Tuesday after the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 20, 2024 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 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?”
Devotion
There is no doubt that every Christian, while contending with the flesh in this life, has experienced what King Hezekiah feels in this reading. Because of his illness he is in distress. He sees his life being cut short in his prime and feels the weight of his own sin and mortality. He not only has pain from his ailments, but mental anguish and bitterness. And yet, Hezekiah recognizes the Lord God as good, since “He has both spoken to me, and He Himself has done it.” Even bitterness is turned into joy as Hezekiah acknowledges, “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.”
This passage is a hymn of praise. Though Hezekiah recognizes his own grief, bitterness, and despair, he ends this hymn by stating, “The Lord was ready to save me.” We have many hymns like this in our hymnal. These hymns acknowledge the struggle in this life, which is filled with sorrow and tears, while faithfully looking to the hope we have in God through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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.
