Good morning! It’s Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Did you know you’re moving faster than any rocket ever launched from Earth? Right now, you’re spinning on the Earth’s surface at about 1,000 miles per hour, orbiting the sun at 67,000 miles per hour, and soaring through the Milky Way at over 1.3 million miles per hour. And if that’s not enough—the Milky Way itself is on the move, pulled through the universe by forces we still don’t fully understand. And yet… you don’t feel a thing. Time seems steady. Motion seems constant. But in Isaiah 38, God does something extraordinary. For one man’s prayer, He moves the shadow on the steps backward. He reverses time.
Today's Reading:
2 Kings 20; Isaiah 38,39; Psalms 75; 1 Peter 2
Scripture
“I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’ ” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.” (Isaiah 38:8 NIV)
Observation
Hezekiah receives news no one wants to hear: “You will not recover.” He turns his face to the wall and prays—desperately. And God answers. Not only does He grant Hezekiah fifteen more years, but He confirms it with a sign: the shadow on the steps will go backward.
God reverses time.
It’s not a metaphor or a parable—the sun’s shadow retreats. This miracle is a declaration: God alone commands time, nature, life, and death. What governs us does not limit Him. He does not ask permission from the laws of physics or biology. He speaks—and creation obeys.
Application
God is not limited by what limits me. Time, decay, illness, even death itself—these are boundaries for us, but not for Him. What God did for Hezekiah was powerful—but it was also prophetic. It foreshadowed something far greater.
Jesus didn’t just give me fifteen more years—He gives eternal life. He didn’t simply rewind the clock—He reversed the curse. And He didn’t offer temporary peace just for one generation—He brought everlasting peace for all generations.
This moment in Isaiah is more than history—it’s a preview. The shadow moving backward whispers of the day when the stone would be rolled away. When the power of death would be undone.
It’s the universal reversal—and it’s the gospel according to Hezekiah.
When I pray, I’m trusting the One who holds the universe in His hands. The One who can still reverse what I thought was final. The One who has already reversed the grave.
Prayer
Lord, You are the God who holds galaxies in motion and still hears the prayer of one desperate heart. Thank You for Jesus, who reversed the curse and gave me life. Help me trust You with what I can’t control. You’re in charge. And that’s enough. In Jesus’ name, amen.
—Chris Kiriakos