Today's Scripture Reading (April 21, 2023): 2 Kings 20
I have admitted that I am going through my "country"
phase of musical development. But I also must admit that my country phase doesn't
extend much past liking Tim Hicks's music. And in late 2022, Hicks released what
I think is his fifth studio album, Talk to Time. The title song talks about our
struggle with the passing of time. The chorus of the song says.
If I
could talk to time
I'd say, "Why you always flyin'?"
You say you're on my side
But you ain't no friend of mine
You don't do second chances
You don't like lookin' back
I blame it all on you
But it's me who's losin' track.
The chorus sums up some of the most precious and worst
moments of our lives. The good moments pass by us too quickly, and in the bad
moments, time allows us no do-overs. This is our world; this is where we live.
We wish we could dwell in the good and have a chance to redo the bad, but time
doesn't allow that. I wish time did, but that is the problem we all have with
time.
Hezekiah is sick, but God has said he will heal the King. But
Hezekiah wants a sign that this healing promise has come from God. Isaiah
shrugs and offers Hezekiah the chance to have the shadow of the day move ten
steps forward or ten steps back. Hezekiah lives in the same world I do; he
would understand the sentiment of Tim Hicks's "Talk to Time." And so,
he responds that making the shadow go ten steps forward is not a big thing.
Time moves forward independently, whether we want it to or not. But moving
backward ten steps is something that time doesn't do. If God could do that, it
would be a powerful sign.
Hezekiah receives what the rest of us have only dreamed, a
chance to move time backward, even if it was only a few minutes, and relive
those minutes over again. For the rest of us, time is just a treasure that
keeps seeping through our fingers.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 18
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