Praising God for Forgiveness - Isaiah 34-39

Isaiah 38:17 (ESV)

Behold, it was for my welfare

that I had great bitterness;

but in love you have delivered my life

from the pit of destruction,

for you have cast all my sins

behind your back.

Hezekiah was the king of Judah.  He had taken ill and was on his death bed.   In prayer he reached out to God and asked something, it would be imagined, that countless people on their death bed had asked:

Isaiah 38:2-3 (ESV)

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

As a result of his humility, God extended him grace and told him, through the prophet Isaiah, that he would add 15 years to his life:

Isaiah 38:4-5 (ESV)

Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

As he recovered from his sickness, Hezekiah praises God.  The above lines are captured from that prayer.   Although we are not told that Hezekiah’s illness was due to any sin he committed, he is not lacks in confessing to God his sin.    Obviously there are those who sin who are touched by sickness.  You can think of King Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel’s day, as an example.  He was touched with mental illness as a result of his pride.   You can recall Moses’ sister, Miriam, who was given leprosy by God for her rebellion.   Again, we are not informed about the reason for Hezekiah’s sickness but we are given the above connection in his prayer of praise for his healing.  In the midst of his prayer he recognizes and confesses that he is a sinner and that it is only by God’s grace that he has been healed.   In is wise for us to remember that the circumstances of our lives are always impacted by our inward desire to sin.   John Owen, the puritan preacher, wrote years ago about this inward desire to sin:

“Lust is still tempting and conceiving sin (James 1:14); in every moral action it is: 

1) always either inclining to evil, 

2)or hindering from that which is good, 

3)or disframing the spirit from communion with God.”

Hezekiah realized this and is confessing to God that he is thankful to God for His amazing grace to forgive sins.  This is the truth he is lead to in his prayer.   He praises God for deliverance.  Not just from his illness but from the condemnation of sin in his life.   God is worthy of our praise for His forgiveness of our sins.