April 13, 2025 - 2 Kings 18-21

“Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” - 2 Kings 20:5–6.

It is refreshing to read about a righteous king after a long line of unrighteous one’s. It wasn’t just Hezekiah’s destruction of idols and the high places that made him a good king. It was also his repentant spirit and trust in the Lord and the words of his prophet Isaiah. It was that faith and attitude that delivered the Judahites from the hand of Assyrians and from the Babylonians for several more generations. It was that faith that gave him a life extension in the above quoted verses.

We do a lot of praying in our churches for the healing of the sick. What we are praying for is really a life extension like the one the Lord granted Hezekiah here. We want the people we know and our loved ones to live longer when it seems they might die and not recover. However, it is inevitable that all die. Hezekiah is granted this life extension of 15 years here because of his prayer and tears but also for the Lord’s own sake and for David’s sake. The Lord had a purpose in allowing Hezekiah to live longer and that was his own glory and the continuation of the line of David through which Jesus would come.

When we pray for healing for loved ones, let us pray that they are healed for the Lord’s sake: for his glory and the advancement of his purposes.