Following a series of bad choices in my past, I gradually rediscovered my faith in God. I thought God had a checklist of tasks for me to accomplish. Pray—check. Read the Bible—check. Join a small group—check. Can you relate?
I believed that if I did all the right things, then God would love me. Instead, it led to pride in my obedience to God. I thought, “Look at all the things I’m doing for God.”
C.S. Lewis wrote, “the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.” Also, “Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” 1
So, I always feel sad when reading about King Hezekiah in the Old Testament. He was king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah when Israel split into the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. In the vast darkness of evil kings, Hezekiah was a shining light.
Despite all that he did, King Hezekiah blew it in the end. He succumbed to “the essential vice” of pride.
What lessons can we learn about pride from King Hezekiah?
King Hezekiah’s pride and downfall
King Hezekiah served God well. He cleansed the temple of idol worship, restored proper worship in the temple, reorganized the Levitical priests, renewed the people’s covenant with God, gathered the people to celebrate Passover, and even prayed successfully to God for victory when threatened by the Assyrians (2 Kings 19:14-19, 2 Kings 19:32–36).
However, King Hezekiah succumbed to pride when he boastfully paraded all his wealth and military capacity to a visiting Babylonian envoy. His serious mistake eventually led to the exile of the Southern Kingdom to Babylon. (2 Kings 20:13-18)
This illustrates how serving God faithfully can sometimes lead to feeling prideful about our obedience and good works.
In fact, when the prophet Isaiah warned Hezekiah about this, he did not repent but said, “at least there will be peace and security during my lifetime” (2 Kings 20:19).
What lessons about pride can we learn from King Hezekiah?
First, remember God is the source of all blessings (James 1:17). Despite King Hezekiah’s many impressive achievements, he overlooked the fact that his success and wealth were solely a result of God’s blessings (2 Chronicles 32:28-29).
Second, just like King Hezekiah, we can do all kinds of good works, but we cannot earn God’s love. We please God not by what we do, but who we are. God is love; He loved us first by sending His Son as the atoning sacrifice for us all (1 John 4:8-10, 19).
Last, only Jesus is perfect and embodies absolute humility. We can never be good enough on our own; we are only good because Jesus humbled Himself on the cross.
Scripture states, “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:7–8 (NIV).
Final Words
In his book, The Hidden Peace: Finding True Security, Strength, and Confidence Through Humility, Joel Muddamale writes, “Humility is the soil of the Christian life that needs to be constantly tended to. It’s something you practice every day, which changes you a little bit more all the time, shaping you to be like Jesus.” 2
I recommend trying out a practical tool from this book which helped my quest for humility. Write down all the things that tempt you into pride, such as success, money, accomplishments, and relationships. Beside each item, write about how God has supplied those things for you. During this process, you will realize God is the source of all the good things in your life.
King Hezekiah was a righteous king, but our perfect king is Jesus, now and forever.
Who we talkin’ about, that’s My King! Enjoy “That’s My King” by CeCe Winans.
References
1. C. S. Lewis Institute. Reflections: THE GREATEST SIN. 1 November 2008, https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/reflections-december-2008/. Accessed 5 August 2024.
2. Muddamale, Joel, The Hidden Peace: Finding True Security, Strength, and Confidence Through Humility. W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, 2024, pp. 208.
