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Today we read more about King Hezekiah, and while he was by many standards a pretty good king, he made a very big mistake. He allowed the Babylonians access to see all that was in his kingdom, which would later in history prove to be a very big mistake because it allowed the Babylonians access to information for making plans for future conquest. This lesson applies to our personal lives as well. While it is good to have close friends, we must guard our hearts and minds to only allow a few select people to be that close. More importantly, we should never allow others to take the place of God in our lives. His presence and influence should never be superseded by anyone or anything. God is sacred and should be the first and most important relationship in our lives.
Daily Devotion 
What I love about this passage is how Hezekiah deals with the taunting from the king of Assyria. Hezekiah lived a life of obedience to the Lord, and he was blessed as a result. He’d built a track record of God coming through for him. Once again, God says that Hezekiah will have victory, but the Assyrian king basically says, “Oh yeah?” So what does Hezekiah do? He lays the message from the king down on the altar and talks to God about it. He doesn’t freak out. He doesn’t hem and haw. He takes it to the only one who can actually do something about it. He takes it to the only one who can actually give him an answer. And boy, does God ever give an answer in verses 21 – 39. It’s an old fashioned throw down! Love it! What a reminder to us.
The other interesting aspect to this is the motivation behind the Assyrian king’s taunting. He’d been losing battle after battle. He knew Hezekiah could beat him down, so he throws out the threat to try and scare Hezekiah away knowing full well Assyria would lose in battle. Another great nugget for our own lives. When someone is leveling insults, threats, negativity etc…we have no idea what their motive is, and therefore, hemming and hawing over it is a waste of our energy. Lay it on the altar and see what God has to say. Maybe there is some truth in what the person or people are saying or maybe they are simply acting out of their own insecurities. Only God knows those heart motives. And he’s the only one who can communicate that to us.