"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back."
(ISAIAH 38:17, KJV)

Isaiah 38:1-20
King Hezekiah of Judah was dying and prayed his great desperate “arrow prayer” to the Lord for deliverance. The Lord added 15 years to his life. In our reading, Hezekiah pours out his soul in thanksgiving. One translation of our verse says “from the pit of nothingness.” Isn’t that what anguish of soul often feels like? It is the nothingness and the chaos which the Lord spoke His word into at the Creation. God’s immense power and love were shown in His creating something out of nothing. Only He can accomplish that. As Andrew Bonar says, “the same Architect, the same skill, the same love” is active in our lives now, shaping a new coherent life for us out of our own bereft “nothingness.”


Like Hezekiah we cannot just “psych ourselves out” of depressive thought patterns. But God can and does love us out of whatever our “pit of nothingness” may be. He wants to place each of us on a rock that is higher than we are (see Psalm 61:2). We can’t haul ourselves up, but Jesus – who is our Rock – does it for us.



Scripture Focus

Isaiah 38:1-20

Insight

THE LORD HAS DELIVERED US IN THE PAST, IS DELIVERING IN THE PRESENT, AND WILL DELIVER IN THE FUTURE. THIS IS THE UNBREAKABLE THREEFOLD CORD.

Bible In A Year

  • 2 Chronicles 35-36
  • Psalm 25
  • Mark 4

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