Death cannot praise you…… the living man, he shall praise you, as I do this day; the father shall make known your truth to the children.

Isa 38:18-19

King Hezekiah was no stranger to God’s works. His zeal for God had restored true worship in Judah, and God had delivered him from the king of Assyria with an extraordinary miracle. But when he was sick and near death, he must have felt unprepared and even filled with bitterness. In a little passage in Isaiah 38, he wrote down what was in his heart: “In the prime of my life, I shall go to the gates of Sheol”, he lamented, “I am deprived of the remainder of my years”.

Even a good king like Hezekiah might have felt helpless when death was approaching. His authority would have no power against death; his good works would be no defense against God’s standard of righteousness. Likewise today, even if we are comfortable in our relationship with God, there will be times when we are caught unprepared to face the trials before us. Like Hezekiah, some of us might be going through serious illnesses, or we might be caught alone in a dark moment of our life.  But we can find comfort in the writing of Hezekiah – he realized that his illness was not to embitter or to terrify him, and that his recovery granted him more than life, but also peace, love, and forgiveness (Isa 38:17). For God to put His beloved children through the shadowy valley, would he put us through these sufferings only to punish us with sorrow and bitterness? Would he not also lead us into life?

When Hezekiah understood what the Lord had intended for him, he looked beyond his illness or recovery. Above his bitterness and blessings, there was his role to praise God as a living man (v. 19). It might be hard for us to imagine what it means to praise God when we’re going through difficult trials, but often praises in the bible do not come with happiness and exhilaration either. Hezekiah wrote the verse before he was healed at the end of the chapter. In psalms we see the same phrase repeated over and over, in the weary verses of David, in the afflicted contemplation of the Sons of Korah, and the victorious shouts of the children of Israel. And indeed this praise conveys more than thankfulness or admiration; it carries the acknowledgment of God’s truth and faithfulness. It is an essential element of our relationship with God, regardless of the circumstances.

Let us then also come to worship God and praise His truth and faithfulness. In every difficult moment, we’ll trust that there is His will to refine our focus. His trials take away our dependence on our own strength and righteousness; our temporary bitterness makes us seek His abidance no matter what happens around us. What remains after our trials will be our genuine praise, a praise that outlasts Sheol and death, a praise that will be repeated in His kingdom forevermore.