Hezekiah was a righteous person in the sight of the LORD. Whilst it is true that our righteousness cannot save us, we are required to walk before God blamelessly. In other words, we cannot just say there is grace to cover us when we sin, we must not abuse the grace of God.
Our relationship with God when we think about the relevance of grace is similar to the relationship between a wealthy father and his son. No matter how rich you are, you really do not want your children to waste your wealth. You want them to spend wisely and work hard as well.
The same thing goes with grace. Our heavenly Father loves us to enjoy His grace but not abuse it. He requires us to be righteous. In fact, the Bible states that “without holiness, no-one can see God.” When you do what God requires, you are covered deeply in His grace and you can expect astonishing favours. This is what happens to Hezekiah.
Hezekiah had fallen ill and his illness was terminal. He prayed fervently to God but the reply that God gave him through the prophet Isaiah was very negative: Hezekiah was told that his time was up, he was going to die. What will you do if you wanted good news but got bad news from God?
We can learn from Hezekiah: “Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” (Isaiah 38:2-3) The bad news only made him draw closer to God. Hezekiah simply persevered in prayer and handed his situation over to God afresh.
Bad news will come our way as the Lord wills, no matter how righteous we are. However, when we draw closer to God despite our pain, He is more than able to reach out and pour His grace into our life afresh.
Each day is a fresh day to draw closer to God. Each situation is a fresh opportunity to hand over our situation to Him. In the letter to the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit encourages us to “…come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
As Hezekiah prayed, the LORD listened to his pleas and granted him additional years. The LORD told him he was healed. The news was too good to be true – Hezekiah therefore requested some form of assurance that what God had told him would come to pass. He asked for a sign to prove God’s word: he asked for a longer day and God moved the day backwards 10 degrees to assure Hezekiah he was healed.
There is nothing that God cannot do to give glory to His name as we pray. No matter the situation we face, if we can bend our knees and turn our face towards God in prayer, God is more than able to perform an amazing turnaround. The key ingredients are:
1.
Being where God wants us to be – make up your mind to remain where God has called you and do not allow anything to move you out of place. A lot of people get moved out of place, and therefore out of favour, because they want their own way, not God’s way!
2.
Doing what God requires – determine that you will walk in obedience to God. Obedience requires courage and consistency. Obedience requires repentance when you fall short of what God requires. Obedience quickens faith and releases God’s favour.
May the LORD perform a turnaround in your life and bring back the shadow on your sundial. Amen.
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