Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. – 2 Chronicles 32:25
God knows how to deal with a proud heart. Notice what happened when Hezekiah became proud and lived for himself: “Wrath came upon him.” Hezekiah came under the discipline of God. God loves His children too much to allow them to continue in sin.
What did this wrath look like? Chronicles tells us how God dealt with Hezekiah and how He will deal with us, if our hearts become proud. “God left him to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart” (32:31).
When a person turns away in defiance and refuses to repent, things don’t go so well. The Prodigal Son knew about that. He sinned against God, and for a long time there wasn’t a hint of repentance. Life did not go well for him (see Lk. 15:11-32).
In the end, he became desperate. He may have told himself that what he needed was a new job, new friends, maybe a new location. But what he really needed to do was repent.
He needed to repent toward God: “I have sinned against heaven” (15:18). And he needed to repent toward the people in his life: “I have sinned… before you” (15:21).
Our Lord says that the Prodigal Son “came to himself” (15:17). That’s what happened to Hezekiah. He came to his senses. When God left him to himself, the foolishness of his proud heart was exposed.
Have you ever felt that God had left you to yourself to see what was in your heart? How did you respond?
