September 6, 2012
We are on a fog recall right now which means we can’t leave the dorm until the fog clears and they do a head count. I think this is kind of fitting as I have a lot to write about this morning.
I was reading in Isaiah 38 last night about Hezekiah’s illness and the prayer he prayed after God healed him and extended his life.
This prayer has a lot of parallels to my own life, as I feel that God has saved me from the pit of destruction, healed me from the illness of addiction and extended my life.
Isaiah 38:15-20 says, “But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. Lord by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love You kept me from the pit of destruction; You have put all my sins behind Your back. For the grave cannot praise You, death cannot sing Your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. The living, the living – they praise You, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about Your faithfulness. The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.”
I’m going to walk through these verses and apply them to my life.
“But what can I say? He has spoken to me and He Himself has done this. I will walk humble all my years because of this anguish of my soul” (v15). I will not complain or question the anguish of my soul. I know God put me in prison to save my soul. I was so full of pride and greed and lust and He had to humble me to bring me to repentance. And I will walk humbly now in all aspects of my life.
“Lord, by such things men live, my spirit finds life in them too” (v16). I was dying in my addiction. My soul was already dead. My spirit was crushed. If you knew me before my addiction, my spirit was alive and joyful, just like I am now. But there was no life in me for the 6 years I was lost. “You restored me to health and let me live” (v16).
“Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love You kept me from the pit of destruction” (v17). Wow… enough said. I can’t begin to tell of all the benefits I have received through this time. The love of God being on the top of this list. My family, peace, contentment, purpose, a new outlook on life, health and love. But most of all He has “put all my sins behind His back” (v17). I AM FORGIVEN!
And I will praise Him for that. “For the grave can not praise You, death cannot sing Your praises; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness” (v18). God gave me the gift of music and I was not using it for His glory. And I could not have used it in the pit either.
“The living, the living – they praise You, as I am doing today” (v19). “The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord” (v20). I am amazed when the Bible talks about singing with stringed instruments. How worship is the same today as it was then. I will sit at the piano, a stringed instrument and sing praises to God all of my life!
Such good has come from my bitter experience. “What the devil intended for harm, God intended for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20).
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