A few years ago, I heard a Bible lesson about this man that was facing a difficult situation. Now I don't remember everything about the story, but basically he was very troubled, and just did not know what to do. So he sat down with his Bible and started praying for God to show him something. As he was praying, the Bible started to slip off his lap, and he reached out and grabbed it, and as he pulled it back onto his lap, he happened to notice the verse his thumb was on, and it was exactly what he needed. So the next day, facing another decision, he sat down at the table, and prayed, then he stood the Bible up on it's spine, and just let it flop open, then closed his eyes and pointed to a verse. Again, it just happened to fit his situation, at least a little bit, so he based his decision on that verse. Luckily things worked out good. So a couple of weeks later, facing an extremely difficult situation, something about a job change, or a move or something, and not knowing what to do, he went through the same procedure again. This time however his finger landed on Mat. 8:32 "And he said unto them, Go, and when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and behold the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters". He shook his head, and read the verse again, how could this be related to his situation. Then again, the demons, did move from the man to the sheep, could this really be the right verse? So he tried it again, this time he landed on Lu. 10:37 "go and do likewise". So he got in his car and drove about 10 miles up the side of a mountain, to a lookout spot, and dove over the side of the cliff. Moral of the story is, you can't just half read the Scripture and expect to get the full message.
Now I said all of that to say that, that is not the way I get my devotions. However Wednesday afternoon as I was preparing to put yesterday's devotions together, my Bible slipped, and I landed on the passage in Is. 37, and immediately He said that is what I want you to use so I did. He does work in strange ways sometimes, because I really needed that lesson.
I also noticed something in chapter 38, The chapter starts out with king Hezekiah deathly ill. True to what we have seen of him so far, he went straight to God with his problem. I wish I could remember to do just that every time. In verse 5 God tells Hezekiah that He would add 15 years to his life. Then in verse 7 and 8, God tells Hezekiah that He is going to give him a sign of His promise. That sign being, that He would turn back the sun dial. Just in case there is any doubt, the sun moved backward 10 degrees. God turned back the clock on Hezekiah's life. If I could turn back the clock on my life, and retain the knowledge that I have now, I would not hesitate, I could save myself and so many others, an enormous amount of grief, and heartache. However God tells me in His Holy Word, that there is no need for me to do that because, those mistakes I made no longer exist. They have been removed from me as far as the east is from the west.
Just as Hezekiah's sickness was removed from him, and another life given to him, my sin has been removed from me, and I have a new life, in a new city, it just has not arrived yet. I can't promise you very much about the remainder of my earthly life, but I can promise you, I will not be throwing myself off any cliff anytime soon.
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