The Shadow of the Sun Moves Back (Isaiah 38: 1-20)

Summer Worship Series, July 19, 2020

Under the Sun Series, Week 6, The Shadow of the Sun Moves Back

Readings for Sunday, July 19, 2020

First Lesson and Sermon:  Isaiah 38:1-20.  Hezekiah was a righteous King in Judah.  When he prayed that God would heal him, God gave him what he requested and even gave him a special sign for reassurance.

Psalm 27:  A psalm of David.  An exuberant declaration of faith and trust in God.

Second Lesson:  James 5:13-18.  It ought to be the attitude of all Christian to pray to God in times of sickness and suffering.  We have God’s promise to hear and answer our prayers. 

Gospel:  Luke  18: 1-8.  Because of God’s power and love for us, we can pray boldly and not give up.

Sermon:  The Shadow of the Sun Moves Back.  Isaiah 38:1-20

Each day, the sun rises moves across the sky and sets in the west.  It was quite unusual when the shadow of the sun reversed course and moved back ten steps during the reign of Hezekiah, a faithful king in Judah, as a sign from God that he’d heard his prayers.  Hezekiah  had become sick and was dying. Hezekiah knew the Lord, so he turned to him in prayer, and God heard.

This lesson is most definitely a lesson about prayer but it doesn’t mean that we should pray that God would allow us to live longer and then we will live longer. Instead, it reinforces what God teaches us throughout Scripture: that he hears us when we pray.

Jesus himself instructs us to pray and not lose heart.   We don’t always know whether our prayers will be answered the way that we want them to be answered, but we can be absolutely certain that God has the wisdom to do what is best for us.

So let us pray.  Let us go to God frequently, regularly, repeatedly with our cares and concerns. 

Let’s pray for ourselves and for others.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke