Trusts God’s Timing

2 Chronicles 32:20-23 (NASB)

²⁰  But King Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed about this and cried out to heaven.

²¹  And the LORD sent an angel who destroyed every mighty warrior, commander and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned in shame to his own land. And when he had entered the temple of his god, some of his own children killed him there with the sword.

²²  So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.

²³  And many were bringing gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem and choice presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.

 1.     Take Courage In The Plans Of God When Facing Life & Death

2 Kings 20:1-11 (NASB)

¹  In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"

²  Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying,

³  "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴  Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

⁵  "Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

⁶  "I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."'"

⁷  Then Isaiah said, "Take a cake of figs." And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸  Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD the third day?"

⁹  Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?"

¹⁰  So Hezekiah answered, "It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps."

¹¹  Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

 2 Chronicles 32:24-26 (NASB)

²⁴  In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign.

²⁵  But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁶  However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

2.     Take Care To Avoid Pride In Life    

2 Kings 20:12-18 (NASB)

¹²  At that time Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

¹³  Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴  Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon."

¹⁵  He said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them."

¹⁶  Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD.

¹⁷  'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the LORD.

¹⁸  'Some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away; and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

2 Chronicles 32:31 (NASB)

³¹  Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

2 Kings 20:19-21 (NASB)

¹⁹  Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Is it not so, if there will be peace and truth in my days?"

²⁰  Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²¹  So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

3.     Take Comfort In Christ & Use The Time You Have       

Isaiah 38:9-20 (NASB)

⁹  A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

¹⁰  I said, "In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol; I am to be deprived of the rest of my years."

¹¹  I said, "I will not see the LORD, The LORD in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

¹²  "Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.

¹³  "I composed my soul until morning. Like a lion—so He breaks all my bones, From day until night You make an end of me.

¹⁴  "Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

¹⁵  "What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶  "O Lord, by these things men live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; O restore me to health and let me live!

¹⁷  "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

¹⁸  "For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

¹⁹  "It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.

²⁰  "The LORD will surely save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."