There are some moments you wouldn’t want to miss……..and are so grateful when you haven’t. Like a stunning sunset captured at just the right moment, the beauty takes your breath away. You take it in for all it’s worth.
There are also those moments that we let slip through our fingers. We fail to see the moment for what it is- opportunity. There is always a choice involved when there is an opportunity. Sometimes we make the most of our opportunities and sometimes we don’t.
King Hezekiah was a man that usually made wise decisions. He reigned over Judah as a man of faith, seeking to honor the Lord and lead his kingdom to live by God’s covenant. Throughout his reign, God blessed him, including in wealth and honor (2 Chronicles 32:22-23).
The funny thing about the blessings God gives us is that they can become more valued and enjoyed than God Himself. All it takes is the test of time to see if this is what happens. There is that moment, that opportunity, that reveals where our value has been placed. King Hezekiah had such a moment, where he failed to see the opportunity for what it was, because he had lost sight of what mattered most.
After King Hezekiah had triumphed over the threat of the Assyrian army on his doorstep, he became ill. God sent the prophet Isaiah to instruct Hezekiah to get his house in order because he was indeed going to die. 2 Kings 20:1-19 tells the story of how Hezekiah cried out to the Lord for mercy and God granted him 15 more years of life. God not only healed him, but He also gave him a miraculous sign to confirm what He was going to do.
The experience of the two miracles, being healed and seeing the shadow go back up the 10 steps it had just gone down, caused quite a stir in the kingdom. The news traveled as far as Babylon, where the king and his family heard of it and sent an envoy with gifts.
It says in verse 13 that Hezekiah gladly received the messengers, but what would you expect to happen next? What should be the topic of the visit? Would you not consider the point of the visit to be the telling of the story, how he was on the verge of death yet when he asked God for more time, he received his health back along with a miraculous sign to verify it?
This was Hezekiah’s moment…….and he missed it. Instead of rejoicing in the miraculous occasion, and the God who granted him mercy, King Hezekiah showed the envoy his storehouses, his armory, and his treasure. It says that there was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that he did not show them.
He chose to show them his “stuff”.
Why? Because evidently, that is what he had begun to value the most. When given the opportunity, that moment in time where there was a choice, he chose foolishly what to boast about. It was not his miraculous healing or sign, nor was it the loving God who gave him more time, but rather his stuff that held his esteem.
The gifts had become more precious than the Giver.
It is an age-old temptation. We want God’s blessings, but then we end up becoming captivated by them at the expense of our relationship with Him.
Instead of Hezekiah seizing the perfect moment in time to glorify the Lord and spread His renown to a pagan people, he stole the glory for himself. He had failed to make the most of his opportunity.
Some moments cannot ever be recaptured. Like picturesque sunsets, they are unique and one of a kind. When we lose sight of our greatest possession, our personal and merciful God, then we miss out on far more than what’s in storehouses and treasuries.
What about us? What do we speak or boast about? Are we seizing the moments to spread His fame to those around us? Are we testifying of His goodness to us on a regular basis? Is His name ever on our lips?
Time will tell what we value the most……
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