My Lifetime

Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the LORD: The time is coming when everything in your palace —all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now —will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.” Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the LORD is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.” 2 Kings 20:16-19

WHEN HEZEKIAH BECAME deathly ill and cried out to the Lord in tears, God graciously extended his life by fifteen years. But then Hezekiah’s pride got the best of him. Wanting to show off, he took some visitors from Babylon on a tour of his royal treasuries. God then sent the prophet Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that one day his sons and daughters would experience the consequences of his prideful parade of the kingdom’s riches. Babylon would come and clean them out. Not only would they take all of its monetary treasure to Babylon, they would carry away the very best of Jerusalem’s sons and daughters and make them servants in Babylon.

We might expect that Hezekiah would respond with heartache, pleading with the Lord to turn back this future judgment. But he didn’t. He was just glad this reckoning wasn’t going to happen during his lifetime. Where Hezekiah had sought Yahweh’s mercy in the matter of his own life, he now selfishly cared nothing about the welfare of the generations to come.

Like every other king, even this seemingly good king had a dark side. Clearly, the sons and daughters of God needed a better King. And that is what we’ve been given in Jesus. Instead of being concerned about his own comfort, Jesus laid down his life so that future generations could live.

Lord, as much as I want to think of myself as a good parent, I know that my own selfish interests often get in the way. Sometimes I don’t think about how my children and grandchildren will experience the consequences of my pride, my prayerlessness, and my pretending. I thank you for being a better parent to ________ than I will ever be. You love perfectly and purely.