Passage Read: Isaiah 35-38
Meditation Verse: 38:3
Thought
Death is the ultimate test of faith. Do I fear it or welcome it? Hezekiah, in his prayer recorded in later verses, is grieved that his life is being cut short, that he will enter Sheol and no longer see the Lord or men on the earth. He didn't think he could praise the Lord in the grave; he didn't have a complete understanding of death and what follows. He didn't think that his testimony and his faithfulness would be sealed and he could rest from all his labors and the troubles of this life, without fear of messing up his legacy or inheritance. There was no hope of seeing and glorifying God with the faithful among his ancestors. There was only a plea that the Lord remember all he'd done in faithfulness to the Lord. Even in that, it sounds not like expectation but uncertainty.
Application
I want to meet death with joy and expectation. I have a hope Hezekiah didn't have, that I may see the Lord as soon as I depart this place. I will be able to praise the Lord beyond the grave. I will have fellowship with those who love the Lord and delight in Him above all else! A better fellowship than I have known on earth! And with death, my testimony is sealed; there's no longer a chance they I could turn away from the Lord and throw away my salvation. And there is rest from all labor, all striving, all uncertainty and all doubt. Can I face death with confidence? As sure as Paul, who knew whom he had believed, convinced that He would guard all he had entrusted to Him? If I want to have confidence in that day, I need to build it today, loving the Lord, longing for Him, preferring to please and honor Him in all things, pursuing His presence, His favor and His will above all. Then death will be a door I look forward to without chasing it. Because I'm not chasing death, but the One who stands beyond it, and I want to be pleasing to Him each day so that day will not bring fear and doubt, but expectation and delight.