It’s possible that God might give us what we crave, but to our own peril. Since our hearts are desperately wicked, on our best day (Jer. 17:9), we must be careful with what we want. God has promised to grant the desires of the heart to those who delight in him, but even still, our hearts remain flawed. That’s why it’s vital that we saturate our supplication from beginning to end with this plea, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.” Perhaps we should learn to pray as Francis Asbury, “My God, keep me through the water and fire, and let me rather die than live to sin against thee!”
Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 20:1-6
About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.” When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly. But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord: “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”
Can we negotiate with God? If you are in a surrendered relationship with him, he does sometimes afford you the space to ask him for something different than what he has stated. Case in point: Hezekiah’s terminal illness. This godly king contracted a horrible boil when he was thirty-nine-years old and still in the prime of his life. The prophet Isaiah came to him with a direct message from the Lord that he would not recover. He needed to get his affairs in order and prepare to die.
But Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and began to cry out to God. He reasoned with the Lord that he had been a faithful king, that he had done much good for Judah, and that God should therefore spare his life. And amazingly, the king prevailed with God, who then granted him fifteen more years of life. Hezekiah stayed the hand of God. Now we don’t know for sure if this was just a test of faith for the king, that is, if God was waiting to see if he would appeal the Lord’s generosity by asking this huge request, or if his passionate supplication in this moment literally moved God’s heart in that moment. Did Hezekiah negotiate with God and get a better deal? Well, it kind of looks like it, doesn’t it?
Why was the Lord going to allow the king to die at such a young age? Perhaps God knew that at thirty-nine, Hezekiah was at the zenith of his godly career, and that serious pitfalls would exist for the king down the road if he lived any longer. The Lord, who lives outside of time, saw around the bend to a time where Hezekiah would become prideful in his accomplishments, and disobedient in his walk with the Lord, and make decisions that would hurt the nation in the long run. Maybe for those reasons, God’s plan was to allow Hezekiah to die early rather than live to fifty-four, the age at which he ultimately passed away. It could be that in God’s sovereignty, he was going to spare Hezekiah the pain of not finishing well.
2 Chronicles 32 preserves additional information about Hezekiah’s reign for us, and it proves the point. You see, that is exactly what happened in those extra fifteen years. The king became prideful in his accomplishments, careless in his stewardship of the temple and palace treasures, and a bit unconcerned with what would happen to the nation after he died. Consider the narrative from 2 Chronicles 32:25-26, after the Lord had graciously extended his life:
But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown to him; therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
One of the things that Hezekiah’s pride led him to do was show the Babylonian governmental entourage all the treasures of the temple and the palace—something that made a lasting impression on an empire that would soon raze Jerusalem and carry off those very treasures. We are told that God actually exposed Hezekiah to a test to see if he would brag to these enemy representatives about how great he had become. (2 Chronicles 32:31) When Isaiah rebuked the king for exposing this information to the Babylonians, he seemed to take a “whatever” stance toward the coming judgment that God would bring upon Judah through the Babylonians after Hezekiah had died:
“The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” for Hezekiah thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime.”
Yes, it is possible that God might give us what we crave, but to our own peril. Since our hearts are deceitfully wicked, on our best day (Jeremiah 17:9), we must therefore be very careful with our wishes. God has promised to grant the desires of the heart to those who delight in him, but even still, our hearts remain flawed. That is why it is incredibly important that we begin, end, and saturate throughout our supplication this prayer, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.”
Yes, we must be sober-minded about all that we desire, for God may just give us what we request!
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