39 Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift. He had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick and that he had recovered. ² Hezekiah was delighted with the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

³ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”

⁴ “What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah.

“They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries.”

⁵ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: ⁶ ‘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. ⁷ ‘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.’”

⁸ 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

Dear God, I wish I could say verse 8 would never pertain to me, but that would be a lie. We love to look at Hezekiah here (a good king who loved you, worshipped you, and sought your leadership) and say what a selfish fool he was. How dare he shrug his shoulders at the fate of his ancestors because of his current foolishness? But on big, societal issues and seemingly small, personal issues, we do this all the time.

Big, societal issues: The environment. National debt. The casual killing of people through war.

Seemingly small, personal issues: The person who leaves their family to start a new life. The person who makes foolish decisions for their business for their personal gain today but leaves nothing for future employees to continue employment.

While I try to be wise in my personal life, I think I can be really guilty on those big things.

• The environment: I’ll travel when and where I want and use all the electricity I need to make myself comfortable. I’ll use it wastefully. Even now, I’m sitting here in a room that has four lightbulbs burning when I only really need one and a ceiling fan that is running when the temperature in the room is probably in the 60s. I’ll run water just to get it good and hot for when I shave, pouring gallons and gallons down the drain. I’ll take long showers.
• National debt: I don’t lobby for higher taxes and less government services that will hurt me in order to bring down the debt. I don’t want to reduce our military strength at the expense of reducing the debt. And yet, as a 56-year-old, I deeply question whether there will be social security for me, even when I turn 70. Today is comfy, but am I sacrificing tomorrow?

And I suppose I should look at my personal life and wonder if I am setting things up enough so that, if I should die before my wife, will she have what she needs for the rest of her life?

Father, I know you tell me to consider the lillies of the field and that I should not worry. And, for the most part I don’t. But maybe I’m too casual and selfish in my not worrying. Maybe I’m mortgaging my future through foolishness today because of thoughtless selfishness. At a minimum, give me compassion for the Hezekiahs of the world instead of judgment. And a maximum, help me to be a man willing to deny himself and his own ego because I love others so much that I’m willing to sacrifice for them at my own expense.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen