2 Chronicles 32:27-33: a reflection

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.

King Hezekiah, who had been so faithful, is now blessed with enormous wealth and honor, treasuries full of silver and gold and precious things, storehouses of grain and wine, abundant flocks and herds. God had prospered him greatly. But the passage records a curious and important episode: when envoys came from Babylon, God, the text says, left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart. God withdrew for a moment to reveal what Hezekiah's prosperity had done to him.

This is a striking window into how God works. Prosperity is a test as much as adversity is. When everything is going well, when we are blessed and honored and comfortable, our hearts are exposed just as surely as in hardship, sometimes more so. God, in his wisdom, sometimes steps back and lets us act on our own, not because he has abandoned us, but to show us, and to reveal, what is really in our hearts. Hezekiah's response to the Babylonian envoys, told more fully elsewhere, revealed a pride that his success had fostered.

There is a searching lesson here for seasons of blessing. Prosperity tests the heart, and it can expose pride, self-reliance, and complacency that hardship might never reveal. When life is going well and you feel secure and blessed, be especially watchful over your heart, for that is often when it is most exposed. Ask God to show you what your comfort has done in you, and do not assume that a season of blessing is a season of safety. The heart is tested as truly by prosperity as by pain.

Lord, when Hezekiah was rich and honored, you stepped back to test him and reveal what was in his heart. Teach me that prosperity tests the heart as truly as hardship does. When life is going well and I feel secure and blessed, keep me watchful over my heart, guarding against the pride and complacency that comfort can breed. Show me what my blessings have done in me, and keep my heart humble before you. Amen.