"O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live." Isaiah 38:16
Additional readings: Isaiah 38, John 18, Psalm 75, 76
This text is taken from the story of King Hezekiah's sickness and expresses his gratitude over the promise of recovery.
We have both the natural and the spiritual planes of life. We live in two worlds at the same time; so everything in life has in it a two-fold lesson. On the one hand we are acquiring experience of the natural world and its physical laws, necessary to our life here; on the other we are acquiring an attitude toward these experiences and the people whom they affect which constitutes our spiritual character.
Our achievements in the world—our occupations, the help we give, the information we acquire or give, the duties in the home or public service which we perform—all these have a part in the growth of our souls which is the special care of our Heavenly Father.
But the Lord, looking upon the heart, sees in us something very different from that which appears to men—even to us. Our apparent failures, which cause us so much disappointment, may have within them great blessing, in that they may check us in a wayward course. There are lessons of life to be learned, and the great value of life's lessons lies in their usefulness in acquainting us with the Lord's purposes, in implanting in us trust in His Providence, and in making us as anxious to learn and as willing to act for spiritual reasons as we are to learn and act for the successes of this world.
In the life and words of Hezekiah there is given a lesson of trust in Providence developed under stress and trial which applies to everyone. The kings of Israel, both good and bad, are like ruling principles in our lives. Hezekiah was a good king, and represents the love of right-doing. He had restored worship of the Lord, he had successfully resisted the Philistines—who represent faith alone—he had built a conduit, assuring an abundant water supply which his enemies could not pollute—a picture of the fact that restored, worship at Jerusalem had given the people an assured supply of the Lord's truth—and he had even defied the Assyrians, who were miraculously driven away.
Hezekiah's experience, therefore, had been one of struggle for the liberation of his people from their enemies, of sincere worship, of resistance to the powers of selfish and worldly reasoning meant by the Assyrians, and of preservation by the Lord. This is the experience of every regenerating soul.
We recall that after Solomon's death the kingdom had been divided. Israel, the northern part, had been taken captive by Assyria during Hezekiah's reign. Now Judah, the southern part, is threatened, and the time has come when the king himself has been warned of approaching death. In an effort to appease the Assyrian greed, Hezekiah had sent gold from the temple as a present to his foe. but without avail. Brought to the last extremity of anxiety, he besought the Lord for help. He received it.
As we look back over our lives, we can see something of the Lord's kind providence over us. We perhaps have ourselves put to flight the Philistines—the idea of salvation by faith without good works; we have helped to establish worship of the Lord in our community as well as in our hearts; and yet we have been assailed by doubts, doubts as to whether our efforts have the regard and favor of the Lord, doubts as to whether they will succeed.
In his distress Hezekiah turned to the Lord and asked to be healed. He was sick and knew that he might die, but when he turned to the Lord he was given the remedy. He was told to put a poultice of figs on the boil, a simple and well known treatment. The fig tree represents the external uses of everyday life. It is of these that Hezekiah was afterward inspired to say, "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live."
Spiritually this means that we are to revalue the things that are ours, that our delight shall be not in enjoyment for our own sake but in the good that may result to others from our having these things to use, that we may come to know that we are stewards of life's opportunities and to feel that we are our brother's keeper. We were created not to serve ourselves alone and to find happiness in using the things of this world just for our own enjoyment, but that we might find our happiness in service to others. So can we be recovered and made to live. Neither we nor the world will get rid of any evil by removing ourselves from life’s problems. The battles of life are to be met and won where we find them. The child does not get through school by staying at home, the soldier does not become proficient by evading drill and practice. Parents do not become good parents by farming out their children. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17:18).
The words of Hezekiah teach us that the Lord's care is always over us under all conditions, that the Lord is present with us in times of doubt and stress, ever ready to guide and protect us and to give us peace of mind, and heart. Through evil and through good He is our shield and helper. When we see that the development of heaven within us and in the world is His sole concern, we shall really see that "no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly" (Psalm 84:11).
When Hezekiah was sick, he turned to the Lord and prayed. Doubtless he expected that he might be cured by a miracle, for he had asked for an apparent impossibility, since his disease was an incurable one, a form of leprosy of which the boil was one of the symptoms. But instead of a miracle, a very simple remedy was given.
For the restoration of spiritual health there is no remedy so effective as simple, conscientious right doing in daily life. Occupation in some useful pursuit has saved many an individual from madness, and men have been saved from the great evil, of self-congratulation and self-satisfaction by using their talents and means in service to their communities. No one was ever saved from spiritual death by any other method than by becoming absorbed in useful, unselfish work or devotion to others—meant by the fruit of the fig. Without this little by little we inevitably drift into an Assyrian or Babylonic captivity—captivity to unenlightened reason or to the dominion of the love of self.
In the manifold interests and duties of life, which are intended to teach us the way of heavenly life, may we recognize and come to know from experience the meaning of the words spoken through Hezekiah: "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live."
