2 Kings 18:5-6 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.… Matthew Arnold's description of God used to be "A power not ourselves which makes for righteousness." We need not have so vague a thought of God as that, but God is a Power, not ourselves, making for righteousness; and he who heartily thrusts himself into the sweep of this current will be surely borne on by it, as a river bears a ship, into the success of righteousness. I. HEZEKIAH AVAILED HIMSELF OF THE FORCE OF THE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS WORKING IN THE WORLD, AND SO STRUCK THE SECRET OF A SUCCESSFUL LIFE, BY A DISTINCT CHOICE OF GOD. "But he clave unto the Lord." And he did it notwithstanding all sorts of oppositions. His father, Ahaz, was one of the worst kings who ever sat upon the throne of Judah. Hezekiah's heredity was against him. Oriental and degrading idolatry was the atmosphere enwrapping his earlier years. His father's court was abominably corrupt. But "he clave unto the Lord." The first step in a genuinely successful life is Hezekiah's step — a distinct, self-surrendering, irreversible choice of God in the face of whatever oppositions. II. Hezekiah CARRIED OUT HIS DECISION. Having decided to cleave to the Lord, he kept cleaving to Him by constant action according to his decision (2 Chronicles 29., 30.). Having come to the throne, he immediately begins to rule in the fashion a man cleaving to the Lord should. In every way he ranged his influence on the Lord's side. There was no waiting in Hezekiah; no putting off to a more politic or convenient season. What action his decision for God called for, that action got quickly begun. III. Hezekiah maintained UNWAVERING TRUST IN THE LORD TO WHOM HE CLAVE. Read the account of Hezekiah's trust in the crisis of the Sennacherib invasion (Isaiah 36., 37.). And the Lord to whom he clave honoured his trust. To be. sure Hezekiah made some slips. But it is no wonder the Lord to whom he clave brought him to such shiningly successful end as this. (W. Hoyt, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. |
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