Time To Come Back To Earth

“At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all 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.” (2Ki 20:12-13 AV)

Hezekiah had just been healed from a near fatal boil.  The LORD told Hezekiah he would not recover and he need get his house in order.  After an intense prayer for his life, the LORD changed His mind and granted Hezekiah fifteen more years.  Then we read of the above event.  The princes of Babylon used Hezekiah’s illness as a pretext to spy out the land for a future invasion.  Hezekiah, in his pride and elation from the healing, could not discern the purpose for this visit.  He truly believed is was for the purpose of professional courtesy in sharing well wishes from another head of state.  This led to an unwise decision that eventually led to the downfall of a kingdom.

In life, we have extreme experiences.  We refer to these experiences as mountain top or valley experiences.  These times are times of great testing.  Times of chastening or times of great faith.  What comes as a result is extreme emotional reactions to these experiences.  We feel great anxiety.  Or in Hezekiah’s situation, great joy and relief.  The problem with these emotional responses to dramatic experiences is that the pendulum has to come back to normal somehow.  Why are heart is in a state of wide swings, we can also fall to the temptation of making decisions that are more emotional then they are rational.  No doubt, Hezekiah was on cloud nine after getting his life back.  It never occurred to him to be skeptical of the intentions of the Babylonians.  Perhaps he felt this was and extension of a good thing.  Another blessing as a result of God’s favor.

Emotion is given by God as a way to experience life to the fullest.  But emotion must be disciplined.  It is wonderful to experience emotion.  We are even commanded to exercise emotion under certain circumstances and with certain boundaries.  But our lesson this morning is to always be aware of our emotional state and allow the Spirit to guide us by the rational.  Not by the emotional.  BE aware that extreme exercise of emotion will seek to balance itself out and when it does, rational thought and process is often the cost.  So, go ahead and celebrate.  But don’t let that celebration rob you of wisdom.  Go ahead and mourn.  We are told to do so.  But do not let despondence steal away prudence.