Isaiah 39:2: “And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.”

September 2nd, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Lord had warned Hezekiah not to trust in human help, but to rely on God alone; but it seems that after Hezekiah was healed, his heart changed. In fact, 2 Chronicle 32:24–25 tells us that he allowed pride to take hold of him and he became boastful of the great blessings in his life. That pride led him to show the Babylonians all the treasures of Israel; and when they later invaded, they knew exactly where to go.

The lesson for us is that we must be very careful, if we have something great happen to us, to guard our hearts from pride. How strange that when Hezekiah was threatened by the Assyrian army, he went straight to God and prayed. But when the Babylonians came, complimenting him and giving gifts, he became an easy target to take down.

There is an old story of a lawyer who successfully handled a difficult law case for a wealthy friend. Following the good outcome of the case, the friend and client came to the lawyer, expressed his appreciation of his work and handed him a handsome Moroccan leather wallet. The lawyer looked at the wallet in astonishment and handed it back with a sharp reminder that a wallet could not possibly compensate him for his services. “My fee for that work,” acidly snapped the attorney, “is five hundred dollars.” The client opened the wallet, removed five thousand dollars from the wallet, replaced it with five one hundred dollar bills and handed it back to the lawyer with a smile…

“LORD, we recognize that anything good in our life is a gift from You. Help us to be careful to keep our eyes on You this day.”