15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

I will make the shadow cast by the sun . . . go back the ten steps it has advanced.

This is one of the more amazing miracles recounted in Scripture. To prove to Hezekiah that he would be healed, God made the sun go backwards!

We might think that God performed this miracle because Hezekiah was such a good king. In fact, Hezekiah, who ruled from 715–687 BC, was one of Judah’s great kings. He “did what was right in the Lord’s sight,” removing pagan idols and restoring temple worship in Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:3, 4). He decisively defeated the Assyrians, who had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. But he also boastfully showed off all his treasures and his armory to the Babylonians (20:13). A century later, as Isaiah predicted, those treasures, as well as the king’s own descendants, were carried off as the spoils of war (20:17-18).

So yes, the king was good, but he wasn’t healed because he was good. After all, he was like each of us, a mixture of good and bad, of righteousness and sin. No, he was healed because God is good!

What a great reminder! God certainly knew Hezekiah’s flaws, just as he knows ours. But he looks at everyone with love and generosity. His desire to make us whole does not depend on our behavior or merit. He is eager to do good for us simply because he loves us. In that love, God wants to heal us, to show mercy to us, and to fill us with his own life.

You may be dealing with a situation that you think is impossible. Perhaps, like Hezekiah, it’s an illness. Perhaps it is a problem in your family or with your job. And perhaps you think you need to be perfect in order for God to answer your prayers. Bring your needs to the Lord anyway. Trust in his goodness. He loves and cares for you! Even when God doesn’t give you the healing you are hoping for, he will always heal you in some way.

Never lose sight of the truth that God is always good!

“Lord, thank you for hearing my every prayer! I know that you are faithful and just and that you will answer me according to your goodness.”

Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8
(Psalm) Isaiah 38:10-12, 16
Matthew 12:1-8