Isaiah 39:1-2 – Trust God, the giver and not the gift

Isaiah 39 leaves us with the lesson that our lives are ever before the watchful eye of God who wants us to place our complete trust in Him. Our confidence must always be in Him alone and not in ourselves, not in the riches He has granted us to possess, nor in our worldly standing. Bear in mind that if we do not guard our walk with God, we can be susceptible to the temptation to trust what we have been blessed with rather than in God, the Giver. The blessings God gave us are the greatest test to see if we would remain faithful to Him.

The backdrop to Isaiah 38-39 can be found in Second Chronicles 32. In verses 27-30 we read “Now Hezekiah had immense riches and honor; and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles, also storehouses for the produce of grain, wine, and oil; stalls for all kinds of cattle, and sheepfolds for the flocks. He made cities for himself and acquired flocks and herds in abundance because God had given him very great wealth.  It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah was successful in everything that he did.”

Isaiah 39:1 then introduced Merodach-balagan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon. When he heard of Hezekiah’s recovery from his near-death illness, he seized the opportunity and initiated contact with him. As an instigator against Assyria, his motive was clear. His meeting with the recovered Hezekiah was to canvass for support to rebel against Assyria. However, there is another side to the whole account. God was using the incident to assess the king to see if he would remain faithful to Him. So we read in 2 Chronicles 32:31, “Even in the matter of the messengers of the rulers of Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land; God left him alone only to test him, so that He might know everything that was in his heart.”

Isaiah 39:2 indicates that Hezekiah had failed the test. Pride took the better of him. Boastfully he showed all that he had amassed to Merodach-baladan. He held nothing back but allowed the ambassador from Babylon to see all the wealth and military hardware he had acquired. He had forgotten how little the weaponry he had acquired was able to assure him against the threat of Assyria. Sadly, this shows us how the godly Hezekiah had faltered. He fell into this temptation of trusting in what he possessed than in God. Let this be a lesson for us. We must trust God in hard times, but always remain faithfully trusting when the tide has turned for the better. Man tends to forget God in times of blessings and plenty. So beware!