Fifteen Years

Among the verses we carry into a hospital corridor, this is the one we trust most. I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. None of us has read to the end of the chapter before quoting it.

Nothing in the story is soft. Isaiah had walked in that day with the opposite word from the same God: Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Hezekiah turned to the wall, prayed, and wept sore, and the reversal came back before the prophet was gone out into the middle court. God heard. God saw. God healed, added fifteen years, and moved a shadow ten degrees backward on the dial of Ahaz so the king would know it was him.

What the verse does not do is hand you a rule. Isaiah's first sentence came from the LORD as surely as his second, and was true when he said it. The chapter offers no way of telling in advance which of the two words you are standing under, and the sign belongs to Hezekiah alone.

Then read on, because the fifteen years are printed. Envoys arrive from Babylon, having heard that Hezekiah had been sick, and he shews them everything in the house. Isaiah tells him it will all be carried into Babylon and his sons made eunuchs there, and Hezekiah's answer is the coldest line he speaks: Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? The next chapter opens on Manasseh, twelve years old when he began to reign, born inside the added time, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. Scripture never says the prayer was a mistake. It sets the events in order and leaves the arithmetic on the page.

Hear our prayer, Lord. See our tears. We have prayed like Hezekiah and we would do it again, and when the answer comes, and we cannot see past the end of the week we asked for, be God over the years we did not know how to ask about. Amen.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 165 is Meat in Due Season (Psalm 145:15).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two