The Book Of Isaiah. Day 168, Hezekiah's Illness, Part Four

Yesterday we began our look at a writing (or song) which King Hezekiah composed after recovering from his illness. In yesterday's portion of the writing we found him mourning the idea of no longer being able to serve the Lord on earth and of no longer being with his loved ones on earth. Those are normal emotions that anyone would feel when faced with a life-threatening illness. Today's portion of the writing continues with that theme as he describes the threat to his life in poetic terms.

"Like a shepherd's tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me." (Isaiah 38:12a) These references to his "tent" and his "house" are probably references to his earthly body. The Apostle Paul used that type of terminology when speaking of his own earthly body. Using the phrase "shepherd's tent" symbolizes the impermanence of human life. A shepherd would move from place to place to allow his sheep to graze in new pastures, so he would use a tent in order to make his shelter easily portable. The reference to the "house" may also have to do with the king's royal house and his seat on the throne of the kingdom. If he had died, he would no longer have been the head of the nation or the head of his family.

"Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and He has cut me off from the loom; day and night You made an end of me." (Isaiah 38:12b) After cutting a length of cloth from the loom, a weaver would roll it up. In this scenario, Hezekiah thought the Lord would cut his life short like a weaver cutting cloth away from the loom.

"I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion He broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me." (Isaiah 38:13) This verse makes me think of the way we hope to feel better in the morning when we are sick. Rest is restorative. Often when we are sick we find, upon waking, that there have been improvements to our condition during the night. But morning after morning Hezekiah woke up without being any better. I think he likely grew worse with each passing day because, as we learned earlier in our chapter, he was given the news that his illness would be fatal. I can only imagine that his condition deteriorated each day. 

"I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!" (Isaiah 38:14) He prayed for healing. He prayed with many tears. He cried out for the Lord to come and save him from this ever-worsening illness. We don't know how many days he lay ill but it was long enough for him to feel weakened by his crying and discouraged by what he perceived as a lack of action on the Lord's part.

The answers to our prayers come in various ways. I've had prayers answered while I was still praying them. I've had prayers answered the same day or within a few days. I've had prayers that I've had to pray for years before the situation turned around. And, as we all will experience in this earthly life, I have had prayers not answered the way I hoped. For example, I prayed for my mother not to pass away from cancer but instead she went on to heaven. She was healed in that regard, which was not the way I'd hoped, but she is free from her pain and in the presence of the Lord, so in that sense I believe she would regard herself as being healed and would not want to leave the Lord's presence to return to this world.

We don't always know when or how the Lord will answer our prayers. But we can be certain He hears our prayers and cares about our troubles. Hezekiah cried out to the Lord because he believed the Lord was listening. This gave him the hope that the Lord would turn his situation around. And in this case He did turn it around. We will continue taking our look at the king's illness and recovery as we move on through the chapter.