“Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,”
When I was young, my mother did not hesitate to punish us. She would go ahead and spank us right then and there. One time, we were acting up in a grocery store which seemed like a safe place that we could get away with some shenanigans. We started messing with my sisters and from out of nowhere, WHAP, my buttocks was on fire. Mom had just KO’d my rear end for acting up. My brother got one as well. So much for the safe place. As a matter of fact, there was no safe place for mischief when I was growing up. The long arm of my mother was always ready like Isaac Parker the hanging judge. (See link: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ar-isaacparker/)
Hezekiah was very ill and on his death bed. Isaiah the prophet came and told the king that he will not recover from this illness and to put his house in order. The very next verse tells us that Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed to the Lord. His prayer was (verse 3), “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with whole-hearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.
The Bible tells us that Isaiah had left the kings quarters and was walking out of palace when the Lord stopped him. The Lord said, “Go back and tell Hezekiah the ruler of my people, “This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says,…” The Lord tells Isaiah that the He will add 15 years to Hezekiah’s life and he will deliver him from the hand of king of Assyria which had been a royal pain in buttocks over the years. They prepared a poultice of figs and applied it to a boil and Hezekiah recovered.
Crazy enough, Hezekiah even asked Isaiah for a sign that the Lord will heal him. Isaiah lets him pick if the shadow will go down or up the stairway and this will be a sign. As they were standing their shadow fell down the stairway and then it went back up the stairway as a sign the the Lord was going to heal Hezekiah.
Back in old Israel times, God spoke through a prophet, a certain man, who was ordained to carry the message of the Lord to the people. Most people had to travel to the prophet to get a Word from the Lord but this case was different. Instead, Isaiah came to the king and before he walked out of palace, he went back and told Hezekiah what the Lord was going to do. Hezekiah did in fact live 15 more years just like Isaiah prophesied.
Just like when I was kid, my mother could not be everywhere at all times. My brother and I got into some crazy things like throwing my sister’s cat into the pond to settle a bet. But unlike old Israel times, when Jesus died on the cross and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins, he made a way for us to become the righteousness of God. He sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of us to teach us and guide us much like the Isaiah did for Hezekiah in 2 Kings.
Hezekiah got a message from the Lord through Isaiah. After Christ’s resurrection, He gave us the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. We no longer have to receive a Word from the Lord through a prophet because God has poured out His Spirit on all mankind. All you have to do is accept Jesus as your Lord, receive the Holy Spirit and greater works than these you will do (John 14:12). It is important to go back and remember this truth each and every day.
Prayer: Jesus, we pray to you and ask for our minds to be renewed and our hearts to be refreshed to the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. May we heed His direction and obey His calling in our lives. I know that we will do greater works today because you never change Jesus. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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