Neville Goddard on Isaiah 38:5-8 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Isaiah 38 in context

Scripture Focus

5Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

6And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

7And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;

8Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

Isaiah 38:5-8

Biblical Context

The passage presents Hezekiah praying with tears, and God answering with a promise of fifteen extra years and deliverance for the city. The sign of the shadow moving backward is given as confirmation that the divine word has been spoken and is already true in consciousness.

Neville's Inner Vision

See this not as an ancient event, but as a lesson in the consciousness you inhabit. The Lord is not external separate power; He is your I AM, hearing your petition when you turn to your inner scene. The words 'I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears' translate to: your current state of awareness is listened to by the universal self, and your emotional release clears the way for new possibilities. When God promises to add years, it is the enlargement of your inner life, the extension of your capacity to be and do without fear. Deliverance of the city equates with freeing your projects from anxious limitation, defended by the shield of attentive consciousness. The sign about the shadow moving backward is a symbol of time within you responding to belief. If you entertain the end in imagination and feel it as real, your inner dial can recede, and the manifested scene will align with your inner state. The essential action is to trust the word already spoken in your own silence and to dwell there until it becomes visible.

Practice This Now

Practice: Sit quietly and declare, I AM heard; I AM granted more days. Then vividly imagine the sun dial turning ten degrees backward, and feel the relief and readiness for what you now possess.