Isaiah 38:9-22: a reflection

9The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness: 10I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.” 11I said, “I won’t see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 12My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me. 13I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me. 14I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.” 15What will I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul. 16Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them. You restore me, and cause me to live. 17Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back. 18For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth. 19The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children. 20The LORD will save me. Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the LORD’s house. 21Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.” 22Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to the LORD’s house?”

This is the song King Hezekiah wrote after recovering from a deadly illness. He had been at the very gates of death, sure his life was being cut off in the middle of his days; and out of that experience, restored to life, he writes with new eyes. You have delivered my life from the pit, he says; you have cast all my sins behind your back. The living, the living, he praises you. And he resolves: I will walk carefully all my years. Brought back from death, he treasures the life given back to him.

Notice how the brush with death changed Hezekiah's view of life. Having nearly lost it, he now sees his life as a gift, restored to him by God; and he resolves to live it differently, walking humbly and carefully, praising God with the years given back. The nearness of death did not embitter him, but deepened his gratitude for life and his resolve to live it for God. He would not take his remaining days for granted.

That is a perspective worth having, without needing a brush with death to gain it. Our days are a gift, and limited; and it is easy to take them for granted, to spend them carelessly, forgetting how quickly they pass. But when we remember, as Hezekiah was made to remember, that life is a gift and that our days are numbered, we are moved to treasure the life we have and to live it for God. Treasure the life God has given you, and do not take your days for granted. Live them carefully and gratefully, for God, as Hezekiah resolved to do with the years given back to him. The living praise God; while you have life, treasure it as his gift, and spend it for him.

Lord, Hezekiah, brought back from the gates of death, wrote with new eyes: you have delivered my life from the pit, you have cast all my sins behind your back; and he resolved to walk carefully all his years, treasuring the life given back to him. Give me that perspective, without needing a brush with death to gain it. My days are a gift, and limited; and it is easy for me to take them for granted, to spend them carelessly, forgetting how quickly they pass. But when I remember that life is a gift and that my days are numbered, move me to treasure the life I have and to live it for you. Help me treasure the life you have given me, and not take my days for granted. Help me live them carefully and gratefully, for you, as Hezekiah resolved to do with the years given back. The living praise you; while I have life, help me treasure it as your gift, and spend it for you.