Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20070701.htm

1 AND 2 CHRONICLES: GAINING DIRECTION OUT OF THE AIMLESSNESS OF APOSTASY
Part V: Gaining Direction From God's Work In The Rest Of Judah's Davidic Dynasty, 2 Chronicles 13-36
O. Avoiding Personal Pride When Blessed Of God
(2 Chronicles 32:24-33)
  1. Introduction
    1. When we rightly call upon God for help in times of need, He may not only relieve us, but even pour out His abundant blessings on us in the form of wealth and honor as He did for Hezekiah, 2 Chron. 32:19-23.
    2. However, we need to receive those blessing properly, to see them as God's gift unto us in humility rather than becoming proud as though we deserved or earned them, a lesson taught in 2 Chronicles 32:24-33 with 2 Kings 20:1-21 (as follows):
  2. Avoiding Personal Pride When Blessed Of God, 2 Chronicles 32:24-33.
    1. As we recall from our last lesson, when Hezekiah was pressed to call upon God when cornered by the powerful, blasphemously brazen Assyrians, God destroyed the Assyrian army and its king, and gave Hezekiah great honor and riches from the surrounding Gentile nations, 2 Chronicles 32:19-23.
    2. God knew this great blessing stood to be used to tempt Hezekiah to be proud if not checked by a trial that would impress him to remain humbly dependent on God as in the case of the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:7); thus, the Lord arranged for Hezekiah to be struck with a deadly boil that he might again call upon God for deliverance amid all his riches and honor, 2 Chronicles 32:24a with 2 Kings 20:1, 7.
    3. Hezekiah appropriately called upon the Lord for deliverance, and God delivered him from death by the boil, adding a sign of healing to assure him of this deliverance, cf. 2 Chron. 32:24b with 2 Kings 20:2-11.
    4. Yet, Hezekiah did not learn from this repeat trial his need to remain humbly dependent upon God; rather, he let his riches and honor blind him with personal pride, and that to the future harm of Judah:
      1. 2 Chronicles 32:25 sadly reports that Hezekiah failed to respond appropriately to God's goodness in healing him from the boil, causing God's wrath to come upon Judah and Jerusalem.
      2. From the companion passage of 2 Kings 20:12-19, we learn the details of this failure as follows:
        1. After they heard he had been healed from his deadly boil, the Babylonians sent gifts and letters of congratulations unto Hezekiah, 2 Kings 20:12.
        2. Yet, when Hezekiah welcomed the Babylonian ambassadors, he displayed his wealth to them as though it was his achievement, 2 Kings 20:13. In reality, it had all come as God's gift following His deliverance of Hezekiah from the Assyrians (2 Chron. 32:22-23) [and the boil (2 Kings 20:12)].
        3. God sent His prophet, Isaiah unto Hezekiah to critique him for proudly displaying all his wealth to the Babylonians, 2 Kings 20:14-16 with 2 Chronicles 32:25b. He further predicted Hezekiah's riches and those of his forefathers would be carried off into Babylon, and that his own sons would become servants to Babylon's king opposite his current fame with other nations, 2 Kings 20:17-18.
        4. Hezekiah and Judah repented so that God's wrath did not come in his days, 2 Chronicles 32:26.
        5. However, Hezekiah was selfishly content to know this judgment would come on future generations of his seed and the people of Judah, not in his era, 2 Kings 20:19
    5. Accordingly, the author of 2 Chronicles continued to emphasize the tremendous wealth and material achievements of Hezekiah in his latter days, 2 Chronicles 32:27-30.
    6. Nevertheless, the 2 Chronicles author noted the blemish on Hezekiah's otherwise relatively good record, that of his pride before the Babylonian ambassadors; this event revealed the Lord had allowed these ambassadors to come as a test of all what was in Hezekiah's heart, cf. 2 Chronicles 32:31.
Lesson: Hezekiah failed to FOCUS on his NEED to STAY RELIANT upon the Lord after God had blessed him with great wealth and honor for his obedience. Accordingly, an otherwise grand record was blemished by the subtle but great sin of personal pride.

Application: (1) If we face great, repeat trials like Hezekiah did first with the threat from Assyria and then from his lethal boil, and we call on God for deliverance so that He graciously delivers us, HE wants us to CONTINUE to VIEW ourselves as NEEDY before HIM that we NOT become self-sufficient and proud. (2) If God grants us wealth or fame, may we ALWAYS recall these are GIFTS from God, NOT what we DESERVE by OUR abilities or merit; that will keep us HUMBLE before the Lord!