The Tuesday after the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 9, 2025 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 38:9-22 (NKJV)
38:9 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 gin 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?”
Devotion
“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.”
King Hezekiah had been told to set his house in order; the Lord was bringing his days to an end. He wept bitterly and prayed, and the Lord had mercy, prolonging his days another fifteen years. There is more to the story, but for our devotion today, notice: upon hearing this assurance, the king praises the Lord with the song in our text.
What does he say? “It was for my own peace that I had great bitterness.” It is a hard lesson to learn, and for many of us, one we must learn over and over again. We pray for comfort, healing, an emotionally and financially secure life. Yet what is it that the Lord has used to grow you, mature you, forge you into a more mature Christian? Is it not the hard times? Thus we learn to give thanks for the hardships as well as the pleasures of life. Especially as New Testament believers, we can rejoice in the hard times, that we are being conformed to the image of Christ, who bore all things for us and for our salvation.
Collect: Almighty and Merciful God, of Whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
