19”The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”
King Hezekiah is very shortsighted and selfish. He is willing to trade peace for his children and nation for his current comfort. He really doesn’t care about his actions. All he wants is what is best for him right now. That fact that his descendents will be carted off to a foreign country and forced to serve as slaves doesn’t bother him. He just wants peace and security for himself. Up to this point in his life Hezekiah has done what is right. This illness seems to have changed him. Now, all he seems to care about is himself. His life has been spent cleaning out the whole land of idolatry. He destroyed the pagan altars and restored true worship. And yet in his dying moments he trades his own life for the future of his nation. He is willing to give up their future, if only he can live. He gets fifteen years of further life, and in those fifteen years he loses everything he gained in the previous years. What tradeoffs are we making in life? Are we trading our children’s future in order to avoid present pain? I think our current political struggles over the budget are just such a trade. We are willing to put our children’s children in a financial situation that will leave them in ruin, just so we don’t have to give up some of our current comfort.
The Arnold Journey 