06/09/2011 8:41:00 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Hezekiah the singer
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Isaiah 38:9-22
Message of the verses: 9 ¶ A
writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: 10 I said, "In the prime of my life must I
go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?" 11 I said, "I will not again see the LORD,
the LORD, in the land of the living; no longer will I look on mankind, or be
with those who now dwell in this world. 12
Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me.
Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom;
day and night you made an end of me. 13
I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day
and night you made an end of me. 14 I
cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak
as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid!"
15 But what can I say? He has spoken to
me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of
this anguish of my soul. 16 Lord, by
such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to
health and let me live. 17 Surely it was
for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the
pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back. 18 For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot
sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your
faithfulness. 19 The living, the
living—they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about
your faithfulness. 20 The LORD will save
me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the
temple of the LORD. 21 Isaiah had said,
"Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will
recover." 22 Hezekiah had asked,
"What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the LORD?’”
This
portion of Isaiah chapter thirty-eight is actually a psalm that was written by
Hezekiah when the Lord gave him fifteen more years to live. I have always thought that Hezekiah had asked
for this but it now seems to me that God just gave him that much added to his life.
It
seems that verse twenty of this Psalm indicates that Hezekiah has written other
Psalms and this leads me into a footnote that Dr. Wiersbe has written for this
portion of Scripture: “J. W. Thirtle in
his book Old Testament Problems
(London: Morgan and Scott, 1916) proposed the theory that the fifteen ‘Songs of
the Degrees (Ascents)’ in the Book of Psalms (120-134) were complied by
Hezekiah to commemorate the fifteen extra years God gave him. Ten of these psalms are anonymous, while the
other five are assigned to David (four psalms) and Solomon (one psalm). Thirtle believed that Hezekiah wrote the ten
anonymous psalms to commemorate the shadow going back then degrees on the
stairway of Ahaz. After all, these are
the ‘songs of the degrees.’ Since David
was his hero, King Hezekiah must have tried his hand at writing psalms, and
it’s possible the Spirit of God gave him those ten psalms for that special
collection.”
This
psalm of Hezekiah is filled with vivid imagery that teaches all who read it about
life and death and this imagery is best seen in the NIV version of the
Bible.
It
has been stated that King David was someone that Hezekiah looked up to, as he
was actually a descendant of Israel’s greatest king, and because of this
Hezekiah knew that when he did sin that he must confess that sin to the Lord
and this is also seen in this psalm in verse seventeen. Hezekiah knew the wonderful gracious gift of
forgiveness and that when the Lord forgave him that it would not be brought up
again.
Hezekiah
describes death as a tent being folded up (verse 12), and this is picked up by
the Apostle Paul in 2Cor. 5:1-4: “ 1 ¶
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we
have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For indeed in this house we groan,
longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be
found naked. 4 For indeed while we are
in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed
but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” Peter also uses this imagery in 2Peter
1:13-14: “13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this
earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 knowing that the laying aside of my earthly
dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.” The word that is translated dwelling is from
a Greek word that means tabernacle and thus we see that Peter is talking about
our bodies as an earthly tent.
There
are one more of these word pictures in this section of Scripture that I really
like and that is also from verse twelve:
“Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the
loom; day and night you made an end of me.”
The reason that it gives me a picture of what David wrote in Psalm
139:13-16: “13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me
in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give
thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your
works, And my soul knows it very well. 15
My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And
skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as
yet there was not one of them.” David
also writes in this Psalm that all of his days are numbered by the Lord,
something that should give all of His children confidence that God is in
control of their lives. The picture is
that of a weaver making a rug and when he gets done with that rug he will take
it off the loom, so God puts us together in our mother’s womb and the process
continues after we are born and then when we die this process will be done,
like taking the rug off the Weaver’s loom.
I must say that the life of a believer is often spoken about as a
tapestry in which one can only see the bottom of it and that is not attractive
at all, but the other side that God sees is beautiful. Hezekiah believed that the days of his life
that God was numbering had more time and so he confessed his sins, (probably of
pride see 2Chron. 32:24) to the Lord and the Lord would now give him fifteen
more years to spend on earth in order to make a larger and more beautiful “rug”
for the glory of God.
If
one goes on to the first verses of Isaiah 39 they will see that the problem
with Hezekiah’s pride will surface again.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I remember a song that Roger Miller sang,
probably in the 60’s or 70’ and part of the words in this song went something
like this: “Pride is the chief cause in
the decline of the number of husbands and wives.”
Proverbs
has some things to say about pride: “Pr
8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to
hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I
hate.
Pr 11:2
When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.
Pr 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.
Pr 21:24
"Proud," "Haughty," "Scoffer," are his
names, Who acts with insolent pride.
Pr 29:23
A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.
I
believe that the Lord has used this chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on
2Kings and parts of 2Chronicles and in today’s section from Isaiah to speak something
to my heart. This section has all been
about Hezekiah’s role as King of Judah and some of the victories and some of
the struggles that he went through. He
started by the consecration of the priests, Levites and the temple which showed
me the necessity of taking an inventory of my life. In 2Ch 29:36 Hezekiah rejoiced of how fast
all of this happened: “Then Hezekiah and
all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the
thing came about suddenly” The Lord used
this verse to show me that what He is doing in my life at this time will come
about suddenly. The Lord spoke to me
from 2Chron. 29, which is about the Passover celebration that was conducted in
the 2nd month instead of the first month because they were not ready
on the first month to do it, that it is necessary to be prepared to worship the
Lord and also the reminder that worship is 24/7/365. In today’s lesson I am being reminded the
awfulness of pride. This was the sin
that caused Lucifer to turn into Satan, and Adam and Eve cause all of their
descendants to be born spiritually dead.
Pride is an awful thing, and whenever I think about pride and myself I
think that I have nothing that I have that did not come from the Lord and so
that means that I have nothing to be proud of.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Not to be proud in the bad sense of pride: “For through the grace given to me I say to
everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think;
but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a
measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)
2.
Give myself to the Lord this day for worship and for
service: “1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God. “ (Romans 12:1-2)
3.
Ask the Lord to search my heart for unconfessed sin
that I may confess them to the Lord: “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me,
and know my thoughts: 24 And see if
there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139:23-24)
4.
Continue on my quest to learn contentment: “11
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I
am. 12 I know how to get along
with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every
circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both
of having abundance and suffering need. 13
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:11-13)
5.
Remember the battle is fierce and I am in need of
the spiritual armor in order to stand: “10
¶ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of His might. 11 Put on the
full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes
of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against
the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore,
take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil
day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR
LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE
PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16
in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be
able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
(Eph. 6:10-13)
6/9/2011 10:43:23 AM
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