Isaiah 38:15–16

Now the light begins to dawn a little more. He has asked Jehovah to act for him: "He has both spoken to me," and so on. He began to see the blessed truth more clearly. The great matter is not what we say to Jehovah, but what Jehovah says to us — and, more than that, what Jehovah does for us. "I shall go softly all my years." All this trial was just the needed discipline, and good for him.

He chose to use a plaster of figs to bring Hezekiah back to health. But the king knew that it was Jehovah who had healed him, as he said, "He has both spoken to me, and He Himself has done it" (Isa. 38:15). The holy Gospels record what Jesus Himself did. Encouraged by that, we may use our medicines, sure that He is just as active today, both in His sympathy and in His power to heal.

Now if someone asks what special lessons Hezekiah learned during his sickness, the fifteenth verse tells us... In a word, he learned the need of walking softly. And surely the sickness God sent was well suited to teach that blessed lesson, however quickly he might forget it. But there was more than this. Hezekiah learnt something about God as well as about himself. This is valuable for us. It would never do to unlock only the secret springs in our own hearts. We must unlock the secret springs in God's heart at the same time. If a man only learns that there are hidden sins in his heart, and evil tendencies he knew nothing about before, he is just plunging his spirit into miserable despair. But if, while he discovers his sin, he also discovers God's grace in putting that sin away, this is divine — this is learning both himself and God.

Now, it is only when a man learns himself and God together that he is really humbled. Grace, while it puts away our sin, leads the soul into deep humiliation because of it. So it was with Hezekiah; he was taught to "walk softly" by the grace that had forever settled the question of his sins.

As for Hezekiah, tears suited him, as they will suit the upright remnant. He must learn to accept the sentence of death as being due to him; to say at first, without understanding God's purpose: "What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and He Himself has done it" (Isa. 38:15); and to understand at last, at the end of all his anguish, that the Lord "was purposed to save" him (Isa. 38:20).

A few days before the Babylonian princes came, Hezekiah had gone up to the house of Jehovah to pour out his soul in thanksgiving for the mercies he had received. He had said, "I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul." No doubt he meant it at the time. But God put him to the proof. Instead of "going softly" all his days, he did not repay the kindness done to him, for his heart was lifted up... "God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart."

He had been struck down by an alarming illness, and told by the prophet Isaiah that he would die and not live (Isa. 38:1-3). In deep grief he turned his face to the wall, wept before the Lord, and prayed earnestly. In grace God heard his prayer and gave him back his health. But he learned important lessons first.

When good king Hezekiah was sick to death, and wept bitterly, in his exercise of mind he saw the true meaning of his affliction. He said, "O Lord, by these things men live." We would naturally have imagined that he would have said, "By these things men die." No, he used the right word, "live." He recognised that there is a life which is life indeed. It is the only life God accepts, the life that by its nature turns to Him. That life endures beyond sickness and trial and the grave. It enters heaven itself, the presence of God, because it is lived in God's presence now and so will last for ever.

We can learn from other passages in the Old Testament that soul and spirit were not confused, but were known and kept apart. Hezekiah said that he spoke in the bitterness of his "soul" (nephesh); but further adds, "In all these is the life of my spirit (rooagh)." (Isa. 38:15-16.) Job says, "I will speak in the anguish of my spirit (rooagh), I will complain in the bitterness of my soul (nephesh)." (Job 7:11.)

When he fully saw that the Lord had brought him low for his spiritual gain, he burst out: "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit." The things we naturally like often bring death and barrenness to us spiritually; while those we dislike often produce exercise, and so, through them, we live — Godward. The One who loves us perfectly knows best where to place us. He knows what to allow, what to order, and what to hold back. Our wisdom is to be happily subject to His will.

When he comes to the words, "O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me," there is evidently a new light in his soul; he enters into resurrection, in hope. He can now say, "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. So You will restore me to health and make me live." … The discipline has achieved its blessed purpose. A terrible ordeal it was, but nothing else can lead the soul to rest entirely in God as the spring and fountain of life.

In Hezekiah's case God made him a sign. He showed the feelings of a godly Jew, and he pointed to the day when God will give the Jews new life. As a nation they will one day pass through a spiritual process like death and resurrection.