King Hezekiah was a man after God’s heart. He ascended the throne at 25 and reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah for 29 years from 715-686 BC. He ‘did that which was right in the sight of the Lord’ and ‘clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments’ (2 Ki 18:3 , 6 ). He brought spiritual revival and reformation in his kingdom and removed all forms of idolatrous worship. Never was there a greater Passover celebration since the days of King Solomon. It was an effective plenary reform that he executed whole-heartedly to turn the people back to the living God. The Lord was pleased and prospered him (2 Chron 32: 21 ).
However, it is interesting to note that despite his close work with God, Hezekiah was not spared from tribulations culminating in two severe trials in his life.
The first trial occurred in the 14th year of his reign when the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, entered Judah, captured the frontier towns and garrisons and threatened to capture Jerusalem. Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel. He assured the citizens: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles’(2 Chron 32:7 , 8 ). He did all he could to strengthen the defence of the city.
Diplomatic negotiations did not work. Sennacherib refused to withdraw from Jerusalem. Hezekiah was terribly upset when the God Whom he adored was blasphemed by the Assyrian king as being weak and impotent (2 Ki 18:35 ). He reposed great faith in God. His hope was in God and he prayed with a child-like faith for deliverance, with reverence and humility, with broken and deep contrition of heart. In his prayer, he acknowledged the self-existent, sovereign and omnipotent living God. He beseeched God for deliverance only because he coveted the glory of the Lord Himself: ‘Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only’ ( 2Ki 19:19 ).
For his noble and pure motive for God’s glory to be vindicated, the Lord was pleased and answered Hezekiah’s prayer and had the 185,000 Assyrian soldiers surrounding Jerusalem completely annihilated.
Soon after the defeat of Sennacherib, Hezekiah was faced with another trial. He was diagnosed to have a fatal illness at the age of 39 years. There was much he wanted to accomplish for his God and he lamented over the inability to do so because of the prognosis of his illness. Devastated and filled with great bitterness (Is 38:17 ) he turned to the Lord and prayed: ‘I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight’ ( 2Ki 20: 3 ).
It was clear that Hezekiah’s life mission was to serve God and to glorify Him, and nothing else. We may note that he did not ask God to spare his life, but only to remember him for his service for the Lord. The Lord was pleased with such a prayer and doubly rewarded Hezekiah with a complete recovery and protraction of his life for another 15 years. Moreover, the Lord promised that Jerusalem would not fall to the Assyrians.
Indeed, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all’ (Ps 34: 19 ). So, from Hezekiah’s account may we glean precious spiritual lessons. Despite his close walk with the Lord and serving Him with a single eye and an honest heart, Hezekiah was not exempted from severe trails and tribulations. To this we can only acknowledge that God had a higher purpose ( Rm 8:28 ) that our Lord desired to test the faith of Hezekiah and his people. Yes, outwardly there was great spiritual revival, but the people could have reluctantly parted with the idols and might have kept them in their hearts. The time of testing would produce a remnant of spiritually strong believers in Jerusalem. In the case of Hezekiah, the Lord rebuked him and told him to search his heart: ‘set thine house in order’ (2 Ki 20:2 ) when he was sick unto death. Hezekiah’s heart must be set right by renewed acts of repentance and faith and resignation to God. Our God sees the reins and hearts and He deals with us accordingly.
In the account, we read that Hezekiah had sinned against God and ‘rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him: for his heart was lifted up’ after his victory over the Assyrians, followed by the miraculous healing of his illness and the sign of the going back of the shadow upon the sundial in the sight of all nations (2 Chron 32:25 ). In all these, he did not glorify God. He magnified himself. On yet another occasion, when rebuked by the prophet Isaiah for his folly of boasting and exhibiting all the treasures in Jerusalem to the Babylonian envoys, Hezekiah refused to acknowledge his misdeed and sin. His heart was full of pride. It was only when Hezekiah subsequently realised his sin and humbled himself together with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that the wrath of God stayed upon the city for the remaining days of his reign (2 Chron 32:26 ).
To strive with our utmost to serve the Lord holds out no exemption from severe testings. Yes, it truly pleases God when we render our best in all avenues of service to Him but ultimately, it is our heart condition that speaks volumes to God. All born-again believers, like Hezekiah, have like passion. We have to struggle daily against sins and temptations. None of us can stand righteous before our thrice holy God. All our righteousness are as filthy rags. As Pastor James Smith opined: ‘Our follies call for strokes and our sins for rebukes’. A true saint will need to be tried. Only by this fiery trial will God save us from deception, self-righteousness and every false way. Only then will the tried saint be sanctified and brought back into fellowship with God.
So when adverse circumstances arise, may we look up to the Lord: ‘Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus’ (Ph 4:6 , 7 ). Moreover, we have the confidence in Him, ‘that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us’ and ‘we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him’ (1 Jn 5:14 ). Amen.