“SET thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live”, was the terrible message conveyed to King Hezekiah by the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 38:11In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. (Isaiah 38:1)). There could scarcely be a darker moment in a man’s history than when sentence of death is passed upon him. If that takes place a man’s case is hopeless; his fate is sealed.
When the King heard the dread sentence he turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly. He knew full well his case was hopeless; for not all the power of his realm could deliver him from “the king of terrors”. Only God could do that, and in his distress he cried to Him, “O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me”. God graciously answered his cry, and sent a reprieve, assuring him that He would deliver him, and add fifteen years to his life.
With his heart overflowing with the sense of God’s goodness, the reprieved monarch bore this striking testimony, “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but Thou in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back” (Isa. 38:1717Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. (Isaiah 38:17)).
This was a fine answer to a poor sinner’s cry, as with death staring him in the face, and a lifetime of sins upon his guilty conscience, he turned to God as his only resource. The blessing he received linked his heart with the One from Whom it had come; and this should ever be so. He had learned, in his dire need, God’s love to his soul; and that He had cast all his sins behind His back. This made his heart overflow with thanksgiving, so that he goes on to say, “The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known Thy truth”.
It is an immense thing to be found among “the living”, and you, dear reader, are either among the living or the dead―among the “living” to praise God, or among the dead in trespasses and sins, and on your way to everlasting woe. In the happy consciousness of sins put away, and of standing in divine favor, the blessed subject of God’s mercy bore further testimony, saying, “The Lord was ready to save me: therefore, we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord” (vs. 20). This is grand. He does not stop at obtaining relief from his trouble, or resting satisfied in the knowledge that all his sins had been put away; but his heart finds its delight in God; and in His holy presence his songs are to be sung all the days of his life.
Dear reader, have you turned to God in conscious need, so that you, too, are among the living to praise Him?
E. E. N.