Joy in Moderation

“And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.” (Isa 39:2 AV)

One has to be careful that in moderation, blessings are enjoyed.  I used to see this as Hezekiah being prideful, laying claim to the success that brought all his wealth.  However, it might simply be a case of his joy getting the better of him.  It could be that he was so blessed by the additional years and an heir to the throne that his allowed his guard to slip.  Perhaps the LORD had blessed him to the point that he couldn’t see a potential threat that he otherwise would have seen.  When Babylon came, the came to spy out the land on the pretext of a state visit.  They brought gifts to Hezekiah because they heard he had been cured of a terminal illness.  It was a hospital call.  But it was one that had an ulterior motive.  They were looking to see if Jerusalem was worth going to war over.  Hezekiah, because he was so beside himself with joy, didn’t see the potential, and eventual, threat.

Children are not the only ones prone to allowing their excitement to get the better of them.  Remember those Christmas morning when a young child is so excited at the gift he wanted the most, wisdom when right out the door?  Perhaps he is jumping up and down celebrating that new toy and doesn’t notice is he going for a tumble over all the wrappings and packages on the floor.  Or, as Ralphie experienced, he took his new Red Rider BB gun into the back yard and fired a shot that knocked his glasses from his face.  We can be so overjoyed at the forgiveness of our worst of sins that we neglect to watch for others that are right around the corner.

In our pure elation, we can become very foolish.  Or, when a trial of faith has had its perfect work, we can let our guard down and fail in a completely different area because we are so relieved at the work of the Lord’s hand.  We can finally breathe a little better, but we forget that there are other situations that need diligent attention.  There is a caution for those who come into a great windfall.  It may answer a lot of challenges in the present, but with that blessing comes additional consequences that we had better consider.  Let us rejoice evermore.  The Bible instructs us to.  But let us also consider that life still goes on and there is still potential trouble right around the corner.