Introduction
Ed was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really mad. She told him "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds, AND IT BETTER BE THERE."

The next morning, Ed got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window, and sure enough, there was a medium-sized gift-wrapped box in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe, ran out to the driveway, and brought the box back into the house. She opened it and found a brand-new bathroom scale.

Funeral services for Ed have been scheduled for Friday.
Today’s sermon is entitled: Lessons Learnt in the Tough Stuff. For some of us even in the tough stuff we don’t seem to learn. 
Read Isaiah 38:15-17
These are the verses from Isaiah we want to learn from this morning. They are part of a lament psalm written by King Hezekiah.
Let’s start by understanding the context of these verses.
Let me introduce you to King Hezekiah.
King Hezekiah was one of the greatest of the kings of Judah. His name means “Yahweh has strengthened” and this certainly was evident in his life. He reigned from 715 to 690 bc.
His special distinction, beyond all other Judean kings, before or after, was that he “trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel.” His reign is summed up in 2 Kings 18:5-6 “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.”
In the book of 2 Chronicles we can read about his accomplishments and zeal for God.  He opened and cleansed the Temple, which his father Ahaz had left closed and desecrated and went on to the reorganize the Levites to administer their duties and ministries within the temple.  He called for a celebration of the Passover inviting all who would accept invitation from Samaria, Galilee, and beyond the Jordan and this sparked a great revival and renewal of trust in God in Judah. 
He also did much to strengthen and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He built up and fortified many Judean towns. He built an amazing tunnel channeling the aqueduct flowing water into Jerusalem underground to protect their water supply under siege. 
And now lets read Isaiah 36:1-3
Read Isaiah 38:1-8
Philip Yancey in his book “Where is God when It Hurts?”  writes: “In an intensive care ward, all visitors are united by a single, awful thread: concern over a dying relative or friend. Economic differences, even religious differences, fade away. You’ll see no sparks of racial tension there. Sometimes stranger will console one another or cry together quietly and unashamedly. All are facing life at its most essential. Many call for a pastor or priest for the first time ever.  Only the megaphone of suffering is strong enough to bring these people to their knees to ponder ultimate questions of life and death and meaning.”
Hezekiah’s pain and illness produced something of immense value in his life and in these verses we can find 4 things of value that came out of Hezekiah’s suffering and his brush with death. 
And it is my prayer that, like visitors to an intensive care ward, through these verses we will be helped to ponder the ultimate questions of life and meaning. 
The first thing of value that came out of Hezekiah’s suffering was:
1. A new resolve
“I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.
This is the only place in scripture we find this statement. In other scripture we find  statements like this ending with “all my days”, but here Hezekiah writes “all my years” referring to the 15 years of extended life God has given him.
The KJV says I will walk softly. I will live my life in quietness and trust. I will walk with calm and considerate steps; in a quiet submission and obedience to God marked by an inner devotion to Him.
As one commentator wrote: “We ought to regard all life as a gift, a trust, from God; but in a very special sense it comes home to us that the years of renewed life, after a severe illness, are a gracious permission, a special favour, of our God.”
Can we not apply this to our lives?
Can we not learn to live in quietness and trust rather than frantic business and hurried arranging numb to His touch and presence with too little margin in our lives for contemplation and cultivating awareness of his presence.
Hezekiah’s resolve: “I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.
The second thing of value that came out of Hezekiah’s suffering was:
2.  new insight gained into the source of life.
“I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. Lord by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too.”
By “such things” Hezekiah seems to be referring back to the first part of verse 15. Looking back on his illness and recovery Hezekiah says, “But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this.”  
This is what he learnt: men live by the word and activity of God and my spirit finds life in them too.
Life that is truly life is found in the word of God and His activity in our lives.
The Israelites wandering in the desert after coming out of slavery in Egypt were taught the same lesson: Deuteronomy 8:3 “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
This is the verse Jesus quoted to Satan when he tempted him in the desert to turn stones into bread to feed Himself after 40 days of fasting: “…man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
Isaiah 55:2-3a “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” 
This reminds me of the words of Jesus in Luke 9:25  “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his soul?”  
Spiritual life comes through the reading, studying, meditating on and then the living of God’s word and God moving powerfully in us changing and shaping us by His Spirit through His Word.
Listen to God’s promise to us in Isaiah 55:10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
As Jesus warns us in the story of the sower and the seed we must not allow the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke out the word of God making it unfruitful.
Hezekiah gained new insight into the source of life.
And then the third thing of value Hezekiah gained through his suffering was:
3 a new understanding of suffering.
“I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. Lord by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish.” 
The KJV “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness:…”
And so translated literally Hezekiah is saying that it was for wholeness, well-being, and peace that I suffered such anguish.
Again Philip Yancey in his book  “Where is God when it Hurts?”  says: “…the Bible consistently changes the questions we bring to the problem of pain. It rarely, or ambiguously answers the backward-looking question “Why?” Instead, it raises the very different, forward-looking question, “To what end?” We are not put on earth merely to satisfy our desires, to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. We are here to be changed, to be made more like God in order to prepare us for a lifetime with Him. And that process may be served by the mysterious pattern of all creation: pleasure sometimes emerges against a background of pain, evil may be transformed into good, and suffering may produce something of value.”
James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Romans 5:2-4  “And we[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.”  
Hezekiah is able to see that his suffering was redemptive. He was not claiming to understand why God had allowed the illness but rather to what end He allowed his suffering.

I pray the same for us. I pray the same peace and understanding for those among us in the middle of difficulty, sorrow or illness.

David Powlison [recently diagnosed with prostate cancer,] “Illness can sharpen your awareness of how thoroughly God has already and always been at work in every detail of your life…But in his beloved children, our Father works a most kind good through our most grievous losses: sometimes healing and restoring the body (temporarily, until the resurrection of the dead to eternal life), always sustaining and teaching us that we might know and love him more simply. In the testing ground of evils, your faith becomes deep and real, and your love becomes purposeful and wise”

Hezekiah gained a new understanding of suffering.
4. Hezekiah gained a deeper understanding of God’s grace
“I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. Lord by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.”
“In Your love you kept me from the pit of destruction”
Literally: “you have loved my soul back from the pit of destruction.”
On the eve of prostrate surgery John Piper wrote the article “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” He writes this: “Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ. Cancer does not win if you die. It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ.”
Hezekiah in his illness gained a new and fresh awareness of God’s love for him.
Listen to Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:16-17 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
It is in hard times that we can know that God has loved our souls from the pit of destruction through Jesus Christ.
“you have put all my sins behind your back.”
As one commentator said “to put behind one’s back in Hebrew and Arabic is a figure of speech meaning ‘to forget, to lose sight of, to exclude from view.”
Hezekiah had a new awareness of God’s grace in not treating him as his sins deserved but rather extending his life and forgiving his sins.
I pray that we can take these truths to heart for ourselves.
Conclusion
In closing I ask you to read aloud this liturgy with me:
ALL: 
We have come this day with God’s strength to pilot us; God’s might to uphold us; God’s wisdom to guide us; God’s eye to look ahead for us; God’s ear to hear us; God’s word to speak for us; God’s hand to defend us; God’s way to lie before us; God’s shield to protect us.
Christ ever with us, Christ before us, Christ behind us Christ within us, Christ beneath us, Christ above us; Christ to the right side, Christ to the left; Christ in His breadth, Christ in His length; Christ in depth; Christ in the heart and mind of everyone who thinks of us; Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks to us; Christ in every eye that sees us; Christ in every ear that hears us.
We have come this day in His mighty strength; Declaring with our mouths the Trinity; Believing in our minds God as three persons; Confessing in our hearts, that they are One; Thanking our Father Creator for the beauty that surrounds us; Thanking Christ our Saviour for the life he has given us; Thanking the Holy Spirit for His journeying with us. 
AMEN