38 In those days Hezekiah became [a]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 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “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 [b]bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your [c]life. 6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”’
7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
This is always a strange story to me, but pretty amazing all at the same time. We see it recorded similarly in 2 Kings 20 and 2 Chronicles 32, though with a little more detail and in chronological order. At any rate, it is strange to me because Hezekiah is mortally ill, and God sends Isaiah to tell the king he will surely die. Hezekiah is rightfully distraught, and prays to God.
We see in 2 Kings that Isaiah hadn’t even left the king’s courtyard, and God sent him back to tell Hezekiah that He heard his prayer and would add fifteen years to his life. Why in the world would God tell Hezekiah that he was going to die, and then turn around and add fifteen years like that? I think there is a clue in the account of 2 Chronicles.
It tells us two things that are missing here. First, that Hezekiah had become proud, and we know God doesn’t appreciate a proud spirit–just take a look through the book of Proverbs (16:18 & 29:23) for a few of the many times God denounces pride. In the other passages we see how much God had blessed Hezekiah, and it seems that he had gotten a little big for his britches.
So that leads us to the second thing, because God wasn’t just going to throw in the towel, “Well, I guess old Hezekiah thinks he doesn’t need me, too bad for him… On to the next king!” Rather, God cared for Hezekiah, so much that he sent Hezekiah a test, a mortal illness. God used this time to remind Hezekiah that all he had was a gift and a blessing from God.
When we are tested by God, though we may not see His hand directly, what is our response? Sometimes this world is just hard, but God can use all of it to build character in our lives, and to teach us. Hezekiah needed to be humble, to remember the blessings of God. Maybe that is God’s lesson for you today. Whatever the case, listen for His voice, even in the hard times–maybe especially in the hard times. Ask God to shape your heart and mind to be more like His. That’s a prayer God will always answer… maybe not with the Sun going backwards, but He’ll answer!