Isaiah 38 opens with one of the most tender and hope-filled moments in the entire book of Isaiah. King Hezekiah is told he’s going to die. There’s no ambiguity. No conditions. God sends Isaiah to say, “Set your house in order.”
And what does Hezekiah do?
He turns his face to the wall and prays.
He doesn’t bargain. He doesn’t negotiate. He simply reminds God of the truth:
“I have walked before You in faithfulness… and have done what is good in Your sight.”
And then he weeps.
This moment is beautiful because it reveals the heart of God toward those who genuinely follow Him. God hears. God responds. God acts. Before Isaiah even leaves the palace courts, God sends him back with a new message:
“I have heard your prayer.
I have seen your tears.
Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.”
This is the same God we worship today.
Isaiah 38 isn’t just ancient history—it’s a reminder that God is moved by the prayers of His people. Not casual prayers. Not halfhearted spiritual talk. But the honest, raw cry of someone who has lived their life in the fear of the Lord.
Hezekiah wasn’t perfect. None of us are. But he was faithful. He sought God. He tore down idols. He trusted the Lord when the Assyrians surrounded Jerusalem. And when death knocked on his door, God answered him.
Isaiah 38 reminds us:
- God listens.
- God cares.
- God responds to genuine faith.
- God still intervenes in the lives of those who walk with Him.
Prayer isn’t a ritual. It’s a relationship with a God who sees our tears and moves in power.
God Turned Back Time — The Sign Given to Hezekiah
Here’s the part that absolutely blows my mind.
When Hezekiah asks for confirmation, God doesn’t give him a small sign. He doesn’t shake a leaf, or send a breeze, or offer some symbolic gesture.
God literally turns back time.
He tells Isaiah:
“This shall be the sign to you from the Lord… the shadow shall go backward ten steps.”
And then it happens.
The shadow on the sundial of Ahaz moves backward, not forward.
God reverses the rotation of time itself just to prove His word to one man who cried out to Him in faith.
Think about that:
Hezekiah prays.
God hears.
God heals.
And then God rewrites the flow of time as a visible sign.
This is who God is.
The Creator of the universe—the One who set time in motion—is not bound by it. He can move it forward, slow it down, or rewind it… not for billions of people, but for one faithful king who sought His face.
Isaiah 38 isn’t just a healing story.
It’s a revelation of God’s absolute authority over creation, history, physics, and time itself.
And it’s a reminder that when God makes a promise, He will move heaven and earth to show you He is faithful.
Hezekiah’s Heartfelt Prayer — And the Sign That He Will Rise Again
After the healing and the miracle of the sundial, Isaiah 38 suddenly slows down and gives us a glimpse into Hezekiah’s heart. The king writes out this beautiful, vulnerable prayer. It reads like the journal of a man who stared death in the face and then watched God pull him back from the edge.
He says things like:
- “In the middle of my days I must depart…”
- “Like a lion He breaks all my bones…”
- “What shall I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it.”
You can feel the emotion in every line—
the gratitude,
the relief,
the awe.
Hezekiah realizes he’s been given a second chance, and the bitterness of his suffering actually became the doorway to God’s grace. Instead of resenting it, he turns it into worship.
Then the scene shifts.
There’s a celebration.
The people bring a cake of figs—an ancient medicinal ointment—and apply it to the boil on his skin. God could have healed instantly, but instead He uses something simple and physical as part of the miracle. It’s such a reminder that God works through both the supernatural and the practical.
But Hezekiah asks one more question:
“What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
It isn’t doubt.
It’s eagerness.
He’s basically saying, “Lord, how will I know when I’m fully restored and able to worship You again?”
And God answers with the same breathtaking sign:
He moves the shadow on the sundial backwards ten steps.
God literally rewinds time to confirm His promise.
Hezekiah cries out.
God hears him.
God heals him.
And God proves it with a sign that bends the laws of time and creation.
Isaiah 38 is a reminder that for those who walk with God, prayer changes everything.
It moves Heaven.
It moves the heart of God.
And in Hezekiah’s case…
It even moved the sun.