1. "The last I checked, the death rate here on Earth was still 100%, right? So the question for each of us is not, am I going to die? But the question is, am I ready to die?"

2. "There are times in our lives when we need to turn our back on everything else and face the presence of God alone. In its essence, prayer itself is the declaration of our dependence upon God."

3. "So no, prayer doesn't change God's mind in that sense. But instead, if we ask, does prayer change things? Well, I believe that we can confidently say, yes, of course, prayer does not change God's mind. But most especially prayer does change the one who prays."

4. "This teaches us this morning that we can pray with confidence in the midst of our own personal crises, knowing that God will uphold every covenant promise that he has made to his people. God's actions in the past prove his faithfulness. They secure his promise for the future in order that we might trust him in the present."

5. "It's true. Suffering is an irreplaceable medium through which God teaches us indispensable truths."

6. "If so, be reminded this morning that regardless of the kind of suffering that you've experienced, God is near, he is presently present, and that in his nearness, he's a God who hears prayer, sees tears, and he acts for your good and his glory even in the midst of suffering."

7. "In those painful times when suffering seeks you out, where do you seek solace, when the effects of your sin or the sin of others bring suffering? Who do you seek when you realize that suffering is seeking you out? Who alone can save?"

8. "Suffering exists in this world to point us to a Savior who alone can save us from sin and suffering. Our faith should not rest in means or miracles. Only Christ alone can give us life in the midst of death. Christ alone can give us hope in the midst of despair."

9. "This chapter starts with a problem, and it ends in praise. It starts in distress, but it ends in deliverance. It begins with human helplessness, and it ends in divine trustworthiness. It starts very horizontal, focused on sin and suffering, but it ends with a vertical perspective in its eternal vision of salvation and also security."

10. "So we can say with confidence, even in the sufferings of this life, the Lord has saved me. He is saving me, and on that day the Lord will save me."

Observation Questions

1. Read Isaiah 38:1–3. What message does Isaiah bring to Hezekiah, and how does Hezekiah immediately respond in both action and words?
2. In Isaiah 38:4–6, what specific things does God say He has done or will do in response to Hezekiah’s prayer and tears?
3. According to Isaiah 38:7–8, what sign does the Lord give Hezekiah, and what exactly happens with the shadow on the dial of Ahaz?
4. Look at Isaiah 38:9–14. How does Hezekiah describe his situation and emotions using images and comparisons (similes)?
5. In Isaiah 38:15–17, what does Hezekiah say God has done for him, and how does he interpret the purpose of his “great bitterness”?
6. Read Isaiah 38:18–20. What contrasts does Hezekiah draw between the dead and the living, and what commitments does he make in light of God’s salvation?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that God introduces Himself in Isaiah 38:5 as “the God of David your father,” and how does this connect Hezekiah’s healing to God’s covenant promises?
2. How does Isaiah 38 portray the relationship between Hezekiah’s desperate prayer and God’s sovereign purposes—does God simply react, or is something deeper happening?
3. In what ways do Hezekiah’s images of tents, looms, lions, and birds (Isaiah 38:12–14) deepen our understanding of how he viewed life, death, and his own frailty?
4. How does Hezekiah’s statement in Isaiah 38:17 (“it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness”) help us understand the role of suffering in God’s work in a believer’s life?
5. What does Isaiah 38:18–20 teach about why being alive matters for worship and witness, and how does that support the sermon’s emphasis on seeking God in suffering?

Application Questions

1. When you think about receiving news like Hezekiah did in Isaiah 38:1, what specific fears rise in your own heart about death, loss, or the future, and how could you bring those honestly to God in prayer?
2. Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall and prayed” (Isaiah 38:2). What might it look like for you this week to “turn away” from other distractions and seek God alone in a present or looming hardship?
3. Consider the honesty of Hezekiah’s language in Isaiah 38:10–14. In what ways do you tend to hide, minimize, or bottle up your feelings in suffering, and what concrete step could you take to share them with God and with a trusted believer?
4. Isaiah 38:15–17 shows Hezekiah recognizing God’s loving hand even in his “bitterness.” Can you identify a past season of suffering where, looking back, you now see God’s good purposes—and how might that reshape the way you view your current trials?
5. In light of Isaiah 38:19–20, what is one practical way you can use your present “living” (your health, time, or voice) this week to thank God and make His faithfulness known to the next generation or to someone who doesn’t know Christ?

Additional Bible Reading

1. 2 Kings 20:1–11 — Parallel account of Hezekiah’s illness and healing that adds helpful details about how quickly God responded to his prayer.
2. James 5:13–18 — Teaching on prayer, suffering, and healing that reinforces how “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
3. Numbers 23:13–26 — Includes Balaam’s declaration that God does not lie or change His mind, clarifying God’s unchanging character alongside answered prayer.
4. Ephesians 3:14–21 — Paul’s prayer to the God who does “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,” echoing the sermon’s emphasis on God’s abundant answers.
5. 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 — Paul’s reflection on suffering as “light momentary affliction” preparing an “eternal weight of glory,” aligning closely with the sermon’s closing application.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Story of Fanny Crosby: Suffering and Faithful Response

II. Context of Isaiah 38 in the Book of Isaiah

III. A Problem Is Presented: Hezekiah's Terminal Illness (Isaiah 38:1)

IV. A Prayer Is Proclaimed: Hezekiah's Desperate Appeal (Isaiah 38:2-3)

V. A Provision Is Promised: God's Answer to Prayer (Isaiah 38:4-8, 21-22)

VI. A Psalm Is Penned: Hezekiah's Personal Testimony of Suffering and Healing (Isaiah 38:9-20)

VII. The Christian's Response to Suffering: Seeking Christ Alone

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Detailed Sermon Outline

• Like a shepherd's tent plucked up
• Like a weaver's tapestry cut from the loom
• Like a lion breaking bones
• Like a bird chirping weak prayers

In 1820, there was a six-week-old baby who caught a cold and experienced inflammation of the eyes. And the doctor, attending to this little baby girl, treated her inflammation of the eyes by applying two hot poultices on each of her eyes that, sadly, burned her corneas and left her blind for life. When she was nine years old, she wrote these words: oh, what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see. I'm resolved that in this world contented I shall be. So many blessings I enjoy that other people don't.

To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot, nor I won't.

That little girl grew up to pen over 8,000 hymns in her lifetime, some of which we're very familiar with here in this church. To God be the glory, blessed assurance, pass me not, O gentle savior. Her name was Fanny Crosby. And throughout her life, the sufferings she began to experience as an infant were actually multiplied throughout her days, yet God used her mightily.

Suffering is an inevitable reality of the human experience, is it not? But what matters most about our sufferings is not the experience of our sufferings, but rather how we respond to the sufferings that come. So this morning we find ourselves in Isaiah 38 as we continue in this narrative section of the book of Isaiah which chronicles the life of Hezekiah. And his reign over God's people in the southern kingdom of Judah. And since we're going to be in Isaiah six out of the next seven weeks, it would be good to drop a pin to find ourselves in the plot line of this prophetic book.

We're in the middle of the middle section, middle of the middle section of Isaiah, chapters 36 to 39. And these chapters, smack dab in the middle of Isaiah, serve as a narrative bridge that link the two major sections of the book of Isaiah. The first being chapters one to 35 and then the second half is chapters 40 to 66. This narrative bridge from 36 to 39 has two main purposes for the book of Isaiah. In these chapters we are reminded that first, God can be trusted to always fulfill his covenant promises.

But secondly also, that Israel is going to be doomed to exile.

But surprisingly, not by the enemy that they assume it was going to be, Assyria, in these few chapters here we see that actually and surprisingly, another ascendant world power comes on the scene. Babylon is the one that will take them into exile. Well, let's get into the text here. Isaiah 38, you can find it on page 589 of the Red Pew Bible in front of you there. And in order for us to understand the structure of 38, There are four main movements that serve kind of like four corners of a frame to see this narrative picture, the portrait of Hezekiah's life here in chapter 38.

The first is this: A problem is presented. Secondly, a prayer is proclaimed. Third, a provision is promised. And lastly, a psalm is penned. A problem is presented in verse one.

A prayer is proclaimed in verses two and three. A provision is promised in verses four through eight, but also in verses 21 and 22. And then lastly, a psalm is penned in verses nine to 20. So let's read this narrative. Together, starting in verse one, Isaiah 38.

Here's what it says. In those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall not die, you shall not, excuse me, for you shall die, you shall not recover. 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.

Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, go and say to Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of your father, I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city. This shall be a sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised.

Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turned back ten steps. So the sun turned back on the dial ten steps by which it had declined. Then look at the very end of the chapter, verses 21 and 22. Now Hezekiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?

Hezekiah had a remarkable life. He was just 25 years old when he first became king of Judah and he ruled, ruled righteously, he ruled boldly throughout 29 years of his time as king. And during his lifetime, he turned back the nation of the ways to the Lord He reversed the godlessness of his evil father, King Ahaz. Hezekiah was a man who experienced spiritual revival, not only personally, but nationally as well. And Hezekiah had Isaiah the prophet in his corner the entire time as the king's most trusted spiritual and political advisor.

And based on Hezekiah's proximity to Isaiah, the king frequently heard the the word of the Lord, through the prophet as if God were speaking to him face to face. So throughout his reign, Hezekiah had also known many great answers to many great prayers that he prayed. And most remarkably, what we saw a few weeks ago in chapter 37, verse 20. So Hezekiah had learned over the course of a lifetime, over the course of a lifetime of leadership, he had learned to expect great things from God.

Then suddenly, what we see here in verse 1, a problem is presented. Hezekiah fell seriously ill. He was at the very point of death. The news that Hezekiah received from this pastoral visit from Isaiah was the kind of news that we all secretly dread. You're going to die.

You have a terminal illness and you will die.

Now, the nature of this illness is unknown. However, we know that it resulted in painful boils to the skin. Hezekiah obviously knew he was ill but did he realize before Isaiah arrived that he was actually at death's door? Imagine for a moment the shock of consistently hearing prophesied truth from Almighty God come from the mouth of Isaiah for a lifetime but then now, to hear a prophecy not of promise but a divine diagnosis of death. That had to be an incredibly disorienting reality for Hezekiah.

Did he despair? Did he fear? Did he think to himself, why do bad things happen to good people? The news clearly affected Hezekiah emotionally. You can see there in verse 3 it tells us he wept bitterly.

Indeed, to be starkly confronted with the inevitability of our own mortality is an experience that many of us dread and, sadly, some of us have actually experienced. And so from the outset, accounts like this remind us of two things. First, that all of the human experience experiences some element of suffering. All of the human experience in life contains suffering, every single life will eventually end in death. All of us suffer, even God's most choicest saints.

And in this case, even a king appointed by God experiences these realities of suffering. But also, secondly, the inevitability of death forces those who are confronted with it to consider the one who has full authority over it. The last I checked, the death rate here on earth was still 100%, right? So the question for each of us is not, Am I going to die? But the question is, Am I ready to die?

In a moment, all of these realities came down heavy on Hezekiah at once. And what was the king's response? Well, it's important to note what he didn't do. He didn't immediately question or disagree with Isaiah. He didn't demand a second opinion on the diagnosis, not that that's a bad thing to do.

He didn't call for his wife, the queen. He didn't call for the physicians in his royal court. He didn't spend hours doom scrolling on WebMD. He did none of that. In fact, the text records that Hezekiah doesn't even say a word.

Does he? What did the king do there in verse 2?

He turned, didn't he? He turned his face to the wall. And in turning his face to the wall, he was turning his heart towards God in prayer. Which brings us to the second main movement. Number two, a prayer is proclaimed.

There are times in our lives when we need to turn our back on everything else and face the presence of God alone.

In its essence, prayer itself is the declaration of our dependence upon God. And what we see here in verse 3 is that a prayer of desperation is proclaimed by the king. Look again at the content of the king's prayer there, verse 3. He says this, 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.

Similar to his prayer in chapter 37 verse 20, Hezekiah was accustomed to praying prayers of desperation. This is a great reminder for each of us here this morning that God always welcomes prayers of desperation and dependence upon him. And again, the text says, Hezekiah wept bitterly. But why? Why these tears?

Why this appeal in prayer to Hezekiah's own righteousness? Well, certainly the news of the illness and his eventual death was shocking. There's actually one more problem that he's confronted with in that moment. At this point in Hezekiah's life, he had no son, which has a king means he has no male heir. And at the moment of the prophet's diagnosis, Hezekiah realizes not only his own mortality, but also the spiritual implications of this news.

Since Hezekiah had no son to sit on David's throne, the question arises, would the covenant promises that the Messiah would come through this Davidic bloodline be completely nullified? And yet again, here in Israel's story, we see that the perpetuation of the Messianic line, the line that would eventually bring Jesus into this world, is threatened. God's people frequently and hopefully look back on the bleakest of times to those covenant promises of Yahweh who through this royal bloodline would one day raise up a savior that would be greater than King Hezekiah, who would be a priest greater than Azariah, one who would be a prophet greater than even Isaiah. And at this moment, all of these implications, they're hanging in the balance and then they're weighing down on Hezekiah like a ton of bricks. As you read this, hopefully you feel the weight of this narrative and the drama of how all of this is unfolding.

This is amazingly a tension that God creates, but it's also a tension that God resolves. At this moment, what was God's answer to Hezekiah's prayer? We see that in the third movement in this narrative. Number three, a provision is promised. Look again at verses four through six.

Then the word of the Lord came to Hezekiah. Pardon me. 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. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.

This city. So here God answers prayer as he always does with the confirmation of his word. And in fact, a parallel passage in 2 Kings 20 tells us a little bit more about this narrative that Isaiah didn't even depart beyond the walls of the palace there before he heard the word of the Lord. And so Isaiah turns his heel to get back to the bed chamber of the king to tell him that his prayer had been immediately answered. Immediately answered.

And this narrative here in the Old Testament is emblematic of the great truth that we see further on in the New Testament in James 5:16, that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Now, the cynical among us might ask the question, wait a minute, hold on, hold on a second, Troy.

What just happened there? In verse one, God says, Get your house in order. You're going to die. You're not going to recover. But then in verses four and through six, Hezekiah prayers to seem to have, the prayers have seemed to have affected God's outcomes.

And then God, of course, says, I heard your prayer. I've seen your tears. I'm going to add 15 years to your life. This narrative begs the question, Did Hezekiah's prayer change God's mind? Some people asked me that this week as they were looking at the text.

Is this passage showing us that our prayers can leverage a sovereign God at will and specifically at our will? Another way to ask this question is, Does God change his mind? And when we're confronted with that question, I believe that we can confidently say that under the almighty care of a sovereign God, we can be confident in saying, no, prayer does not change God's mind.

Numbers 23:19 says that God is not like a man, that he should lie, or that he should change his mind. So no, prayer doesn't change God's mind in that sense, but instead if we ask, does prayer change things? Well, I believe that we can confidently say, yes, of course. Prayer does not change God's mind, but most especially, prayer does change the one who prays.

So what about your prayers? Perhaps you've been in a difficult situation and you've thought, oh man, if I could just pray hard enough in this circumstance, if I could just live righteously enough, If I can just make the most God honoring decisions, I can time and time again that everything's just gonna work out perfectly fine for me. Personally, I've prayed some prayers in desperation like that, pleading with God to change a circumstance, change a situation. But what about you? In those prayers of desperation, specifically in times of suffering, Do these verses cause you to despair in prayer knowing that you cannot change a sovereign God's mind?

Or if God is sovereign anyways, should that discourage you from praying altogether? Well, no. This narrative that we see here in Isaiah 38 is an example for us to approach God boldly and then be comforted in the fact that even in suffering, that our suffering is superintended by a sovereign God.

So why does God give Hezekiah his life back, essentially, for the same reason that he answered prayer in chapter 37? The same reason he answers prayer all the time. Because God's sovereignty is on display here, both in the macro of Hezekiah's life and the macro of God's plan for the world but also the micro of Hezekiah's life in particular. Between this account and what we saw in the last chapter, there's actually two crises here between chapters 37 and 38, both of which end in God's promised deliverance. In chapter 37, Israel's existence is threatened.

Hezekiah prays and God saves. In chapter 38, as we've just seen, Hezekiah's life is threatened. He prays and God again saves. And in adding 15 years to Hezekiah's life, God is preserving the Davidic line and the future coming of the Messiah. And you can see this there in verse five when the Lord mentions the God of David, your father, as the foundation for him answering prayer.

So why does God show up in history and act concretely in answering prayers like this? Because the macro, God always saves for the sake of his glory and for the advancement of his kingdom in this world. Yet at the same time in the micro, God doesn't stand aloof when his people come to him as their only hope. This teaches us this morning that we can pray with confidence in the midst of our own personal crises, knowing that God will uphold every covenant promise that he has made to his people.

God's actions in the past prove his faithfulness. They secure his promise for the future in order that we might trust him in the present.

But not only this, notice also how God goes above and beyond to answer this prayer in verses 6 through 8. He says, I will deliver you and I will deliver this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city. And then not only this, he gives a sign. This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised.

Behold, I will make a shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial, turn back ten steps. And then verses 21 and 22, Isaiah calls for the physicians. They make a poultice of figs and then place it on Hezekiah's skin so that he may be healed. In this whole narrative, what we see here is in Ephesians 20, Ephesians 3:20 sort of answer to prayer, do we not? The answer to prayer that is far more abundant than anything that Hezekiah could have asked or thought or imagined.

The adding of the 15 years, the opportunity for life to be extended in order to bring a male heir into this world, the promised deliverance from the Assyrians, the defense of the city of Jerusalem, the physical healing of Hezekiah's illness, and above all these things, the miraculous sign of the shadow and the figs. I mean, these providential miracles and signs were the affirmation of the greater redemptive purposes of God. And so, yes, these miracles were miraculous, but the most amazing thing is not to be found in the shadows of the figs or even in Hezekiah's healing. This passage shows us that God himself always remains faithful and true to every single one of his covenant promises to his people. To say it in a sentence, I'd say it like this: In all that God has promised in the past, he promises to bring to pass.

So then just to recap here, verses 1 to 8, we see this narrative where a problem's presented, a prayer's proclaimed, a provision is promised. How you like that alliteration right there? And then the second half of this chapter, We see the fourth movement of this text. And we see a psalm of praise is penned by Hezekiah beginning in verse nine. Do you see how the psalm is described there in verse nine?

The narrator, Isaiah, gives us a little clue. He calls it a writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, verse nine, after he had been sick and recovered from his illness. What we have here in Isaiah is something special that we don't see in the parallel passages of this narrative. It's not in 2 Kings, it's not in 2 Chronicles. Here we get a written first-person testimony from the king himself that recounts quite personally the internal depths of his testimony of suffering and healing.

This is like an ancient account of what we would call today a near-death experience. To read these verses is like reading a page from Hezekiah's personal journal. These are the words of a man who literally stared death in the face and then lived to tell about it.

In her book, Suffering is Never for Nothing, Elizabeth Elliott provides a fantastic definition for the word suffering. It's quite broad and all encompassing and I thought it might be useful for us this morning. Elizabeth Elliott says this, Suffering is having what you don't want or wanting what you don't have. Suffering is having what you don't want or wanting what you don't have. Paul Tripp in his book Suffering, Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense, he observes this.

Here's what every sufferer needs to understand. You never just suffer the thing that you're suffering, but you also suffer the way that you're suffering that thing. He goes on to explain, you and I never come to our suffering empty-handed. We always drag a bag full of experiences, expectations, assumptions, perspectives, desires, intentions, and decisions into our suffering. So our lives are shaped not by what we suffer, Tripp says, but by what we bring to our suffering.

He goes on to say, what you think about yourself, your life, your God and others will profoundly affect the way that you think about, interact with and respond to the difficulty that comes your way. I can remember a time when a family friend in my hometown lost her brother to a tragic accident. Her brother was in the US Army. He was actually a pilot of a Black Hawk helicopters. He was a Christian and his name was Christian.

He's actually buried here in Arlington National Cemetery. Sadly, he lost his life in a crash during this training exercise in Italy. And after the accident, back in 2007, I asked my friend how she and her family were doing. They were all believers in that family. How were they getting through the grief of losing their son and their brother?

And what she told me, I'll never forget, she said this.

Over the years, through our time as a family in God's Word, personally, individually, as a family, our family has been making many deposits into our spiritual account so that in times of suffering like this, we could make the necessary withdrawals to get through this pain in a Christ-honoring way. It's true.

Suffering is an irreplaceable medium through which God teaches us indispensable truths. So a question for you this morning: Are you in a place of suffering today? Perhaps physically, you or a loved one has received a diagnosis similar to what Hezekiah received and you're wondering where God is. How did he allow these things to happen? Perhaps through life circumstances, spiritually speaking, things have seemed a little bit bleak for you lately.

It's been hard to trust God. You've been suffering under fear and anxiety in the same way that Judah feared the impending armies that were threatening the gates of Jerusalem, their city. Maybe you, this morning, are suffering under the effects of your sin. Or perhaps the sin of someone else.

If so, be reminded this morning that regardless of the kind of suffering that you've experienced, God is near. He is presently present and that in his nearness, he's a God who hears prayer, sees tears and he acts for your good and his glory even in the midst of suffering. But you might be here this morning and perhaps you're not in a season of suffering at this time. Praise God for that. And if you're not in the midst of suffering, this psalm of praise contains the sort of life lessons that we can deposit in our walk with Christ so that we can withdraw these truths when the time of suffering comes.

So as we get into these last 10 verses from this chapter, what I want us to do is to kind of crawl into Hezekiah's personal experience. In this psalm, I believe that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Hezekiah wrote this to answer the question that we all will be personally confronted with at some point in our lives. And the question is this, when suffering seeks me out, who should I seek in my suffering? When suffering seeks me out, who should I seek in my suffering? Let's pick up this text in verse 10.

Hezekiah writes, I said, In the middle of my days, I must depart. I'm consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. I said, 'I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living. I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world. My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent.

Like a weaver I've rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom. From day to night you bring me to an end. I call myself until morning. Like a lion, he breaks all my bones.

From day to night you bring me to an end. Like a swallow or a crane, I chirp, I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed.

Be my pledge of safety. Suffering is almost never expected and it almost always catches us off guard in the way that it unexpectedly seeks us out. So not if but when suffering comes your way, what should we do? If you're taking notes, jot this heading down: what to do when suffering seeks you. And then here they are just three main points of application What to do when suffering seeks you, number one, be honest about what you fear.

We see that in verses 10 and 11 where Hezekiah is using very personal languages, language. He says, I said, I am, I shall. And this kind of language displays the internal thoughts of the king. And with a bold honesty in a sort of Job-like way, he expresses that he despairs his death. That he fears departing his loved ones in this world.

In many ways, we see Hezekiah just kind of coming to grips with his own mortality. Again, Elizabeth Elliott recounts a moment of honesty when it came to her fears. Speaking about not her first husband, Jim Elliott, who was martyred, but her second husband who had a bout with cancer, she recounts this: My husband had to go to the hospital for a lump on his lip. And that morning, I had written down on just a little piece of scratch paper these words: How to deal with suffering of any kind. I didn't know what was going to happen on that particular day and I don't know where this came from except, I suppose, from God.

So I wrote: How to deal with suffering of any kind.

Number one, recognize it. Number two, accept it. Number three, offer it to God as a sacrifice. And number four, offer yourself with it.

That is raw honesty before the Lord. And part of honesty before the Lord is about being straight up with yourself about your greatest fears in the midst of your deepest sufferings. Our sufferings and our fears are always inextricably linked together, particularly when we're dealing with death and grief and loss. But if you're a Christian, when it comes to your death, the worst thing that could happen to you for the Christian is actually the best thing that could happen to you, right? Paul says, For me to live is Christ, but for me to die, it's gain.

It's one thing to experience life in Christ on this side of eternity, but it's far better to depart this world not to just be in Christ, but rather with Christ. So what should you do when suffering seeks you? Number one, be honest about what you fear. But also, number two, be honest about how you feel.

Be honest about how you feel. We see this in verses 12 to 14. Here in 12 to 14, Hezekiah expresses his feelings of frailty and fragility in his weakened state. And he uses four different similes to express the feeling of his experiences and the emotions that he suffers. Do you see them there in the text?

Verses 12 to 14, you can find the word like written four times, and you can see those four similes like a shepherd's tent that's plucked up and removed, so his life is being taken down and tucked away. Like a weaver who cuts a tapestry off from the loom and rolls it up, so is the king's life hanging by a thread, as it were, and soon to be cut off from the land of the living. Like a lion who painfully breaks the bones of his prey. So Hezekiah feels this kind of pain at death in the very end. And then like a bird expressing that he can only pray in short prayers of suffering as the illness wearies him and oppresses him.

If you have ever felt like that in the midst of suffering, you can resonate with this experience, can't you?

And Hezekiah's experience is encouraging us to be honest with ourselves and also with each other about how we emotionally feel in our suffering.

So a word to all you stoics out there. In suffering, it is good, it is cathartic to allow internal feelings to be expressed with external words. And that's the very thing that we've promised to do with and for one another as members of this local church. Our church covenant says, we will walk together in brotherly love as becomes the members of a Christian church to exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as the occasion may require. Maybe a bit more gently, the church covenant goes on to say we will rejoice at each other's happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other's burdens and sorrows.

May the Lord empower us to do that and to do so well. But notice something else that's interesting in verse 14. Even though Hezekiah feels weary, this godly man still seeks to look upward. Though he feels oppressed, he still expresses his desire for God to be his pledge of safety. The great comfort for the Christian In the pains and pangs of suffering is the assurance that Christ himself holds the power over life and death because of his atoning death and his resurrected life.

Because of what the cross accomplished and because of what the resurrection secures, we can in confidence look upward and trust the Lord with both our greatest fears and our deepest feelings. In the midst of our suffering. So what to do when suffering seeks you? Number one, be honest about what you fear. Number two, be honest about how you feel.

And then number three, be honest about who you seek.

Be honest about who you seek. If verses 10 to 14 recount Hezekiah's petition to the Lord in prayer, then verses 15 to 20 recount the answer that God gave Hezekiah. Between verses 14 and 15, there's quite a turning point from Hezekiah's suffering to his salvation. Read these verses again with me, starting in verse 15.

What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. Oh Lord, by these things men live and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore to me health and make me live.

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. For Sheol does not thank you, death does not praise you, those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day, the Father makes known to the children your faithfulness. The Lord will save me.

And we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the Lord. As we can see from this passage, we can be grateful for the suffering that God allows into our lives. Suffering is the chosen means that God often uses to teach us. Paul Tripp calls the spiritual warfare of suffering God's workroom of grace in our lives. Suffering oftentimes is the means by which God shows us our sin and calls us into salvation in Christ.

Certainly, God uses suffering in the midst of our sanctification to become more like Jesus. And even God uses suffering at the end of our earthly lives, however long or short, in order to prepare us for the hope of a glorified life. In the Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis observes that the proper good of a creature is to surrender itself to the Creator. But the problem is that we as creatures are so often stubborn in our willingness to surrender ourselves to that Creator.

So to graciously get our attention, God uses even the painful and broken aspects of this world to wake us up to divine realities. Lewis continues and he says this famous quote, God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks to us in our conscience, but he shouts to us in our pain. Pain is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

Can you think of situations in your life Where God has graciously used pain and suffering to bring you closer to him? Recounting some of those stories of suffering might be a great topic of conversation for lunch or in people that you meet with in discipleship this week. To testify to God's goodness in the midst of your suffering and how he took you from suffering to salvation. In those painful times when suffering seeks you out, where do you seek solace? When the effects of your sin or the sin of others bring suffering, who do you seek?

When you realize that suffering is seeking you out, who alone can save? For many of us here this morning, the answer to those questions might be predictable. But for others, the answer might be surprising. Suffering exists in this world to point us to a savior who alone can save us from sin and suffering. Our faith should not rest in means or miracles.

Only Christ alone can give us life in the midst of death. Christ alone can give us hope in the midst of despair. The only one we should seek to save us from our sin and suffering is the only one who truly can save us, the man Jesus Christ.

It is him that we proclaim as a Savior who lived an earthly life, was tempted in every way like we were and are, and yet lived a sinless life even in the midst of suffering, all of the suffering of human experiences. It is him that we proclaim as a Savior who himself suffered a painful death on a cross and did so to pay the penalty for your and my sin. It is him we proclaim as the Savior who himself was given a sentence of death, was buried in a tomb. As we reflected even as we read the Nicene Creed earlier today, rose from the grave after three days to take his place as a rightful ruler over all sin and death. So if you're here today and you would not consider yourself a Christian, Yet inevitably, you've experienced the sufferings of sin through turning from your sin and trusting in Christ alone in faith for your salvation.

You can, like Hezekiah, be healed. You can be saved from a diagnosis of spiritual death to the newness of life of spiritual salvation. You can say in Hezekiah, with Hezekiah, like in verse 17 here, 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 of my sins behind your back. If you'd like to hear more about the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we're gathering around this morning, talk to perhaps a person that brought you. Talk to one of our pastors here at the doors.

You can practically talk to anyone that's around you this morning. They'd love to talk to you more about what it's like to go from death to life in Christ. In closing then, this chapter starts with a problem and it ends in praise. It starts in distress but it ends in deliverance. It begins with human helplessness and it ends in divine trustworthiness.

It starts very horizontal focused on sin and suffering but it ends with a vertical perspective in its eternal vision of salvation and also security. And that's the vision we need in the midst of the sufferings of our lives. Our lives are 60 or 70 years of relative suffering but for the Christian it gets greater later. As we move from the cares and concerns of this life and from the sin and the suffering of these mortal bodies we must always hold fast to our salvation in Christ, both now and later. So for those of us who are here this morning who believe in Jesus, for those of us Christians who have suffered, who are suffering, and inevitably will suffer, be reminded this morning of what you see there in verse 20.

That our salvation is not only a justification that has been accomplished for us in the past, But also, we're currently being saved and one day we will be saved, free from the sufferings of this world permanently and eternally. So we can say with confidence, even in the sufferings of this life, the Lord has saved me. He is saving me. And on that day, the Lord will save me and we will play music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the Lord. Let's pray.

Father, we praise you again this morning as a merciful God who hears us, who sees our tears, who answers and heals and we praise you, Lord, for you do so unexpectedly and in abundance. We thank you for the ways in which your word heals, brings life, and we ask that you would, by your Holy Spirit, use this time in Scripture for greater comfort and trust in you. Help us, Lord, to seek you in our suffering and to show increasingly how these light and momentary afflictions are preparing us all for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.