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YOU WILL RESTORE ME AND MAKE ME LIVE

Text: Isaiah 38
15 October 2017

THE TESTIMONY OF KING HEZEKIAH

There was a time when King Hezekiah was seriously ill and he was in the brink of death. The only thing he could do was to cry out to God in humble prayer!

THE PRAYER HEZEKIAH MADE

Let us ponder the first part of the prayer that King Hezekiah made.

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.

 

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.

 

 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.

 

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.        Isaiah 38:10-12, 14

  1. There was great lament

a) That life should be cut off in its prime

b) That his life span was gone

c) Comparisons

i)  Like a temporary tent of a shepherd

ii) Like the weaver who cuts of the strands of thread

  1. The sadness that fills the heart

a) There was deep mourning

b) The reference to the eyes failing… suggests great weeping

THE TURNING POINT

There was a turning point in this lament.

O LORD, I am oppressed’

Undertake for me.        Isaiah 38:14 

  1. There was honest and candid confession
  1. A strong plea went up to the Lord

a) For God to undertake

b) There was now total dependence on the Lord

c) He was no longer conscious of his status as a king

i) He felt like a crane, a swallow

ii) He mourned like a humble dove

There may be times when we feel out of sorts! The wisest course of action would be to cry out to the Lord in total and humble dependence! May the Lord grant much mercy and hear our prayers in our time of dire need!