Some readers of Isaiah might think at first that Hezekiah was a person who was absolutely for God and not at all for himself. Actually Hezekiah was very selfish. This is proved by the way he responded to Isaiah's word to him in 39:5-7. "Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: Behold, the days are coming when everything which is in your house and which your fathers have laid up as a treasure unto this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left, says Jehovah. And they will take away some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, and they will become eunuches in the palace of the king of Babylon." When Hezekiah heard this, he said to Isaiah, "The word of Jehovah which you have spoken is good....For there will be peace and truth in my days" (v. 8). This indicates that Hezekiah was selfish.
Furthermore, Hezekiah was the king not of a worldly kingdom but of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of Judah was actually God's kingdom on earth, and Hezekiah should not have regarded it as his own kingdom. For Hezekiah to lose his kingdom was a small thing, but for God to lose His kingdom was a great thing. Hezekiah's response in verse 8 indicates that he had no thought for God and God's kingdom, nor did he care even for his own children. He was altogether for himself.
If we do not have the proper view of chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine, we may think that Hezekiah was quite good. He faced two great problems—the invasion from Assyria and mortal illness—and dealt with them in a way that seemed to be godly. We may feel, therefore, that if we could handle problems in Hezekiah's way, we also would be quite good. However, in giving us the pattern found in these chapters, Isaiah shows us how a person such as Hezekiah, who was appointed a king in God's kingdom, who was godly, and who prayed and received miraculous answers from God, eventually became not a success but a failure. He failed because of his self-glory and self-interest. He was full of self and was not able to restrict the self. Being a selfish person, he made a great mistake, became a failure, and was eventually fired by God.
In light of this pattern, we need to spend some time with the Lord and ask ourselves what kind of person we would be. Would we be like Hezekiah, who was hasty and was so much for himself? As we consider this matter, we must learn to say, "Lord, I would not be any kind of person; I would just be nothing. I would have You as my person and my life, as the One who lives in me that I may live You. If I want to be anything, I want to be a person like this." If we would all pray such a prayer, the Lord's recovery would have a great revival.