Today’s Scripture Reading (November
11, 2013): 2 Chronicles 32
Pride seems
to come in two forms – a positive and a negative. On the positive side, pride
is what keeps us doing our very best. If we care about what it is that we do
and take pride in it, we will continue to give it our best, and hopefully even
grow in our ability. Pride is what helps us to create excellent products – and pride
keeps us chasing after the impossible. But on the negative side, pride also
creates blind spots. Pride stops us from seeing places where we could improve –
and need to improve. And pride can also stop us from asking for, accepting, or
recognizing help. It is this kind of pride that often make our sitcoms funny,
but is seldom funny when it exists in our lives. We think that we can do it all
by ourselves, however, our reality is that whatever we can do by ourselves is
very seldom worth doing.
Hezekiah was
king. For years he had run the nation. There is much that Hezekiah did well. He
cared for the needs of the nation. He followed the instructions of his God. He
actively participated in the rebuilding the temple. For most of his reign he had
actively been about the business of the nation. But then came a moment that
even Hezekiah was not powerful enough to handle. Hezekiah got sick. Often there
is a very lonely and vulnerable feeling that accompanies our illnesses. And for
Hezekiah, this illness would prove fatal. There was nothing that the wise men
of his nation could do for Hezekiah except to tell him to get his things in
order and do whatever was needed before he died.
That was not
a message that Hezekiah wanted to hear. So he pleaded with God for his life,
and God relented and allowed Hezekiah to live. But there was nothing in the
king’s life that prepared him for this moment. There no lesson that had been taught
in what happens when you owe someone else for your life. Hezekiah apparently had
no idea of how to simply say thanks.
So he didn’t.
Life simply returned to normal and Hezekiah forget everything that God had done
for him. He acted as if everything that had happened, he had done. Hezekiah was
still all powerful, and any moment when he had not been all powerful was simply
erased. And in this moment of pride was the seed not only of Hezekiah’s defeat,
but Judah’s as well.
In the eyes
of God, not saying thanks is sin. In that one single act, we become the center
of creation and everything revolves around us. In not recognizing our debt of
gratitude, God and community take second place to our needs. For Hezekiah, his
success was built on the way that he served others, now all had changed. His
pride now required God and community to serve him – and therefore failure was
at hand.
In some
parts of the world today is a day when we get to stop, pause, and say thanks to
those who have stood up for us - who have served their nations as soldiers.
Thanks.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
7
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