walk rightly before Him to set their lives in order. Nothing is better than to walk rightly and keep short accounts with God. We must, therefore, be circumspect and live a God-pleasing life. Remember what the last part of Hebrews 4:13 says, “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him (God) with whom we have to do.” So we must live and walk righteously.  

Isaiah 37:30-38 - Trusting God is always the best recourse

In this passage, God through Isaiah gave a sign to Hezekiah like what He did years ago when He also gave a sign to his father, Ahaz (Isaiah 7). Though the sign God gave to each of them was different, the message was the same, i.e. God would deliver them from their oppressors if they would trust Him. While Ahaz scornfully rejected God’s sign given to him then, Hezekiah on the other hand embraced the sign responsively.

The sign to Hezekiah described in verses 30-32 was that on the third year the land of Judah, ravaged by the Assyrians would become fit for cultivation again. But for two years, though cultivation would be suspended, the yield from the land would still be able to sustain the people of Judah. From what Isaiah had said, Hezekiah would know how long the effect of the Assyrian invasion would last. However, the message concluded with the promise of a bright future for Judah. She would once again experience prosperity. A remnant would be raised from the survivors of Mount Zion. This would certainly come to pass because God would bring about its accomplishment.

 

Addressing the immediate crisis that Hezekiah was experiencing then, Isaiah in verses 33-35, prophesied that the king of Assyria would not set foot in Jerusalem to come against it. For by the way he came so he would return home. God, Himself would defend it. He would make it His business to defend Jerusalem for His own name’s sake and the sake of David.

 

Miraculously, God delivered Judah from the hand of Sennacherib. Dramatically, verse 36 said that the angels of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 Assyrians in their camp. Those who were not slain woke up in the morning to discover shockingly the massive numbers of dead Assyrians. Though the reaction of Sennacherib was not described, he must be utterly devastated and left for his home in Nineveh hastily. There two of his sons, namely, Adrammelech and Sharezer, assassinated him and then fled to the land of Ararat. He was succeeded by Esarhaddon, another of his sons. Interestingly, verse 38 tells us that he was murdered in the house of Nisroch his god, the one whom he believed had helped him to conquer many lands. It was truly pathetic to know that his god could not even protect him in his own temple!  

 

There are two ways we can live our lives. We can emulate Ahaz, or we can follow the example of Hezekiah. We can try to build our reputation and trust our own inventiveness, or allow God to direct our lives and tell His story through us. But we need to know that living for Him requires that we yield to His will and make needful changes to promote His glory. It calls for a life of obedience, but it will be a worthwhile life. So choose wisely and trust God.   

Isaiah 37:21-29 - We are God’s instrument

Hezekiah did the right thing when he was threatened. He took the letter that Sennacherib sent him into the house of the LORD. There he placed it before God and prayed. In so doing, he had demonstrated a greater trust and commitment to the LORD. Isaiah 37:21 indicates that God heard his prayer and responded by sending words to him through Isaiah. From this alone, we can be assured that when we commit ourselves to trust the LORD  more fully and bring our problem to Him in prayer, He will make it His business to respond to us.    

Isaiah told King Hezekiah that the LORD took notice of Sennacherib’s insults and soon Jerusalem, the virgin daughter of Zion, would scornfully mock the fleeing Assyrians. In taunting Judah, Sennacherib had also disparaged the Holy one of Israel. God knew all about Sennacherib’s arrogant boast concerning their exploits. He heard all his condescendingly brags when he said,

“With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice junipers.
And I will come to its highest peak, its thickest forest.
I dug wells and drank waters,
And with the sole of my feet I dried up
All the canals of Egypt.”

 

Ironically, Sennacherib failed to realize that in his menace he was executing the LORD’s plan. The God, whom he had insulted and said was unable to save Judah was the One whose plan He was executing. He was merely a player in the divine drama that God Himself had written and was directing. Like helpless vegetation that was unable to withstand the strong unremitting ray of the sun, the cities he had terrified and brought to ruin, were at God’s bidding. But what he was doing was not hidden from the watchful eyes of God. He saw and knew every move of his. God saw his arrogance and would soon lead him back to where he came from, like an animal being led home with hooks and bridle.

 

One thing is clear, like Sennacherib or Hezekiah, every one of us is an instrument in God’s hand. He put us where we are to accomplish His purpose and plan. The sooner we realize this, then we will not boast of our successes. If God had not ordained it, we will never be able to accomplish them. Whatever our experience may be, remember to fight on, hang on, or walk on, because we are right smack in the center of God’s plan, whether we know it or not. As a believer in Christ, be assured that all things are working out for our good and for His glory. We live to fulfill His will and to give Him praise!      

  

Isaiah 37:14-20 – There is no problem too big for our God to solve

All of us want to experience victory over every circumstance that seems larger than we can handle. But whether we will secure the victory we desire will rest largely on where we go and seek it. As people who trust in the Mighty God, our first option must be to go to Him and not make Him our last resort. This was how Hezekiah responded to that crisis that was larger than he could handle.

Wanting to make a last-ditch attempt to secure the total capitulation of Judah, Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, wrote a daunting letter to Hezekiah. The content of his letter not only sought to undermine Hezekiah’s trust in God but also cast aspersion on God’s ability to save Judah. Any other person with no faith in God would be petrified after reading the letter but not for Hezekiah. His first response after reading the taunting letter was to take it into the house of the LORD and there spread it before His presence and prayed to Him. In doing so, he was demonstrating his total faith in God.

 

Calling on the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, the One enthroned above the cherubim, Hezekiah acknowledged God’s sovereignty. He recognized that His God was the Creator God who was in control over all of heaven and earth. The request he was making was not based on the merit of his own goodness, but for the name and honor of God. The king even asked God to take note of the derogatory insults Sennacherib had made against Him in the letter. Hezekiah also recognized that the record of Assyria’s conquest and superiority and knew that they had destroyed many idols of the nations. But he asserted that those idols were merely wood and stone products of man’s hand and were nowhere like the LORD, the true God. He then requested for God to intervene with His mighty power and deliver Judah from the hand of Sennacherib. Hezekiah’s objective was to let the kingdoms of the earth know that the LORD alone was God.

 

Like Hezekiah, when we know who our God is, and want His name to be honored, there should be no situation in life that will make us fearful, no matter how large it may seem to be. Our difficulty to solve any problem we face in life never rests in the bigness of those problems, but in how big we recognize our God to be. When we realize that He is with us in every circumstance of life, we will never need to feel overwhelmed in a single moment. Two questions we need to ask when we face what seems like an insurmountable problem are: (1) How big is our God? (2) Is He with us in that encounter? Remember, He is always available and wants to see us through no matter how big we see our problem to be. Victory is in our hands when we trust God to see us through!

Isaiah 37:8-13 – Our trust must only be in God

Rabshakeh returned and caught up with Sennacherib who went  to fight at Libnah. For he had heard rumors of the advance of Tirhakah, the king of Cush. So he concluded that the latter’s advance could terminate his dominance in Palestine. Wanting to make one last-ditch effort to secure the total surrender of Hezekiah, Sennacherib then sent a letter through messengers to intensify his challenge. A written document was always taken more seriously than merely oral communication. He must have felt that his letter would make the king of Judah take his challenge more seriously. Besides, he could also cast further aspersion on God, whom Hezekiah had turned to rely on. While his envoy, Rabshakeh’s attack was on Hezekiah personally, his letter was a clear attack on Hezekiah’s God.

Sennacherib’s letter intimidatingly reads:  “Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph,  and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

 

In suggesting that king Hezekiah should not rely on his God, Sennacherib was firstly seeking to undermine the king’s trust in God. He insinuated that his trust would turn out to be an illusion. In saying that, he had shown how little he knew about Hezekiah’s  God. Down through the years, those who have trusted in the same God whom Hezekiah trusted, have never been let down. One thing to learn from this incidence is this: seriously evaluate every statement that would undermine our trust in God. Don’t ever be dissuaded by those foolish insinuations.

 

Secondly, Sennacherib tried to make himself and his predecessor more than they truly were. He had foolishly placed Hezekiah’s great God on par with all the gods of a list of pagan nations. He felt that if none of those gods of those nations could stop his predecessors from taking their lands, how different could Hezekiah’s God be? What foolish deduction! He failed to realize that the God of Hezekiah was none other than the true and living God. The One whom Moses so gloriously lauded and suggested in Exodus 15:11, asking:

Who is like You among the gods, Lord?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
Awesome in praises, working wonders?

 

Like Hezekiah, we have a great God, so do not let anyone undermine our trust in Him. Let’s have this truth indelibly etched in our heart and our mind forever: that there is none like our God, worthy of our worship and total allegiance! We owe Him our total trust.

Isaiah 36:21-37:7 – How to respond to intimidation

The words of Rabshakeh from Assyria were mean and cutting. Like all words of intimidation, they were intended to make the hearers lose heart and eventually lose all fighting spirit. What Rabshakeh said affected the team of three men as well as Hezekiah when it was reported to him. It was a moment of decision for the king of Judah. What could he do? To give up and surrender unconditionally to Sennacherib or to turn to the Lord? In this passage, we see how Hezekiah and his representatives reacted. We are also given a glimpse of how Isaiah responded when told of the bullying words of Rabshakeh.

Prior to the meeting with Rabshakeh, Hezekiah’s three representatives were instructed not to answer the former in any way. They were told to hear without engaging in any negotiation. Adhering to the king’s instruction the team did not retort to the demands of Sennacherib’s envoy in any way. They just returned to the king without revealing how discouraged they were. However, on meeting their king, the three men could not withhold their emotions any longer. So verse 21 said Eliakim, Shebna and Joah tore their clothes and agonizingly told king Hezekiah the Assyrians’ demands. Judah was to yield unconditionally to them.     

On hearing it, Hezekiah was in great distress. Isaiah 37:1 said that in utter despair the king tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord which was probably located next to his palace. Meanwhile, he sent both Eliakim and Shebna, dressed in their mourning clothes, to Isaiah. Conveying the king’s utter helplessness, they told the prophet how Hezekiah felt. However, from what was told to Isaiah, there was a hint that the king was concerned for the honor of God. As Eliakim and Shebna conveyed the words of Hezekiah to the prophet, they also requested that he pray for the remnant held in Jerusalem.

 

Isaiah 37:6-7 described how the prophet responded to what he was told. He confidently revealed what the Lord would do to Sennacherib. Eliakim and Shebna were told to convey to Hezekiah telling him, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”  God could not stand idly by and allow His name to be blasphemed, and His people intimidated. He would respond to Assyria’s threat. He would send a spirit of fear upon Sennacherib who would receive disturbing news from his own homeland and hurry home, only to be assassinated.   

 

Intimidation, when not properly handled, always causes one to lose heart and eventually one’s spirit. What should we believers do when we feel intimidated? The right thing to do is not to make light of what we hear but take it to the Lord. Hezekiah took the threat seriously. He beelined for the house of the Lord. In other words, the first thing he did was to go before the presence of the Lord. That should be the first thing we must do when we feel the stinging words of intimidation. Secondly, Hezekiah sought the counsel of a godly servant. His next move was to send his men to consult with Isaiah, the prophet of God. When intimidated, do not simply seek the counsel of any Tom, Dick, or Harry. Instead go to reliable, tested, and trustworthy men of God. People whom you know are connected to God and can give you biblical and spiritual counsel. Thirdly, just rest in the Lord. Take the counsel of Psalm 37:1, 3-5:  

Do not get upset because of evildoers,
Do not be envious of wrongdoers….

Trust in the Lord and do good;
Live in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.

 Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

Isaiah 36:11-20 - Learn to identify the enemy’s intimidation

Apparently, all the while Rabshakeh’s conversation with the three representatives of  Hezekiah was made in the Hebrew language. They did not speak in Aramaic, a common language less understood by the Judean. Speaking in Hebrew would mean that more Judean would understand what was going on and become intimidated by the conversation. So Hezekiah’s representatives interrupted and requested that they speak in Aramaic instead. They reckoned that it would lessen the impact Rabshakeh’s words would make on the people of Judah. Obnoxiously, the Assyrian envoy denied the request. His intention was for more of the people of Judah to know about Assyria’s demands. He wanted them to know how they would be affected if Hezekiah refused to surrender unconditionally. Right from the onset, he was not there to negotiate but to make demands. Sennacherib’s intention was to discourage the people till there be no motivation left to oppose him.   

Instead of acceding to the request, Rabshakeh intensified his words in Hebrew. He spoke even more vehemently with a raised voice so that all around could hear what he was saying. Firstly, he accused Hezekiah of deceiving his people and told the people not to be deceived by their king. He intimidated them, saying that their king did not have the capacity to save Judah from the Assyrians. Secondly, in verse 15, he insisted that Hezekiah’s trust in Yahweh would be an act of futility and urged them not to believe in him. Rabshakeh himself was deluded for thinking that trusting God was useless. How could a pagan know? Yet in real life, there are believers who are foolish enough to listen to advices from pagans. Thirdly, urging them not to listen to Hezekiah, he made promises of immediate peace under Assyria. He suggested that they would be allowed to return to their farming and carry on with their usual life. Fourthly, in verse 17, he even advocated that being deported might not be as bad as they thought. He tried to entice them, saying that where they would be deported to was as much a land of abundance as Judah. Finally in verses 18-21, he boastfully claimed that no other gods had been able to protect their lands from the mighty king of Assyria, not even Samaria, the capital of Israel, Judah’s northern relative. But we know that although Samaria claimed to worship the LORD, they had perverted their worship with syncretism. Boastfully and offensively, Rabshakeh intimated that not even the LORD could save Jerusalem from the king of Assyria.

 

These verses teach us n0t to capitulate to intimidation. Sennacherib and Rabshakeh tried to intimidate Hezekiah and Judah. This is also a method the enemy of our faith would use to shake our confidence and trust in the Lord. The Apostle Peter in his letter to the early church called the devil a roaring lion. The lion roars to intimidate its prey so that it would become too scared to move. In the same way, the devil would intimidate us with all kinds of coercive thoughts till we doubt God’s ability to see us through and so fail to act appropriately. The first step to overcoming intimidation is to be able to detect it. Knowing God and His Word and recognizing the Shepherd’s voice will help us identify what’s intimidation. When we recognize His voice, we will not be misled by the enemy’s intimidation. We will know that we are safe in the Shepherd’s mighty protective arms!