What would you do if you knew you had fifteen years left to live? That’s the story of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38. King Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The Lord told Isaiah to go and tell Hezekiah to get his house in order, because his death was imminent. Hezekiah prayed earnestly for the Lord to reverse the sickness and death sentence. Before Isaiah could get home the Lord answered Hezekiah’s prayer.
The Lord told Hezekiah, “Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years” (Isaiah 38:4–5). Unfortunately, Hezekiah didn’t use those fifteen years wisely. Instead, he gave a tour of Jerusalem to Babylonian dignitaries (Isa. 39:1-4). Isaiah and the Lord weren’t too pleased with the king’s decision to give the Babylonians a sight-seeing of Jerusalem’s treasures (Isa. 38:5-8).
Hezekiah squandered his extra fifteen years. Bu what would you do if you knew you had those fifteen extra years left in your life? Would you try to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Would you make amends with estranged loved one? Spend more time with your children? Write that book? Start that business? Give more? Serve more in your local church?
The problem is that we don’t know how much time we have left. Life is just a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow (Jas. 4:14). So while we may not be able to know how much time we have left, let us take full advantage of the time that we’ve been given to live it fully for Jesus.