Context No. 4308 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 32:27-33: in context

27Hezekiah had exceedingly great riches and honor. He provided himself with treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of valuable vessels; 28also storehouses for the increase of grain, new wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of animals, and flocks in folds. 29Moreover he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him abundant possessions. 30This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of David’s city. Hezekiah prospered in all his works. 31However, concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart. 32Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 33Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent to the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah, a good king, comes into great wealth and honor: treasuries of silver and gold, storehouses, herds, and abundant possessions, for God had given him much. But the passage adds a revealing note. When envoys came from Babylon, God left Hezekiah to himself, to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart. His prosperity and the attention it drew became a test that revealed what was really within him.

What stands out is that God used Hezekiah's success and prosperity as a test of his heart. It is easy to assume that blessing and abundance are simply rewards to enjoy, but here God allows a moment that reveals what prosperity has done to Hezekiah's heart, whether it has bred pride and self-sufficiency, or kept him humble and dependent. Prosperity, it turns out, is a test as searching as adversity.

We often think of trials as coming through hardship, but prosperity tests the heart just as truly, perhaps more subtly. Wealth, honor, and success can quietly breed pride, self-reliance, and forgetfulness of God, or they can be held with humble gratitude and dependence. What we do with our blessings reveals what is in our hearts. When God prospers us, it is not only a gift to enjoy but a test of whether our hearts stay humble and dependent on him.

Do I recognize that my successes and blessings are not only gifts to enjoy but tests that reveal what is in my heart, as God tested Hezekiah through his prosperity, and do I hold my blessings with humble dependence on God rather than letting them breed pride and self-reliance?

Sources

2 Chronicles 32:31: "God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart."
2 Chronicles 32:27: "Hezekiah had exceedingly great riches and honor."
Deuteronomy 8:2: "That he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart."