Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”
– 2 Kings 20:19
Wow, what a statement. These are the last words we hear from Hezekiah, who in so many ways in his life, even as we prayed about in light of 2 Kings 18, trusted in God and yet he hears this word from Isaiah about how the generation that comes after him, the people who come after him, his own sons, will be taken away into exile, in Babylon.
And Hezekiah responds and says, “The word that you’ve spoken is good. I’m just glad there’s going to be peace and security in my days.” Wow. He’s so focused on himself that he doesn’t grieve over the generation to come after him, or take action to warn them to repent and turn to God.
2 Kings 20:19 encourages self-examination.
Oh, this is one of those places in the Bible where God just holds up a mirror to us, to see the selfishness in our own hearts. To see Hezekiah, to be disgusted in a sense by this language, and then to think, am I guilty of the same thing? Do I look out for myself? And as long as I’m okay, then I don’t grieve over the needs of people around me, the effects of sin around me, even eternally.
I know by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus, I’m going to be with him in heaven. My eternity is secure. And yet, how often am I grieving over the people around me and people around the world who don’t know that security? How much am I living with urgency to spread the gospel to them, to call them to trust in Jesus? And my generation and in coming generations to live for the spread of the gospel, to coming generations, to all the nations?
2 Kings 20:19 propels us towards a selfless Christian life.
Oh God, we pray that you would help us to live with the Spirit of Jesus and not with the spirit of Hezekiah. God, we pray that you would forgive us for the ways we look out for ourselves over others, instead of others.
Lord, we pray for the Spirit of Jesus in us to look out for others above ourselves. God, we pray for that perspective today. Help us to live for the good of the people around us we see today. Help us to see ourselves as their servants. As servants of brothers and sisters in Christ, as servants of people without Christ.
God help us to grieve with Christ-like deep compassion for people without Jesus around us. And to work today for their good. To put aside fears or any sense of awkwardness or this or that, that would keep us from sharing the gospel with them, that alone is able to save them. Lord, we pray for boldness to share the gospel with them. That they might have peace and security, all their days, in you.
Prayer for the Tu People
God, we pray that you’d help us to do this for the nations. Lord, we pray for the Tu people of China, this Tibetan Buddhist people group, who don’t even have the gospel. God, we pray, help us to live for the spread of the gospel to them… And thousands of other people groups like them. Not to be content to coast into heaven. While billions of people have little to no knowledge of the gospel. And on a road that leads to everlasting suffering in hell.
Oh God, please save us from the spirit of Hezekiah we see here in 2 Kings 20. And help us to live with the Spirit of Jesus today. Looking out for others around us and around the world, above ourselves. We pray that thatSpirit, the Spirit of Jesus in us, would mark us, all the days of our lives.
And not just in our lives and our days, but for coming days, for coming generations. God, help us to live for the spread of the gospel to the next generation. For children and their children and their children, until you return. Help us to lay down our lives for the spread of the gospel among all nations and generations. We pray this in Jesus’ name according to 2 Kings 20. Amen.