Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Isaiah 38-46
Key Verse
Isaiah 42:15 — “I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.”
Devotional Thought
Hezekiah lay dying in Jerusalem, and the prophet Isaiah came to him with the hardest of all words: “Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.” The king turned his face to the wall and wept, pleading the record of a life walked in truth and with a perfect heart. Before Isaiah had even left the palace court, God spoke again: “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” The sun itself went backward ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz as a sign. And Hezekiah, restored, wrote a psalm of praise—the living, he said, praise God; the grave cannot.
Yet the story turns. When Babylonian envoys came with letters and a gift, curious about the healing, Hezekiah showed them everything—the silver, the gold, the spices, the armor, all his treasures. Nothing was hidden. And Isaiah pronounced the consequence: all of it would one day be carried to Babylon. The same king who prayed so earnestly in his sickness grew careless in his strength. It is a sobering picture of how quickly our hearts drift when the crisis passes.
Then the tone of the book changes entirely. Beginning in chapter 40, God speaks comfort to His people: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” A voice cries in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the LORD.” Here is the God who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, who sits above the circle of the earth, who calls the stars by name and not one fails. To the faint He gives power; they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. And in chapters 41 and 42, He speaks tenderly to Israel: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee.” He promises rivers in high places, a shepherd who gathers the lambs in His arm, and a Servant in whom His soul delights—a bruised reed He will not break.
In November, when the days shorten and the year begins to die around us, these chapters are a gift. We know something of Hezekiah’s wall-facing prayers and of his careless confidence. We know what it is to be weary. But the everlasting God neither faints nor is weary, and He has promised to hold our right hand.
Reflection
- Hezekiah prayed fervently in his sickness but grew careless in his recovery, showing his treasures to Babylon. Where in your own life has a season of ease made you less watchful than a season of crisis did?
- God tells Israel that “they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength.” What would it look like for you, this week, to actually wait on Him rather than simply endure?
Prayer
O Lord, everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth, we come to You who neither faints nor is weary. You heard Hezekiah’s tears and turned the shadow backward on the dial; You are the same God today, attentive to the cries of Your people. Forgive us for the carelessness that creeps in when the pressure lifts, and for showing the world treasures that belong to You. When we are faint, renew our strength. When we are afraid, hold our right hand. Gather us as lambs in Your arm, and let us mount up with wings as eagles, to the praise of Your glory. Amen.