Present in Our Pain

Isaiah 38:9-20

⁹ A composition by Judah’s King Hezekiah when he was sick and then recovered from his sickness: ¹⁰ I thought, I must depart in the prime of my life; I have been relegated to the gates of the underworld for the rest of my life. ¹¹ I thought, I won’t see the LORD. The LORD is in the land of the living. I won’t look upon humans again or be with the inhabitants of the world. ¹² My lifetime is plucked up and taken from me like a shepherd’s tent. My life is shriveled like woven cloth; God cuts me off from the loom. Between daybreak and nightfall you carry out your verdict against me. ¹³ I cried out until morning: “Like a lion God crushes all my bones. Between daybreak and nightfall you carry out your verdict against me. ¹⁴ Like a swallow I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes have grown weary looking to heaven. Lord, I’m overwhelmed; support me!” ¹⁵ What can I say? God has spoken to me; he himself has acted. I will wander my whole life with a bitter spirit. ¹⁶ The LORD Most High is the one who gives life to every heart, who gives life to the spirit! ¹⁷ Look, he indeed exchanged my bitterness for wholeness. You yourself have spared my whole being from the pit of destruction, because you have cast all my sins behind your back. ¹⁸ The underworld can’t thank you, nor can death praise you; those who go down to the pit can’t hope for your faithfulness. ¹⁹ The living, the living can thank you, as I do today. Parents will tell children about your faithfulness. ²⁰ The LORD has truly saved me, and we will make music at the LORD’s house all the days of our lives.