Isaiah Chapter 39 – There is More Hope for a Fool

This short chapter puts forward a single clear teaching :

The more we incline our eyes and ears to the alluring pleasures of this fading world, the less sensitive we are in our constant realisations that all of it is opposed to God.

Here we see King Hezekiah’s true colours. We see his speech and actions driven by self-centeredness, trapped in a perpetual uninhibited desire to preserve only his superiority, royal status and reputation.

In the face of Babylonian flattery, King Hezekiah was unguarded in his openness to their visit, his faithfulness and sense of God thrown out the window as he showed the Babylonians everything he had, blindly spurring on their hidden agenda to plunder and take captive.

Prophet Isaiah, on the other hand, is a picture of who we need to be as Christians, fully aware of the severity and consequences of folly.

We live in the same world as King Hezekiah did, but now, paired with rapidly accelerating interconnectivity, how drawn in are we by the shiny, colourful showers of praises and vanities directed our way each day? Have we been readily feeding our egos with man’s fleeting affirmation and admiration, whilst starving God’s still small voice?

May God guard and guide both our hearts and minds away from every foolish thought and deed.

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