The Dead Cannot Praise God

Isaiah 38
18 For the dead cannot praise you;
they cannot raise their voices in praise.
Those who go down to the grave
can no longer hope in your faithfulness.
19 Only the living can praise you as I do today.
Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.

I know that the context of these verses deal with King Hezekiah’s illness and subsequent healing from God, but as I read these two verses, it occurs to me that only the living can praise God. The spiritually dead cannot praise God. It just isn’t possible. How many people in the seats on Sunday mornings are simply going through the motions because they are spiritually dead? More than we care to admit. As a lead worshipper, I pray that God will help me lead people from death to Life so that they can indeed praise God!