January 16, 2022
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Reading along with us in 2 Kings? Here’s today’s reading:
2 Kings 20 (NIV)
Hezekiah’s Illness
1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3“Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly..............Continue Reading
Meditating on the part where God added 15 years to Hezekiah’s life. It made me think how some of God’s plans can be influenced by prayers. My application is keep praying.
2 Kings 20
What an interesting interaction between Hezekiah and God that is found here. What an extension of Hezekiah’s relationship with God that we see based in the obedience and faithfulness that he operated in. How gracious it even is for God to let him know he is going to die and he should put his house in order. Then we see Hezekiah breaking down before God that gives a window into their relationship and how even more gracious God is to heal him and give him 15 more years of life. And as if God hasn’t done enough, when Hezekiah asks for affirmation that he will be healed, God gives him 2 options that are no small thing of resetting time (or at least resetting the shadow in Hezekiah’s world.
It is just unfortunate that it doesn’t lead to good things. Hezekiah struggled with pride, which is a temptation for anyone who has earthly success. He has amassed a fortune due to the blessing of God in his life. And so when envoys from Babylon come, he can’t help but show them all the things he has and what he has accomplished. It is so important for us to remain humble in the context of God’s blessing and continue to seek His counsel for our lives…especially when you have a prophet of God available to you. All that Hezekiah shows them just becomes a reason form them to invade later. That will come because of the disobedience of Judah, but this interaction plays into Babylon’s motivation to invade Judah. And yet the saddest part is the pride and disconnect that Hezekiah expresses when he says….boy I have heard a good thing because these problems won’t come in my day. That is not the uncaring and disconnected people that God is calling us to be.
I love that God hears Hezekiah’s prayer and extends his life by 15 years, however, it is disappointing to see that this amazing thing is not what he wants to boast about when the Babylonians come to see his palace. He rather spend time bragging about his “stuff” and ultimately showing the future plunderers around the plunder.
The interaction between God and Hezekiah once again, dispels the notion that man does not have free will and also that God does not change His mind.
I assume that if God deemed Hezekiah “totally depraved” that He would have struck him dead then and there by saying that he had walked before the Lord in truth and loyalty and done what was good in God’s sight. God stops Isaiah and tells him to go back and tell Hezekiah that he will live 15 more years. God also gives Hezekiah the sign of the shadow as assurance.
I am thankful that we have been made right through Christ’s sacrifice and that we have been given the Holy Spirit and through Him we are able to walk in the Spirit and not by the flesh. From reading Kings, it does appear that there were men that were capable, to a limited extent of course, to walk in faithfulness to the Lord.