Broken Kingdoms: WK4 - THU
2 Kings 20:1-6
1 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4 But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”
I don’t know if you’ve ever sat with someone, or been the person on the receiving end, when terminally bad news came their way. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions from shock to disbelief to feeling shattered and sad, and the list goes on.
Again, I’m impressed that Hezekiah’s first response, like a reflex, is to turn to God and pray. Interestingly, he doesn’t specifically ask for healing, he just asks God to remember him. And notice that after the prayer, he’s not confident that he’ll be healed. Instead, he breaks down and weeps. Wouldn’t you?
Now, I’m not going to presume to know why God interceded for Hezekiah, but so far he hasn’t interceded and healed my friends daughter, or my other friends wife, or the other countless individuals I know that have either passed from, or are struggling with, terminal illnesses. All I can do in this moment is learn something from Hezekiah’s turning to the Lord, as well as God’s response.
God said, I have heard you, and I have seen your tears. I do believe with all my heart that whether God chooses to physically heal us or not, that he always hears us, and he see’s our tears. Those same tears are the ones we read about at the beginning of our new stories with God, when we’re told, 4 “He [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4, NLT)
Whether God chooses to heal or not, I know that God hates when His children hurt. He hates it so much that He came to this earth and laid down His life so that one day, He could be the one to wipe those tears from our eyes. God risked everything, and endured more pain than we can possibly imagine, in order to restore us to His side.
In the meantime, I know God hears us, and I know God sees our tears, and though there are a lot of other things I don’t know; I do know God hears, see’s, and loves beyond measure. And I do know that a time will come when no one gets sick anymore, and the pain caused by our own sin? God will wipe those tears from our eyes. And that, my friends, will be a really good day.
1 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4 But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”
I don’t know if you’ve ever sat with someone, or been the person on the receiving end, when terminally bad news came their way. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions from shock to disbelief to feeling shattered and sad, and the list goes on.
Again, I’m impressed that Hezekiah’s first response, like a reflex, is to turn to God and pray. Interestingly, he doesn’t specifically ask for healing, he just asks God to remember him. And notice that after the prayer, he’s not confident that he’ll be healed. Instead, he breaks down and weeps. Wouldn’t you?
Now, I’m not going to presume to know why God interceded for Hezekiah, but so far he hasn’t interceded and healed my friends daughter, or my other friends wife, or the other countless individuals I know that have either passed from, or are struggling with, terminal illnesses. All I can do in this moment is learn something from Hezekiah’s turning to the Lord, as well as God’s response.
God said, I have heard you, and I have seen your tears. I do believe with all my heart that whether God chooses to physically heal us or not, that he always hears us, and he see’s our tears. Those same tears are the ones we read about at the beginning of our new stories with God, when we’re told, 4 “He [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4, NLT)
Whether God chooses to heal or not, I know that God hates when His children hurt. He hates it so much that He came to this earth and laid down His life so that one day, He could be the one to wipe those tears from our eyes. God risked everything, and endured more pain than we can possibly imagine, in order to restore us to His side.
In the meantime, I know God hears us, and I know God sees our tears, and though there are a lot of other things I don’t know; I do know God hears, see’s, and loves beyond measure. And I do know that a time will come when no one gets sick anymore, and the pain caused by our own sin? God will wipe those tears from our eyes. And that, my friends, will be a really good day.
- Is there anyone in your life right now that you’ve been praying over, wondering if God hears you?
- How can you and I keep praying for those loved ones, especially when we don’t see the results we want?
- How do we remind ourselves of the end explained in Revelation 21, even when current life circumstances are hard?
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