What Are You Crying About?

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.” [Isaiah 39.8]

People say some pretty mindless things. Such was the case with Hezekiah.

The message Hezekiah called "good" was this:

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: ‘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.’” [Isaiah 39.5-7]

Who would ever call such a thing good? The answer is very simple: a person thinking only of himself.

Hezekiah had no concern whatsoever that Judah would be impoverished and that his own sons would be castrated to serve as eunuchs to the king of Babylon. All he was concerned about was that he would not experience the disaster Isaiah spoke of and, in his short-sighted self-centered state of mind, he called it good.

Hezekiah's mindless response sheds light on the event leading up to it:

About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’” When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, “Remember, O LORD, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly. [Isaiah 38.1-3]

Granted, the message Isaiah brought to Hezekiah would be a tough one to receive. Let' look at that message and break it down so we might understand what it included. Is there something there that we are overlooking?

1) God instructed Hezekiah to set his affairs in order because, 2) he was going to die.

We should understand is that the first thing Hezekiah did was address the second thing he was told. Hezekiah immediately justified himself crying out to live and not die. We have no record of Hezekiah setting his affairs in order - we have no record that Hezekiah repented of anything. While tears always indicate emotion, they do not necessarily indicate repentance.

As much as we can implicate Hezekiah here on his selfishness, can we not see that we do exactly the same thing? The first thing we do at the onset of any difficulty is seek remedy for ourselves. It's not that this is a bad thing, but that it ignores the design of bad things (curses) to call us first to repentance - to set our affairs in order.

Think about this: Let's say it becomes obvious that you are going to die of cancer or whatever... Are you going to cry about it? If so, are you crying because of the sin that brings curses upon mankind (yourself included), or are you crying because you just want to live?

Religion, medicine, and society in general have all done a huge injustice to mankind in making life more important than repentance.

What are you crying about?

Father, I see that "me" living is not nearly as good as repentance. May my life and testimony before any and all watching be a testimony of repentance first... So be it.