Isaiah 38 - Part 1
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday May 13, 2009
Isaiah 38
1-3 Life was coming at Hezekiah hard and fast and then he was thrown a curve ball: “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” This isn’t a flat tire or a car that won’t start – this isn’t an inconvenient trial – this is a life shattering event. Do you know where to turn when you receive news that shatters your world?
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and his heart to the Lord.
Face to the wall: a posture of depression -
Prayer: a posture of defiance. On his deathbed he is fighting! In his depression he is not going gently into that night!
US News and World Report 1995 - article describes a military that has lost something of its cunning and power since Desert Storm in 1991. With seeing no action since 1991 and being downsized, their reaction time has slowed. Units that performed at peak capacity during the war are routinely beat in war games.
This describes what can happen in our Christian lives - especially our prayer life – it can be rusty/not perform as it once did. Is your prayer life as effective as it was one/five years ago? Has your inclination to pray been minimized/has the scope of your prayer been downsized? R U routinely defeated in areas you once were victorious? Is your ‘prayer power’ ready and able to meet the uncertain challenges of life?
From v6 it is clear that Hezekiah’s illness preceded Sennacherib’s assault on Jerusalem as related in C36-37. Merodach-Baladan, mentioned in 39:1, ruled before the Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701 BC. If Hezekiah died in 687 BC, this must have happened in 702 – the first part of the year. C38-39 occur chronologically before C36-37, but are placed after because they deal w/ Babylon and the rest of the book is dealing w/ the issues surrounding the Babylonian Captivity.
Are depression and faith mutually exclusive?
I have heard some criticize Hezekiah’s turning to the wall as an act of unbelieving depression. Maybe so, but it is immediately followed by prayer. Depression and crying out to God go hand-in-hand. Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord... Ps. 130:1 Ps. 6:1-3; 13; 22:1-5. Some of David’s best praying came out of his depression!
Some: If you have faith you won’t get depressed.
If you become depressed you can’t exercise faith. Good news! Scriptures indicate otherwise. The deepest moments of despair can become the highest expressions of prayer. Elijah waited on God while depressed at Sinai. Jesus prayed out of depression in Gethsemane.
V3 Bitter weeping
5 – I have seen your tears. Tears are intercessory.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner like all my fathers. Psalm 39:12
You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in
Your book? Psalm 56:8
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Hebrews 5:7
How will I know that the Lord will do what I have been requesting? The shadow is gone. Prayer drives the shadow away. Shadow is gone – the shadow of death hanging over Hezekiah receded. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… Though he’s in the valley of the shadow, his soul is in the light of God.
“But I’m still depressed.” Your face may be turned to the wall, but as your heart is turned to the Lord in prayer, the shadow that lay over your soul will be receding. Will your problem go away? Maybe not, but the shadow will.
Download | Duration: 00:33:59
Isaiah 38
1-3 Life was coming at Hezekiah hard and fast and then he was thrown a curve ball: “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” This isn’t a flat tire or a car that won’t start – this isn’t an inconvenient trial – this is a life shattering event. Do you know where to turn when you receive news that shatters your world?
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and his heart to the Lord.
Face to the wall: a posture of depression -
Prayer: a posture of defiance. On his deathbed he is fighting! In his depression he is not going gently into that night!
US News and World Report 1995 - article describes a military that has lost something of its cunning and power since Desert Storm in 1991. With seeing no action since 1991 and being downsized, their reaction time has slowed. Units that performed at peak capacity during the war are routinely beat in war games.
This describes what can happen in our Christian lives - especially our prayer life – it can be rusty/not perform as it once did. Is your prayer life as effective as it was one/five years ago? Has your inclination to pray been minimized/has the scope of your prayer been downsized? R U routinely defeated in areas you once were victorious? Is your ‘prayer power’ ready and able to meet the uncertain challenges of life?
From v6 it is clear that Hezekiah’s illness preceded Sennacherib’s assault on Jerusalem as related in C36-37. Merodach-Baladan, mentioned in 39:1, ruled before the Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701 BC. If Hezekiah died in 687 BC, this must have happened in 702 – the first part of the year. C38-39 occur chronologically before C36-37, but are placed after because they deal w/ Babylon and the rest of the book is dealing w/ the issues surrounding the Babylonian Captivity.
Are depression and faith mutually exclusive?
I have heard some criticize Hezekiah’s turning to the wall as an act of unbelieving depression. Maybe so, but it is immediately followed by prayer. Depression and crying out to God go hand-in-hand. Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord... Ps. 130:1 Ps. 6:1-3; 13; 22:1-5. Some of David’s best praying came out of his depression!
Some: If you have faith you won’t get depressed.
If you become depressed you can’t exercise faith. Good news! Scriptures indicate otherwise. The deepest moments of despair can become the highest expressions of prayer. Elijah waited on God while depressed at Sinai. Jesus prayed out of depression in Gethsemane.
V3 Bitter weeping
5 – I have seen your tears. Tears are intercessory.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner like all my fathers. Psalm 39:12
You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in
Your book? Psalm 56:8
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Hebrews 5:7
How will I know that the Lord will do what I have been requesting? The shadow is gone. Prayer drives the shadow away. Shadow is gone – the shadow of death hanging over Hezekiah receded. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… Though he’s in the valley of the shadow, his soul is in the light of God.
“But I’m still depressed.” Your face may be turned to the wall, but as your heart is turned to the Lord in prayer, the shadow that lay over your soul will be receding. Will your problem go away? Maybe not, but the shadow will.
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