Interceding for Yourself

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In John Bunyan's classic, The Pilgrim's Progress, the character Christian goes through a journey to the Celestial City that is an allegory for the Christian life.  In the book, to get to the Celestial City, Christian must pass through the Valley of Humiliation followed shortly by the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  These are lonely, treacherous, and dark roads that he seems to walk alone. 

These pictures from Bunyan's book describe the same experience as what St. John of the Cross called "the dark night of the soul."  It is a time when God seems to withdraw and you are left to struggle alone in a confusing spiritual haze. 

King Hezekiah had a "night" like this.  In his late 30s, with his reforms firmly in place and with the Assyrian threat still somewhat in the distance, Hezekiah became ill.  He struggled with this illness for a long time and grew weaker and weaker.  The story is told in Isaiah 38...

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
 
² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³ “Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

⁷ “‘This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: ⁸ I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

Hezekiah was sick, and growing weaker.  So he brought in his most trusted spiritual advisor, the old prophet Isaiah.  Surely this great prophet was a wonderful advocate, having served under previous kings who resisted his advice.  And now Hezekiah had followed it wholeheartedly.  Surely Isaiah fell on his knees interceding for his good king.  But God would not answer Isaiah's prayer, so the prophet had to go back to his king and tell him that there was nothing he could do.  The king would die.

There is a real sense in which we are alone before God.  We can and should lean on others.  We can and should intercede for others.  But we also must take the permission and responsibility to pray for yourself, to stand in the gap between who you are today and who God is calling you to be and cry out to God to close it.  You must intercede for youtself, just as Hezekiah did as he turned his face to the wall and cried out to God in tears.

The basics of this story are also told in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, but the Isaiah account follows this story with a psalm that gives us insight into Hezekiah's dark night, recording in vivid language his struggle with God.  Isaiah 38:9-14...

A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

¹⁰ I said, “In the prime of my life
must I go through the gates of death^[a]
and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
¹¹ I said, “I will not again see the Lord,
the Lord, in the land of the living;
no longer will I look on mankind,
or be with those who now dwell in this world.^[b]
12 Like a shepherd’s tent my house
has been pulled down and taken from me.
Like a weaver I have rolled up my life,
and he has cut me off from the loom;
day and night you made an end of me.
¹³ I waited patiently till dawn,
but like a lion he broke all my bones;
day and night you made an end of me.
¹⁴ I cried like a swift or thrush,
I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens.
I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid!”

 

 

It begins with growing desperation...

You can see Hezekiah's reaction in Hezekiah's prayer in verse 3 ("Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes") and again here in verses 10-11. 

He's saying, "This wasn't the deal!"

Hezekiah had been faithful, more faithful than any king in centuries.  He had made long-overdue reforms and reversed the disasterous policies of his father.  The result should have been great blessing, but he was about to be cut down "in the prime of my life" (v. 10).

Often we are faithful, expecting that faithfulness to result in an easier life.  That's the "deal" we set up in our minds: "I obey, God blesses."  When instead you reach this period of dryness, of distance from God, and difficulties overtake your life, you are tempted to cry out, "Where are you, God?  This wasn't the deal!"

But here's the thing: this "dark night" is often a sign of faithfulness, not unfaithfulness...