The hours spent in the waiting rooms of hospitals waiting on news of the condition of a loved one will never by replaced or restored to our lives.  Sometimes the wait is long and sometimes it is brief.  Either way, we do not like to wait.  But I have learned that something happens in the wait.  As we wait, we feel God draw nearer still to us who believe and call on His Name.  In the wait we learn more about God that we did before. What we thought we could never endure—we do endure by His power in us.  We feel His closeness in our hour of need as we pray for ourselves or our loved ones who are sick and at the mercy of caregivers of all kinds.  We pray for wisdom for those who help us.  We pray for God to draw near and rescue us.  Our prays are very specific and to the point—in the waiting room.

God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah is days on earth are numbered—specifically numbered!  “You’re not going to get well.”  Wow, the news is specific.  The message is short and to the point!  So, Hezekiah does what worked before when faced with the Assyrian threat to overcome his city; he prays specifically and passionately to God to spare him.  God does.  God gave him 15 more years.  God’s glory and power is seen through this act of mercy for Hezekiah.

I get it.  Randy was close to death many years ago during his ministry and seminary work.  We thought this might be the end.  But while Randy was being tested and prodded; I prayed.  I prayed alone in the corner as passionately as Hezekiah.  I prayed, “Lord, may your glory be seen through Randy’s healing and recovery from this fungus that is trying to take his life away here on earth.”  God answered that specific prayer and gave life back to him with months of healing and restoration so he could get back to what God called him to be and do in the Name of Jesus and for the Glory of God.  Yes, Lord, you did it for Hezekiah and you did it for us. 

We have been given many years more than we expected.  I do not know how many more days we have left on this earth, but I know God and that’s what matters most.  I know who I belong to and where I am going.  In the waiting rooms, he taught me to live each day as if it might be my last.  In the waiting rooms, I learned to praise Him in the details of our lives because He was involved in all of them!  I learned that God does not step away from our troubles but is already at work to draw near to us and help us through them.  God is always in the waiting room with us while problem-solving issues for the good of His children.  God is everywhere and God is here.  God is in control.  There is nothing that escapes God’s notice or attention.  Our crying out to God releases His power to work in and through us.  Yes, friends, the waiting room is a place of glory when God steps in and takes over the situation. 

Isaiah 38, The Message

Time Spent in Death’s Waiting Room

At that time, Hezekiah got sick. He was about to die. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and said, “God says, ‘Prepare your affairs and your family. This is it: You’re going to die. You’re not going to get well.’”

^2-3 Hezekiah turned away from Isaiah and, facing the wall, prayed to God: “God, please, I beg you: Remember how I’ve lived my life. I’ve lived faithfully in your presence, lived out of a heart that was totally yours. You’ve seen how I’ve lived, the good that I have done.” And Hezekiah wept as he prayed—painful tears.

^4-6 Then God told Isaiah, “Go and speak with Hezekiah. Give him this Message from me, God, the God of your ancestor David: ‘I’ve heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll add fifteen years to your life. And I’ll save both you and this city from the king of Assyria. I have my hand on this city.

^7-8 “‘And this is your confirming sign, confirming that I, God, will do exactly what I have promised. Watch for this: As the sun goes down and the shadow lengthens on the sundial of Ahaz, I’m going to reverse the shadow ten notches on the dial.’” And that’s what happened: The declining sun’s shadow reversed ten notches on the dial.

* * *

^9-15 This is what Hezekiah king of Judah wrote after he’d been sick and then recovered from his sickness:

In the very prime of life
    I have to leave.
Whatever time I have left
    is spent in death’s waiting room.
No more glimpses of God
    in the land of the living,
No more meetings with my neighbors,
    no more rubbing shoulders with friends.
This body I inhabit is taken down
    and packed away like a camper’s tent.
Like a weaver, I’ve rolled up the carpet of my life
    as God cuts me free of the loom
And at day’s end sweeps up the scraps and pieces.
    I cry for help until morning.
Like a lion, God pummels and pounds me,
    relentlessly finishing me off.
I squawk like a doomed hen,
    moan like a dove.
My eyes ache from looking up for help:
    “Master, I’m in trouble! Get me out of this!”
But what’s the use? God himself gave me the word.
    He’s done it to me.
I can’t sleep—
    I’m that upset, that troubled.

^16-19 O Master, these are the conditions in which people live,
    and yes, in these very conditions my spirit is still alive—
    fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life!
It seems it was good for me
    to go through all those troubles.
Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline.
    You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing.
But my sins you let go of,
    threw them over your shoulder—good riddance!
The dead don’t thank you,
    and choirs don’t sing praises from the morgue.
Those buried six feet under
    don’t witness to your faithful ways.
It’s the living—live men, live women—who thank you,
    just as I’m doing right now.
Parents give their children
    full reports on your faithful ways.

* * *

²⁰ God saves and will save me.
    As fiddles and mandolins strike up the tunes,
We’ll sing, oh we’ll sing, sing,
    for the rest of our lives in the Sanctuary of God.

^21-22 Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and put it on the boil so he may recover.”

Hezekiah had said, “What is my cue that it’s all right to enter again the Sanctuary of God?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God is in control.  Our work is to recognize God at work and give Him praise!

God controls what he has created, like putting the sun on hold, but gives humans free will to choose to love Him back.  Love that is forced, prodded, or demanded is not the love of God.  God is love.  To know God is to know love.  Love God.  Love each other like He loves us—unconditionally and forever.

God forgives and saves us from all our sins through Jesus Christ, His Son and his work in taking our place of punishment.  Forever gone—To be remembered no more!

There is no one like our God!  Absolutely no one!

Lord,

Thank you for the memories of recalling your glory made known in extending Randy’s life.  I praise you right now with tears of joy in my heart.  I praise you for all the lessons learned in the waiting rooms of this life, not only Randy, but for other loved ones as well.  Thank you for your strength and power as we wait for your return to take us home.  No more waiting there—only your glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen