God Saves Us From Ourselves

“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” (2Ki 20:1 AV)

God knows how to save us from ourselves.  Before Hezekiah ever knew that he was sick, the LORD knew his ego would get the better of him.  Before Isaiah warned Hezekiah to put his house in order, the LORD knew the king would court the enemy.  God knows our future.  What seems like a bad thing might just be the hand of the LORD protecting us from ourselves.  We know the story.  Hezekiah was diagnosed with a terminal disease.  He was given the grace to know ahead of time.  He was without a male child to sit on the throne, so, some conjecture Hezekiah’s request for more time had something to do with fathering an heir to the throne.  His son was born three years later.  This son would be the one who would condemn Judah to Babylonian captivity.  God knew all this.  Perhaps that is why the LORD wanted to take Hezekiah when he did.

More times than not, we will never know why the LORD did what He did.  I for one, am grateful.  The worst enemy we have is ourselves.  The LORD knows what we are capable of and will always have that as a consideration.  We often see undesirable consequences as a bad thing.  But it could be that the LORD is rescuing us from ourselves.  My father was good at this.  He knew the nature of children.  He kept us busy with chores, paper routes, high school age employment, and adult responsibilities.  He knew that leaving teenage children to themselves we a bad thing.  We may not have appreciated it at the time, but I can tell you that it kept us from a world of trouble.  It wasn’t always successful.  There were times when I get into a few fixes with my good friends.  But the lack of time and opportunity kept it from getting worse.

Hezekiah prayed for the wrong thing.  Instead of more time, he should have prayed for an heir.  His son would have grown up without a father, but he would have been told of a father who brought revival to Judah.  He would have never known a father with an ego who courted the heathen.  Who knows where Judah might have been had Hezekiah trusted the LORD.