“Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, “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 life.”
Isaiah 38:4-5
I was…living alone…working in the private sector in downtown Dallas…away from Jennifer (we were dating then)…and feeling discouraged. It was evening, and as my night-time routines started, I remember praying, “God, help me and never let me forget this season.” That was close to 20 years ago, and I see it as though it was yesterday. I had poured out my heart to God, and He heard, He saw, and He sent me an old saint who asked me to join him for lunch, which turned into him mentoring me for over a decade. In my trial, God had drawn near and pressed me deeper into trusting Him…through ordinary means. It was part of the process of my life-long learning in Christ’s school.
Facing a trial himself, Hezekiah cried out to God for deliverance. God’s promise–captured above–reveals God’s compassion as He enters Hezekiah’s weakness and relates to him through a relationship. God came near Hezekiah, and He comes near to us today.
Three things to note from God’s response to Hezekiah:
- God Hears…
- God Sees…
- God Acts…
Sometimes in our Christian life, we wonder, “God, what’s going on here?” In those seasons, faith is being forged in a peculiar way. While many of us would like the challenge or trial to go away, it’s often in the trial that God reveals Himself to be loving and kind.
In the case of Hezekiah, God chose to heal him and grant him 15 more years of life. What’s fascinating is that God didn’t snap His fingers to work His miracle, but He healed Hezekiah through ordinary means. He healed him through figs.
“Now Isaiah had said, ‘Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.'”
Isaiah 38:21
How Does This Apply To Us Today?
- Lift your heart to the Father.
- Prayer is one expression of vindicating our faith. In one sense, prayer proves our trust. Those who struggle with prayer are often those who struggle with faith. That’s normal, and doubt is part of the human condition. However, the Christian prays because the Christian believes (even in feelings of doubt) that the prayers of God’s people are like incense lifted in sweet aroma to His throne. He hears. He sees.
- Rest in God’s will.
- God’s sovereignty means God knows and is in control. The Psalmist declares that God’s knowledge of His people is unsearchable and that He knows us before we were ever born (Psalm 139). Resting in God’s will means we acknowledge that since God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, He can be trusted in the unknown.
- Rest in God’s way(s).
- God’s ways are not our ways. While they can align, His ways are past finding out. Can you imagine Joseph, Moses, David, Samson, Esther, Ruth, Paul, and many faithful believers waiting on God? We read their stories with the end in mind. On the other hand, they lived and persevered with hope based on a promise. They endured trials, clung to hope, and rested in God’s ways until the end. In the face of confounding circumstances, they rested in God’s ways–until the end.
While God’s answers in your trials might be a miraculous walking on the water like Peter, it is often not. Instead, God routinely works through simple ordinary means like cakes of figs to show His kindness and care for us.
So, keep your head on a swivel looking for the kindnesses of God in the ordinary all around you.
God sees. God hears. God acts. And He does this because He is God, and He loves us.
— June 7, 2023