“Put your house in order”
“In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” (2 Kings 20:1)
Is there order in your house? Is your family now obedient to biblical family ethics? Does a husband love his wife (Eph. 5:25-30)? Does a wife obey her husband with respect (vv. 22-24, 33)? Do children obey their parents in the Lord (6:1)? Do parents not exasperate their children, but instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (v. 4)? For some reason, it seems that the families are becoming more and more broken families. There is no bond, harmony, or order between the family members, and each of them lives in their own way, unable to keep the unity of the family, and conflicts and divisions are getting worse. What should we do?
In 2 Kings 20:1, God is telling King Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah: “Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” How terrifying is this word of God? God had said to Hezekiah, ‘You are going to die and you will not live, so put your house in order!’ Here, “house” refers to the nation of Judah. And ‘Put your house in order’ means to carry out the transfer of the government, which he should do as a king (Park). However, I would like to apply this word to each of our family. In other words, I think now God wants us to keep our house in order. Of course, like Hezekiah, we aren’t going to die soon. But I think we should keep our house in good order with the death perspective. Just as King Hezekiah had to transfer the government before he died, we must pass on our faith to our children (and descendants) before we die. When I think about how heavy the responsibility of transferring the faith is, I think that God is even giving us a warning saying, ‘You are going to die and you will not recover’ if we don’t put our houses in order. To that extent, I think that we have a great responsibility to keep our house in good order. We should never take this responsibility lightly. What should we do? How should we pass on our faith to our children before we die? I would like to learn two lessons from 2 Kings 20:2-3:
First, we must pray to God.
Look at 2 Kings 20:2 – “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD.” King Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to God after being told, “Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover” through the prophet Isaiah. He prayed to God, weeping bitterly (v. 3). Shouldn't we too weep bitterly? When we think of the faith of our children, shouldn't we weep bitterly and pray earnestly to God? Especially when we think of our unbelieving children, we need to weep bitterly and plead with God for the salvation of their souls. The reason is because as we approach our death, we are compelled to think more deeply about the eternal death of our children's souls. If our children didn’t believe in Jesus even when our believing parents were alive, what would happen to the salvation of our children's souls after we died? It is a serious problem, and it cannot but be a prayer subject to cry out to God.
Second, we must walk before the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion.
Look at 2 Kings 20:3 – “Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” When King Hezekiah wept bitterly and supplicated God, he prayed that God would remember how he had walked before Him faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and what was good in the eyes of the Lord. When I was thinking about this prayer, 2 Kings 18:2 came to mind. In other words, King Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Indeed, King Hezekiah, who was a king who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, asked God to remember that he had done good in the eyes of the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion before the word of God that he would die. When I think of this word, I think it is very precious that King Hezekiah was able to say that he had done good before the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion in his whole life when he heard the word of God, ‘You will die and you will not recover.’ Think about it. Will we be able to speak like King Hezekiah to our children and even our descendants in the face of our death? In particular, when we reflect on ourselves in the words of Isaiah 38:1, “Put your house in order,” can we say to our children and descendants before we die that ‘I had walked before the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion all the days of my life’ so ‘You also must walk before the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion’? In order to be able to do so, from now on, we must walk before the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion.
When King Hezekiah wept bitterly and prayed to God, God heard his prayer, saw his tears, and quickly answered Hezekiah's prayer (vv. 4-6). God’s answer to Hezekiah’s prayer can be summarized in three ways: (1) God said that He would heal Hezekiah (v. 5). And God told Hezekiah that in three days he would be completely healed of his illness, and would go up to the temple of God in order to give thanks to God first (Park). (2) God promised that he would add 15 years to Hezekiah’s life (v. 6). The reason he received the blessing of extending his life was so that he could do good in the presence of the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion (Park). (3) God told Hezekiah that he would deliver Hezekiah and the city of David from the hand of the king of Assyria and would defend the city (v. 6). Because this word of God is good (v. 19), King Hezekiah received an answer to his prayer and tasted the goodness of the Lord. In his lifetime there was peace and security (v. 19).
May there be peace and security in our houses. I hope that there are God's answers of our prayers in our houses. In particular, I earnestly hope and pray that our children return to the Lord before we die so that the whole family can come together to the temple of God and worship Him in thanksgiving. Until that day comes and until the day the Lord calls us, I hope and pray that we will all become beautiful examples to our children and descendants by doing good in the presence of the Lord faithful and with wholehearted devotion.
As I recommit my life in building the Lord-centered family that is in order in the eyes of the Lord,
James Kim