God Answers Hezekiah’s Prayer

Hezekiah had served the Lord wholeheartedly, for many years, and seen God’s power repeatedly.  After God defeated the Assyrians, Hezekiah got sick and Isaiah warned him he was going to die.  Hezekiah prayed asking God to spare his life, in II Kings 20:1-4.  “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.  Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now 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.”

God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer immediately, as II Kings 20:4-7 tells us.  “And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.  And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.  And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.”

God had said in Deuteronomy 18:22 that they would know a prophecy was true if the prophet gave them somme immediate sign and it happened.  While Hezekiah felt better immediately, he wanted assurance he would really be healed and wasn’t just experiencing a temporary remission.  As a sign God gave him a choice of having the sundial jump ahead forty minutes or go backward forty minutes, in II Kings 20:8-9.  “And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?

And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?”

Since the sun always moves forward, Hezekiah thought it would not have much effect for the shadow to move forward forty minutes on the sundial, but to move backward forty minutes would be a significant sign.  God gave the sign, as II Kings 20:10-11 tells us.  “And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.  And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.”

In Isaiah 38:9-20, Hezekiah describes how blessed and thankful he was for God’s having saved his life.  “The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: 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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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.

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.  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.  For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.  The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.  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.”