Look Up and Be Radiant!Speaker: Dr. D.G.S. Dhinakaran Gist: Devout men in the Bible underwent sorrowful times, even to the point to desire death. Even at that moment, they looked up to God and their faces were radiant. The entire situation changed and they received life. You too have that privilege. In the Holy Scripture, we see many devout men and women of God who underwent great and unbearable distress. Let us take a look at the lives of devout Job and King Hezekiah. Unable to bear the pain and sufferings, Job bewailed, "My soul chooses strangling and death rather than my body" (Job 7:15).
Once a seventy eight years old man was arrested by the Police on charges of murdering his seventy three years old wife. He confessed to the police, "Sir, I did not kill my wife deliberately. She was suffering from cancer for a long period of time. Her hands and legs ceased functioning and doctors had given up hope to save her from this deadly disease. She lamented often saying, 'What is the use of my being alive in this world? Why do you want me to suffer any more? Please shoot me dead!' Unable to bear her pain and at her persistent requests for relief, I shot her dead."
Job's plight was similar. He had become a burden to himself and wished that someone would put an end to his life (Job 7:20, 21). We can see many similarities in the life of Job and King Hezekiah. Job said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him" (Job 13:15). The Scripture says about Hezekiah, "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him" (2 Kings 18:5).
Job bewailed, "Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and You will seek me diligently, but I will no longer be" (Job 7:21). Hezekiah also said broken-heartedly, "My life span is gone, taken from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me. I have considered until morning; Like a lion, so He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me." (Isaiah 38:12,13)
Job's plight was severe. "Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head" (Job 2:7). He cried out, "My face is flushed from weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death" (Job 16:16). He complained in bitterness and cried, "But when I looked for good, evil came to me; And when I waited for light, then came darkness. My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; Days of affliction confront me" (Job 30:26,27). Hezekiah again lamented, "Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back" (Isaiah 38:17). Job confessed, "My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me" (Job 17:1) and pleaded, "Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me?" (Job 17:3)
In a similar manner Hezekiah appealed, "Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; Undertake for me!" (Isaiah 38:14).
Both these devout men, in their humiliation looked up to the gracious and merciful God. The Holy Scripture says, "The Lord had accepted Job" (Job 42:9).
"And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." (Job 42:10)
In Isaiah 38:4-8, we see that the Lord saw Hezekiah's face and had mercy on him. He called the prophet Isaiah and directed him to go and tell Hezekiah, "Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely 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'" (Isaiah 38:5.6). Accordingly, the Lord healed Hezekiah who set this in writing, "The Lord was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord" (Isaiah 38:20).
Both Job and King Hezekiah looked up to the Lord and were radiant (Psalm 34:5).
While I was working in State Bank of India, I went to a certain town on an official tour. I was reminded of a sister living in a neighbouring village who used to write to me very often seeking my earnest prayer for her husband who was seriously ill. So, I went to the village and with great difficulty I found the house. It was one o'clock on a hot day. The sight I saw there melted my heart. The husband was lying on a cot placed in the open under the hot sun; and his wife was sitting by his side. On seeing me she said, "Sir! I am so happy to see you! Only a little while ago my husband said, 'How long am I to lie down like this? I would not survive any longer. Throw me out of the house and let me die!' I begged him so much to change his mind and remain indoors, but he firmly refused. I had to call some neighbours who lifted him on the cot and placed him here in the hot sun, and here I am sitting by his side. It is at this painful moment that God has spoken in your heart and sent you here!"
Dear friend, perhaps you are also weighed down by such sorrows and cares. Do not be dismayed! It is the desire of our Lord Jesus that His saving grace should be manifested in the life of everyone who is distressed. That is why He humbly requests all of us who are distressed by our diseases, fears and anxieties, to look up to Him. We have to look at Christ on the Cross bruised from head to foot, writhing in pain and torture, with hand and feet nailed to the Cross and a crown of thorns placed on His head assuring us His salvation. Let us look up to Him. The Lord who saw the painful boils, blood-stained tears and the shadow of death on Job's disfigured face and restored him to affluence and joy; The same Lord who saw the tears of King Hezekiah and saved him from disease, defeat and disgrace at the hands of his enemies, will also wipe away the tears from your face. He will cast away all our sorrows and bless us in abundance!
Prayer:
Gracious Heavenly Father,
There is no one to embrace me and share kind and encouraging words with me. I am surrounded by various trials and tribulations. You alone are my hope. Change my surrounding and restore all that I have lost. Father, strengthen me. Take full control over my life. Lift me up from my lowliness and place my feet on the strong rock to rise up and move forward in life with You as my guide and protector. In Jesus' mighty name, I ask.
Amen. |