Isaiah 38:22 - Prayer Tents



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Isaiah 38
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Time Spent in Death’s Waiting Room

38At that time, Hezekiah got sick. He was about to die. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and said, "GOD says, 'Prepare your affairs and your family. This is it: You're going to die. You're not going to get well.'"H3117H2396H2470H4191H3470H5030H1121H531H935H559H559H3068H1004H6680H4191H2421 2Hezekiah turned away from Isaiah and, facing the wall, prayed to GOD:H2396H5437H6440H7023H6419H3068 3"GOD, please, I beg you: Remember how I've lived my life. I've lived faithfully in your presence, lived out of a heart that was totally yours. You've seen how I've lived, the good that I have done." And Hezekiah wept as he prayed—painful tears.H559H2142H3068H577H1980H6440H571H8003H3820H6213H2896H5869H2396H1058H1065H1419 4Then GOD told Isaiah,H1697H3068H3470H559 5"Go and speak with Hezekiah. Give him this Message from me, GOD, the God of your ancestor David: 'I've heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Here's what I'll do: I'll add fifteen years to your life.H1980H559H2396H559H3068H430H1732H1H8085H8605H7200H1832H3254H3117H2568H6240H8141 6And I'll save both you and this city from the king of Assyria. I have my hand on this city.H5337H5892H3709H4428H804H1598H5892 7"'And this is your confirming sign, confirming that I, GOD, will do exactly what I have promised.H226H3068H3068H6213H1697H1696 8Watch for this: As the sun goes down and the shadow lengthens on the sundial of Ahaz, I'm going to reverse the shadow ten notches on the dial.'" And that's what happened: The declining sun's shadow reversed ten notches on the dial.H7725H6738H4609H3381H8121H4609H271H6235H4609H322H8121H7725H6235H4609H4609H3381 9This is what Hezekiah king of Judah wrote after he'd been sick and then recovered from his sickness:H4385H2396H4428H3063H2470H2421H2483 10In the very prime of life I have to leave. Whatever time I have left is spent in death's waiting room.H559H1824H3117H3212H8179H7585H6485H3499H8141 11No more glimpses of GOD in the land of the living, No more meetings with my neighbors, no more rubbing shoulders with friends.H559H7200H3050H3050H776H2416H5027H120H3427H2309 12This body I inhabit is taken down and packed away like a camper's tent. Like a weaver, I've rolled up the carpet of my life as God cuts me free of the loom And at day's end sweeps up the scraps and pieces.H1755H5265H1540H7473H168H7088H707H2416H1214H1803H3117H3915H7999 13I cry for help until morning. Like a lion, God pummels and pounds me, relentlessly finishing me off.H7737H1242H738H7665H6106H3117H3915H7999 14I squawk like a doomed hen, moan like a dove. My eyes ache from looking up for help: "Master, I'm in trouble! Get me out of this!"H5483H5693H6850H1897H3123H5869H1809H4791H3068H6234H6148 15But what's the use? God himself gave me the word. He's done it to me. I can't sleep— I'm that upset, that troubled.H1696H559H6213H1718H8141H4751H5315 16O Master, these are the conditions in which people live, and yes, in these very conditions my spirit is still alive— fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life!H136H2421H2416H7307H2492H2421 17It seems it was good for me to go through all those troubles. Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline. You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing. But my sins you let go of, threw them over your shoulder—good riddance!H7965H4751H4843H2836H5315H7845H1097H7993H2399H310H1460 18The dead don't thank you, and choirs don't sing praises from the morgue. Those buried six feet under don't witness to your faithful ways.H7585H3034H4194H1984H3381H953H7663H571 19It's the living—live men, live women—who thank you, just as I'm doing right now. Parents give their children full reports on your faithful ways.H2416H2416H3034H3117H1H1121H3045H571 20GOD saves and will save me. As fiddles and mandolins strike up the tunes, We'll sing, oh we'll sing, sing, for the rest of our lives in the Sanctuary of GOD.H3068H3467H5058H5059H3117H2416H1004H3068 21Isaiah had said, "Prepare a poultice of figs and put it on the boil so he may recover."H3470H559H5375H1690H8384H4799H7822H2421 22Hezekiah had said, "What is my cue that it's all right to enter again the Sanctuary of GOD?"H2396H559H226H5927H1004H3068


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
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