18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
Hezekiah was king over Judah. He was a very godly king. He turned God's people back to God, and the land saw a great revival. But Hezekiah's end had come upon him suddenly. He found that he had a significant infection that was going to cause his death. Even the prophet Isaiah was sent by God to tell him, "Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live." (See Isaiah 38:1)
Up to this point, it appears Hezekiah hadn't entirely given himself up to live as if he was going to die. He lived as if he had time as if he always had more time. Many of us live in the same manner. We live as if tomorrow will ever come, and it will still happen. The question really is, what side of the sod will we be on when tomorrow comes?
Hezekiah suddenly was faced with the penalty of sin as we all will one day face. (Which is death, by the way, See Romans 6:23) You say, what was his crime? I can't answer that because even God cast Hezekiah's sin behind His back. (See Isaiah 38:17) But it wouldn't be hard to figure out that he was indeed a sinner, and the wages of sin are death. We are all going to die, by the way. That day is going to come where tomorrow will not have us in it. In today's world events, the COVID-19 virus has a death rate of 1.8 % of all who are infected. Sin has a death rate of 100% of all who are infected, and ALL are infected. I'd say I'd take the sin infection a bit more seriously!
When Hezekiah got the news that he was going to die, the command was, "Set thine house in order." This clearly indicates that up to this point, Hezekiah's house wasn't in order. So I'm going to ask you, Is your house in order?
I sometimes know in these devotionals, we go a little deeper than sometimes we'd like to go. But I am going to ask you to, "Step out into the water. Wade out a little bit deeper. Wet your feet in the water of his love..." Hezekiah recognized a truth here that we would do well to remember.
When you treat life as if you'll always have tomorrow, you're ill-prepared to enter Heaven. Notice what he said in Isaiah 38:10, "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years." He went on to say, "For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee..."
Hezekiah recognized that up to this point, he hadn't praised God enough. He realized up to this point that he hadn't served God adequately. He conceded that up to this point, he hadn't learned about God enough.
Randy Alcorn, in his excellent book on Heaven, states,
Imagine you're part of a NASA team preparing for a five-year mission to Mars. After a period of extensive training, the launch date finally arrives. As the rocket lifts off, one of your fellow astronauts says to you, "What do you know about Mars?"
Imagine shrugging your shoulders and saying, "Nothing. We never talked about it. I guess we'll find out when we get there." It's unthinkable, isn't it? It's inconceivable that your training would not have included extensive study of and preparation for your ultimate destination. 1
The question we must ask ourselves is, how prepared are we for our eternal home? For some of us, that eternal home is a place of fiery torment of unending pain. As a preacher friend of mine says, "Some of you are going to hell with gasoline britches on unless you get saved!" Are some of us entering Heaven because we've been washed in the blood of the Lamb, but we're going to look rather foolish? Are we going to be out of place because we haven't prepared ourselves for that place?
Hezekiah was given a moment of mercy in his life. God stopped his life. That sickness caused him to not be able to further industry in Judah or to build more or grow the economy. The illness prevented him from focusing all of his energy on building his empire and gave him the point in time to begin focusing his time on eternity.
God is doing that for you. What will it take for God to get your focus off of this life and onto the next? Hezekiah realizes that the time to get ready for Heaven is today and not tomorrow. Tomorrow may not be here.
Take Time to Praise Before Time Runs Out
04/02/2020
Day 93: Take Time to Praise Before Time Runs Out
Isaiah 38:18
18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
Hezekiah was king over Judah. He was a very godly king. He turned God's people back to God, and the land saw a great revival. But Hezekiah's end had come upon him suddenly. He found that he had a significant infection that was going to cause his death. Even the prophet Isaiah was sent by God to tell him, "Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live." (See Isaiah 38:1)
Up to this point, it appears Hezekiah hadn't entirely given himself up to live as if he was going to die. He lived as if he had time as if he always had more time. Many of us live in the same manner. We live as if tomorrow will ever come, and it will still happen. The question really is, what side of the sod will we be on when tomorrow comes?
Hezekiah suddenly was faced with the penalty of sin as we all will one day face. (Which is death, by the way, See Romans 6:23) You say, what was his crime? I can't answer that because even God cast Hezekiah's sin behind His back. (See Isaiah 38:17) But it wouldn't be hard to figure out that he was indeed a sinner, and the wages of sin are death. We are all going to die, by the way. That day is going to come where tomorrow will not have us in it. In today's world events, the COVID-19 virus has a death rate of 1.8 % of all who are infected. Sin has a death rate of 100% of all who are infected, and ALL are infected. I'd say I'd take the sin infection a bit more seriously!
When Hezekiah got the news that he was going to die, the command was, "Set thine house in order." This clearly indicates that up to this point, Hezekiah's house wasn't in order. So I'm going to ask you, Is your house in order?
I sometimes know in these devotionals, we go a little deeper than sometimes we'd like to go. But I am going to ask you to, "Step out into the water. Wade out a little bit deeper. Wet your feet in the water of his love..." Hezekiah recognized a truth here that we would do well to remember.
When you treat life as if you'll always have tomorrow, you're ill-prepared to enter Heaven. Notice what he said in Isaiah 38:10, "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years." He went on to say, "For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee..."
Hezekiah recognized that up to this point, he hadn't praised God enough. He realized up to this point that he hadn't served God adequately. He conceded that up to this point, he hadn't learned about God enough.
Randy Alcorn, in his excellent book on Heaven, states,
Imagine you're part of a NASA team preparing for a five-year mission to Mars. After a period of extensive training, the launch date finally arrives. As the rocket lifts off, one of your fellow astronauts says to you, "What do you know about Mars?"
Imagine shrugging your shoulders and saying, "Nothing. We never talked about it. I guess we'll find out when we get there." It's unthinkable, isn't it? It's inconceivable that your training would not have included extensive study of and preparation for your ultimate destination. 1
1 Alcorn, Randy. Heaven. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2011. Print.
The question we must ask ourselves is, how prepared are we for our eternal home? For some of us, that eternal home is a place of fiery torment of unending pain. As a preacher friend of mine says, "Some of you are going to hell with gasoline britches on unless you get saved!" Are some of us entering Heaven because we've been washed in the blood of the Lamb, but we're going to look rather foolish? Are we going to be out of place because we haven't prepared ourselves for that place?
Hezekiah was given a moment of mercy in his life. God stopped his life. That sickness caused him to not be able to further industry in Judah or to build more or grow the economy. The illness prevented him from focusing all of his energy on building his empire and gave him the point in time to begin focusing his time on eternity.
God is doing that for you. What will it take for God to get your focus off of this life and onto the next? Hezekiah realizes that the time to get ready for Heaven is today and not tomorrow. Tomorrow may not be here.