10 I said, In the middle of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see the LORD,
the LORD in the land of the living;
I shall look on man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
About 20 years ago I was driving up a hill when suddenly two cars came speeding over the hill towards me, one in each lane. I had nowhere to go and the car in my lane moved back over just in time. While my life did not flash before my eyes, I did have a brand new outlook on life. I was glad to be alive and then I pondered the fragility of it. That was what Hezekiah was thinking with these words in Isaiah. In a unique circumstance, the Lord granted him healing from his illness and a further 15 years of life. He thought about what he would have missed had he died at that time. He then wrote analogies of the brief and fragile thing that is our life.
When I realized I was not going to die that day, my thoughts then went to where I would have gone had I died. This is where the assurance of salvation is key. Now I know that I would have been in heaven because the sovereign God promised me I would. I thought early in my walk that outweighing the sins with good deeds would ensure my salvation. That day there was nothing sure about it.
We have the blessed assurance that Jesus is ours and it is a foretaste of glory divine. Worrying about death will not prolong life. Clinging to the promises of God will preserve life…
Forever.