Earley SimonApr 19, 2012, 1:38 AM
In the bible story of King Hezekiah, we see an answer to prayer that goes above and beyond anything we could have imagined.
King Hezekiah, who was very sick, prays to God and received healing and promises of a longer life and protection for his people. But even after receiving all these things, Hezekiah asks God for a sign. Ellen White tells us more about this in chapter 29 of Patriarchs and Prophets:
"Like Moses in the land of Midian, like Gideon in the presence of the heavenly messenger, like Elisha just before the ascension of his master, Hezekiah pleaded for some sign that the message was from heaven. "What shall be the sign," he inquired of the prophet, "that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?"
"This sign shalt thou have of the Lord," the prophet answered, "that the Lord will do the thing that He hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?" "It is a light thing," Hezekiah replied, "for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees."
Only by the direct interposition of God could the shadow on the sundial be made to turn back ten degrees; and this was to be the sign to Hezekiah that the Lord had heard his prayer. Accordingly, "the prophet cried unto the Lord: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz (Verses 8-11)."
Without a doubt, Hezekiah's story shows the amazing power of our God who can do the impossible.