And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.” So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. (2 Kings 20:10-11, New King James Version)
Today, February 2, 2017 is a day in the United States that has been highlighted by Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog who supposedly predicts the beginning of spring by his shadow. What began as a local fictitious fable in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania has continued about 130 years. But there is a true story of a time about 700 years before Christ when a shadow became a miraculous sign.
The prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and told him to set his affairs in order because he was going to die. Hezekiah made things right, so God told Isaiah to go back and tell Hezekiah he would live. This time Hezekiah asked for a sign that God had extended his life. Isaiah asked the king which direction he wanted the sundial of Ahaz, the official timepiece of that day, to move. King Hezekiah asked for it to go backward by ten degrees. Based on scientific data, we know this backward shadow of ten degrees has affected time forty minutes since that day.
As you pass through life—one minute at a time—will you cast a shadow that will be a time changer for at least one person?
Prayer: Lord, I’m not asking You to change universal time for me. All I want is to make my life count so that something good I’ve done will overshadow others and bless them. Amen.
Devotion by Violet Carr Moore
Comments are closed.