But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about
the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and
to know everything that was in his heart.
I didn’t know the story of Dorian Gray until last week. The 2009
movie version appealed to me only because it starred Ben Barnes - the actor who
played Prince Caspian, the father of the Narnian name I gave to my son. Sadly
though, here he was a young Englishman who became too absorbed with his beauty
that he pledged his soul for a painting which kept him from aging. The
portrait reflected the rottenness of all the vanities he pursued. By the time he
realized it couldn’t make him happy, he shifted to doing good. But still, it couldn’t
save his disfigured soul. For deep in his heart, even morality is just for
vanity’s sake.
I have no idea of the looks of King Hezekiah, but he sure was
attractive to many - - all three G’s: a godly, good man with lots of gold! In this
chapter, he became even more famous because of the defeat of Assyria’s Sennacherib
and the supernatural movement of the sun on the occasion of his successful fight
against a fatal illness. The coming of the envoys from Babylon to his palace placed
an all-time high on his record. Sadly, it mirrored differently in God’s
held-portrait of him. His deceitful, proud heart was found decaying. Instead of
telling everyone the truth behind the recent miracles – that it was all God’s
doing – he spoke of his own glory. Unlike Job
who came out righteous when God left him tested, he found himself humbled, even paving the way to the
soon-Babylonian captivity.
Verse 5 says ‘He did not respond to the kindness shown him’. How many
times do we flippantly do the same? With
the blessings God is showering us daily, how come we fail to mention His name
in every ‘How are you?’ questions we face? Worse, we represent Him wrong by
carrying our faces long. That’s us distorting His beautiful image! Without God
in the picture, guess who takes the lead role in our every conversation? Ever tried counting your first-person pronoun
usage? Pride is in every ‘me’. Sounds like an enemy, right? Deuteronomy 8:14
warns us that the moment ‘our heart becomes proud, we will forget the LORD.’ That’s
what our enemy wants. He deceitfully will not draw us to sin or to him, for who
will be lured seeing the dark side? But if he can shift our focus to ourselves -
our needs, our dreams, our strengths, our issues - then, he has won in keeping
our gaze off from God.
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