I’ve been thinking about Hezekiah lately.
I love so much about Hezekiah’s life. Unlike many of the kings who preceded him, he served God well. He got rid of the idols. He reinstated the Passover. He reorganized the priests. He brought reform to the whole way that Judah worshiped. One person called an entire nation back to worship God. He trusted God in times of crisis. Hezekiah wasn’t half-hearted. He served God faithfully and strategically and followed the law of Moses.
One person changed the spiritual course of an entire nation. The result: real change and joy. We read in 2 Chronicles 30:26, “So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.”
For most of Hezekiah’s reign, for at least twenty years, Hezekiah served God faithfully. He stands above any other king except for David.
But then he made a tragic mistake. After God healed him from an illness, Hezekiah welcomed envoys from Babylon. 2 Kings 20:13 says, “He showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.”
The problem, according to 2 Chronicles 32:25, was that his heart was proud. He gave in to the temptation to show off. Strangely, the success of Hezekiah’s reign led to his downfall. The more faithfully we serve God, the more we may be tempted to feel proud for our obedience and its fruits. We’re never far from spiritual danger.
The more faithfully we serve God, the more we may be tempted to feel proud for our obedience and its fruits. We’re never far from spiritual danger.
The results of Hezekiah’s pride were tragic. Isaiah pronounced judgment on Jerusalem for Hezekiah’s sin. Hezekiah didn’t seem to mind. “Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?’” (2 Kings 20:19). He didn’t mind if others suffered for his sins as long as he didn’t.
How could someone serve so well and blow it so badly at the end?
“You can be an old man and suddenly develop a whole new set of sins,” observes D.A. Carson. “It is possible to be, basically, a faithful and fruitful servant of the living God in many areas and, yet, to fail miserably in some others.” Decades of obedience won’t immunize us from the possibility of catastrophic failure, especially when it comes to sins like pride.
Decades of obedience won’t immunize us from the possibility of catastrophic failure, especially when it comes to sins like pride.
I don’t want to be faithful for most of my life and then blow it in the end. It’s not enough to run most of the race well. I want to finish the race (2 Timothy 4:7). If we endure, we’ll reign with Jesus (2 Timothy 2:12). As John Piper says, “You can’t give up at the halfway mark and expect the crown of righteousness.”
How tragic to serve God faithfully almost to the end. God give us the grace to serve him not with just part of our lives, but right to the end.
