Living Praise

"The living, the living—they praise you,
as I am doing today;
fathers tell their children
about your faithfulness." Isaiah 38:19

This verse was something that the king Hezekiah wrote in the book of Isaiah. He had been very ill and at the point of death, and prayed to God and wept because he knew he was at death's doorstep. Then God sent Isaiah to Hezekiah to tell him that he had heard his prayer and was going to extend his life.

"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." Isaiah 38:4,5

Wow! Think about that. Hezekiah was about to die, and God heard his cries and gave him what he wished- a longer life. Hezekiah rejoiced by writing of his trials and God's grace to him, and the verse above in particular stuck out to me this morning. Specifically because it talks about the living. That has more than one meaning here, and I thought it was interesting. The living praise God, but not just the living in the sense of not being dead. Those who have given their hearts to God, who follow his laws and his book- those are the living we talk about here. The people who walk this earth without God are walking the walk of eternal death and torment, and it's only by believing in God that they may truly be living.

And then! And then once they have given their hearts to the Lord, not only are they living in Him, but they must praise Him as well- not because they have to, but because they want to. Because their hearts are so full of his grace and his love, that if they don't let it out in the form of praise, their hearts will just burst from holding in all that love. The Living just can't keep it in, they need to share it and tell about it. As the verse goes on to describe, fathers share God's faithfulness with their children. They want their children to experience the same love and joy that they do, so they share with their children what God can do for them if they just let him in.

For God is Great and greatly to be praised! (1 Chronicles 16:25) Our God is wonderful and magnanimous, and we, the living, must praise him with everything we have.