Hezekiah "became ill and was at the point of death." After crying out to God for mercy, Isaiah told him:
"I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city." Isaiah 38:5
Hezekiah did indeed recover from his grave illness and afterwards wrote a hymn of thanksgiving and praise to God for healing him. He knew his healing was a demonstration of God's power, love and mercy and he was quick to acknowledge that in worship. It all could have ended happily-ever-after.
But it didn't. Hezekiah soon received letters and a gift from the the king of Babylon because he heard he had been sick and had recovered. When the envoys from Babylon came to deliver these things to him, Hezekiah gladly received them.
Pause here. What an amazing opportunity Hezekiah had to bring glory to God through the testimony of his healing!
But he didn't. Instead, he tried to impress the Babylonian envoys by showing them everything that was in his storehouses - silver, gold, spices, oil, armory and everything found among his treasures.
"There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them." Isaiah 39:2
Not a wise move. Instead of glorifying God, he glorified himself. Instead of boasting in what God had done, he boasted in his riches. Instead of making much of God, he sought to make much of his own kingdom. His desire to proudly impress men greatly trumped his desire to humbly exalt God. And he had no idea the consequences that would come from his actions.
Isaiah rebuked him, saying
"The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried of to Babylon. Nothing will be left says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Isaiah 39:5-7
You would think Hezekiah would be repentant and sorrowful after this prophecy from Isaiah. But instead he answers with self-centered relief that at least there would be peace in his lifetime.
Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled just over a hundred years later as Babylon conquered Judah, carrying away the riches of the kingdom and sending the Israelites into exile, a long period of great struggle.
So may we learn from Hezekiah and may we glorify God and not ourselves, may we boast in what He has done and not in our riches, may we make much of Him and not our own kingdoms and may our desire to humbly exalt God in everything we do greatly trump our desire to proudly impress men.
"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10
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