2 Kings 20:16-19

On hearing such a prophecy of doom and gloom prophesied upon the kingdom and his own offspring, one would have thought that King Hezekiah would have been terrified and more than distressed. To the contrary, he pragmatically said, “…Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.” And he said, “Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days” (v.19). In other words, he was saying, “as long as it doesn’t happen in my lifetime, I am good with that. As long as I enjoy peace and prosperity during my reign, I really don’t care what happens after my time.” His mentality was, “I really couldn’t care less when I am no longer on the scene or in charge.” How selfish and shortsighted – and I could seriously think of some other adjectives to describe his response, but I think we get the picture.

The real problem is, however, there are so many of us today who still think so irresponsibly and recklessly selfish. Our aim and ambition, our vision and aspiration, our dream of prosperity and wellbeing, only extend to our immediate sphere, and our time on the program. It involves only us. Like Hezekiah who was thinking only of himself, many of us have no real succession plan in place. He had no real concern for the future, completely indifferent about his legacy and even his own posterity. Do we ever think about what kind of world and church we are passing on to our kids, the next generation? May Heaven help us!

Today, I remain so grateful for what has been passed on to me, and I prayerfully and earnestly trust that it does not end with me. I so desire that my children and my grandchildren and the next generation get to experience this amazing God and His saving grace and power, like we have been able to experience. I want them to graciously see some of the miracles that I have been blessed to see and more. I want them to have as real an experience with Jesus as I have been blessed to experience and more. It is our sincere desire that the next generation Church of God be more connected and charged-up, even more than we were. I pray God that they will experience more of the power of Jesus, than we have ever experienced, especially in these last, scary and unprecedented times! It cannot be that after we have gone that the truth and reality of our message become watered down and minimized! It just cannot be! Please Lord, let it not be minimized but exponentially glorified and amplified! Whereas we have seen raindrops, we pray for showers of blessings to persistently fall on them!

How scandalous it was that Hezekiah heard that the Babylonians were coming to overpower and overthrow his kingdom soon after he was gone, and he remained so unfazed by this ominous prophetic word. He is neither moved to pray, warn, mourn, repent nor help turn things around. There is no call to action or to redirect the present course. He is just selfishly, pathetically glad that he was blessed to have peace and security during his time on the throne. I pray, may the good Lord help us to weep over the city and our children like our Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He saw the impending doom hanging over their heads (Luke 19:41-44). I so believe we are called not just to fight for our generation but for the next! With great empathy and passion, the apostle Paul remained concerned for the church even after his departure. Therefore, with compelling emotion, he ceased not to warn everyone at Ephesus, night and day with tears for three years straight (Acts 20:31).

It is our strong conviction that this religion of power which has been so graciously imparted to us, cannot die with us. As we move off the stage may we desperately also reflect on the future, earnestly having some sort of succession plan in place. Our concern must remain not just for our time but for the next generation. We urgently pray peace, prosperity, security and revival for them! We prophesy greatness upon them as they seek to follow after the God who has brought us and led us thus far. We push back the forces of darkness assigned to defeat and destroy them! May the same God who favored us, favor them! As we move off the stage, we pray and desire only the richest of God’s best on the succeeding generation!