| 2 Kin. 20:1-6 | "In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord: "Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live." ' Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, 'Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'Return and tell 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; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David. ' " ' " |
| 2 Kin. 21:1-2 | "Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king,
and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.
And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the
nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel."
 Note: God's perfect
will would have been for Hezekiah to go when he was ill, but because he turned
his face toward the wall, and cried out to God, He gave him fifteen more years
to live. In that time he fathered a son who was to bring Israel and Jerusalem to
their knees by acting "...more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before
him...." (2 Kin. 21:11) Sometimes we ask for God's permissive will, and He allows it, but it costs us. |
