Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday May 20, 2009

Download | Duration: 00:42:21

Isaiah 38 p2

1  You shall die and not live

5  I shall add fifteen years to your life

What happened between v1 and v5?  Prayer.

Can prayer change the mind of God?

Did Isaiah announce the absolute or provisional will of God?

Absolute: permanent/not subject to change/unconditional

    * e.g., the cross/exodus/return from exile

Provisional: temporary/subject to change/conditional

    * e.g., God told Moses to stand aside so that He could destroy the people.  Moses didn’t take this as the absolute will of God.  Sin was exposing the people to the wrath of God, but intercession could turn away God’s wrath.  Ex. 32:10-14. Moses prayed the promise and the glory of God – but on a basis of grace/love.

Provisional: If the current state of affairs is left to run by itself and nothing is done to stop it, death will be inevitable.  There are some things running their course in your life right now that if nothing is done to stop them it will be ruinous to you: addictions/attitudes/diseases

What Isaiah announced is true, but is it the absolute will of God that cannot be changed?  Punishment follows crime/heartache follows sin – the punishment and the heartache are according to the will of God, but these things can be turned around.  Just because something is according to the will of God doesn’t mean that it is the absolute will of God.  Moses demonstrates that you can prevail upon God to change His mind.  God reminded Moses and the people of His holiness, Moses reminded God of His gracious promise.  

Isaiah had come and said: Thus saith the Lord.  He announced the will of God, and here we have Hezekiah resisting the will of God.    When it comes to the will of God – what do I resist and what do I resign myself to?  Is what’s happening to me the absolute, unchangeable will of God that is futile to resist or is it provisional will of God, something that prayer can alter?  Jesus prayed about Calvary and still went.  What do I resist/resign self to?

Can intercession become interference?  If Hezekiah’s sickness was the settled will of God, then his prayer was interference and not intercession.  If his prayer was futile, God would have told him so.  Cf. Dt. 3:23-26 (Moses not to cross Jordan).  Some prayer is fruitless interference.  Sometimes God changed His mind and at other times He didn’t.  

But if this was the provisional/conditional and not the settled will of God, then intercession was necessary and strategic.  Jonah: Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.  This was the conditional/provisional will of God.  God wanted something else, but if nothing changed, Nineveh would be destroyed.  Could it be that something is running its course in your life and God wants to alter its course by prayer?

How do I know if what is happening to me is the absolute or provisional will of God?  How do I determine whether my prayer is intercession or interference?  How do I know if I should resist or resign?  You can’t know!  Hezekiah’s life is laid out in Scripture and we can see it from beginning to end.  Your life is still being hammered out and we don’t yet see all the threads being woven into making you, you.

Since I can’t tell, how should I pray?  Pray for blessing!  Pray for mercy!  Mercy triumphs over judgment.  Pray for the will of God: Thy will be done.  Groan in the Spirit.  Rom. 8:26.  

“What if I don’t receive blessing and mercy?”  What doesn’t look like mercy/blessing today can become mercy and blessing tomorrow.  Cf. The cross.  All was lost – it’s over, no recovery possible.  

“What if I don’t receive what I’m praying for?”  Pray for courage and love to accept what God has for you.  

Is there something in your life that if nothing is done to stop it will destroy you?

Single parent – is it God’s will to someday get married?  Who knows?  A godly spouse/parent seems to be the best thing, but some single parents never marry and raise their children w/o a father/mother.  How can I tell if being a single parent is provisional or absolute will of God for me?  

Apply to singleness/sickness/relationships

Depression: We know that the wages of sin is death – not only eternal separation from God, but painful consequences now.  Sin produces guilt/shame/depression/broken relationships/hatred/ bitterness/regret…Can anything be done about the sin that has damaged people around us and defiled our souls within us or do we just have to lay down before it?  

Ps. 51:10-15  David couldn’t take back the adultery, murder, death of his child – but he could get back his joy.  Prayer can stop the destruction of sin in your soul.  

4-8  The Deliverance of Hezekiah

Prayer is not strong-arming God.  Isaiah had not made his way out of the palace before the Lord spoke to him.  Cf. 2K20:4.  How easily the Lord is entreated.

Provisional will of God – Isaiah prophesied not that it might come to pass, but that it wouldn’t.  Isaiah wasn’t confused by this turn of events for he knew the heart of God.