Two-Minute Manna

This story is recorded in 2 Kings 20 and Isaiah 38 as well. From these passages, we know that when God sent Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that it was time to go home, Hezekiah begged God to let him live. God granted Hezekiah’s request and confirmed it by turning the sundial back ten degrees, or approximately forty-five minutes. But was it His will? I wonder. In the following fifteen years a couple of terrible things took place. First, Hezekiah fathered a son named Manasseh, who later would be the worst of Judah’s kings and whose reign would lead to Judah’s captivity.

Second, when Hezekiah miraculously recovered, the Babylonians sent a contingent of ambassadors with some get-well cards and congratulations. When Hezekiah took them on a personal tour of his storehouses, their report to their leader, Nebuchadnezzar, led to the attack by the Babylonians.

Hezekiah would have been far better off flowing with what the Lord was doing rather than demanding his own way. I don’t want to demand my way because I don’t know as much as God does. God knows what’s right. My Father knows best. Yes, we are to bring our requests to Him. But ultimately we must say, “Not my will, but Thine be done, Father.”

As they wandered in the wilderness, the children of Israel begged God for meat. When He answered their demand, Numbers 11:33 tells us they died even as they ate the quail. Of this the psalmist writes, “The Lord gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul” (see Psalm 106:15).

Be careful, gang, that you don’t demand from God without submitting it to His perfect will. He might give you your request. But you might find it wasn’t what you were hoping.