JW subtitle extractor

One of the few—the few—
good kings God’s people ever had:
Jehovah absolutely loved Hezekiah
and supported him in miraculous ways.
But there was a point
when Jehovah left him alone.
Let’s go to 2 Chronicles chapter 32
to see what led up to this.
Second Chronicles 32:24 tells us
that Hezekiah was very sick
and cried out to Jehovah.
But notice in verse 24 that it tells us
Jehovah “answered him and gave him a sign.”
The sign: the shadow moving backward
—it was a miracle
which may have involved the relationship
between the sun and the earth.
Now, if the sun is moving backward
and the sky is over Jerusalem,
it may have been moving
backward everywhere,
including places where they worship the sun,
places like Babylon,
which brings us to verse 31:
“However, when the spokesman
of the princes of Babylon were sent
to ask him about the sign
that had occurred in the land.”
Just imagine for a moment.
What do you think that meeting was like?
These sun-worshipping Babylonians,
they come to give him a gift,
they showed him respect,
they paid him attention.
How would he react?
Jehovah was curious.
But notice what Jehovah does next
in verse 31:
“The true God left him alone
“to put him to the test,
to get to know all that was in his heart.”
“Left him alone”—what does that mean?
Well, it certainly does not mean
Jehovah abandoned Hezekiah
or forgot about him,
but perhaps it was more in the sense
of just taking a step back
—a step back to observe without interference.
How would Hezekiah respond?
Jehovah didn’t send in Isaiah, for example,
to go coach him
on what to say to the Babylonians.
And as a result, we see everything
that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
He foolishly showed off everything
in his treasure house.
So it appears there had been
some haughtiness growing there,
this desire for more attention
and perhaps even an elevated view of himself.
When do you think
Jehovah might have first noticed
tendencies toward haughtiness in Hezekiah?
Was it perhaps because of the vast riches
and glory that he had?
Did that go to his head?
Or was it the miraculous cure
Jehovah gave him for his illness?
Or could it have been
when Jehovah sent the angel
to kill 185,000 Assyrians in one night
and the resulting respect
the surrounding nations showed him.
We don’t know exactly
when the haughtiness started,
but we do know the sad result.
The prophet Isaiah comes
and tells him that everything he showed off
will be taken away to Babylon.
That was quite a reproof from Isaiah.
How would Hezekiah respond?
How would you have responded?
Well, let’s look at verse 26:
“However, Hezekiah humbled himself
for the haughtiness of his heart.”
So we see here that he performed
the vital step of self-correction.
This situation developed in such a way
where he had to come face-to-face
with his own haughtiness.
And he did.
He dealt with it.
He got the point.
But the timing of this haughtiness
is quite interesting
because it came
shortly after Jehovah defeated the Assyrians
and shortly after Jehovah gave him
this miraculous cure.
And therein lies the lesson for you and me:
It’s when a servant of Jehovah
is enjoying success
or has accomplished something worthwhile;
this may be the moment
Jehovah leaves you alone
just to see what’s in your heart.
So when was the last time
you accomplished something worthwhile?
Today certainly comes to mind,
Today being the day
that you’ll graduate from Gilead
and the results of your Gilead training
will be obvious.
The friends in your assignment
are going to give you attention and praise,
and they’ll be able to tell
by the way you teach:
‘Oh, he must be a Gilead graduate.’
You know, at first, all of this attention
probably won’t be very appealing to you
with your current level of spirituality.
But could it be that as time goes along,
you gradually start
to develop a taste for it?
You enjoy the sweetness of the praise,
perhaps even basking for a moment
in the spotlight
enjoying the sugar high
that comes from all of that attention.
Now, you may even start to think:
‘You know, all of this, of course,
is just from Jehovah.
‘It’s the training he gave me,
‘but I find it interesting
that I’m the one Jehovah chose to train.
‘And since he trained me,
well, I must be the one in line
for the next privilege.’
Now, if these kinds of thoughts
come up in your heart and mind,
this is the time to ask yourself,
‘Did Jehovah just leave me alone
to see what’s in my heart?’
And if you detect
such haughtiness in your heart,
how do you reverse it?
Well, by doing the very thing
Hezekiah failed to do in the first place.
Go back to verse 25,
and notice what he failed to do:
“Hezekiah did not respond appreciatively
to the good done to him,
for his heart became haughty.”
He should have been thanking Jehovah
the whole way
and appreciating the fact
that all of these blessings
were coming from Jehovah.
But this verse teaches us
that haughtiness is connected
with a lack of appreciation.
Now, if that’s the case,
the opposite is also true,
that gratitude fosters humility.
This one verse teaches us
that we need to focus,
not on all the good that we have done,
but on all the good that has been done to us.
What good has been done to you
over the past five months or so?
For instance, as you well know,
the Bethelites in your home branch,
they’ve been working very hard
to pick up the slack
so that you could be away
and study for these five months.
Your fellow Bethelites here
have been working tirelessly to support you
so that you can focus
and benefit fully from this training.
Think of the help you received
inside the classroom.
You were helped
to make connections in Bible accounts
that you simply may not have seen
on your own.
And all of this—all of this—
is because of the spiritual food
of the very highest quality
provided through “the faithful
and discreet slave,”
none of which would be possible
without Jehovah God giving us
his written Word, the Bible,
and pouring out holy spirit
so that we can understand it.
This is the type of appreciative meditation
that will save you.
Gratitude will guard you.
It will shield you from haughtiness.
Now, this very significant event
in Hezekiah’s life
was documented no less than three times
by three different Bible writers.
But is it the first thing
that comes to your mind
when you think of Hezekiah?
Not likely.
The reason being
that Jehovah inspired Bible writers
to focus in on his good qualities,
the qualities for which we remember Hezekiah,
his faith, his courage.
And in the end,
how did Jehovah remember Hezekiah?
Let’s look over to 2 Chronicles chapter 29,
verse 2
—2 Chronicles 29:2.
What is the rating
Jehovah gave King Hezekiah?
Verse 2 tells us:
“He kept doing what was right
in Jehovah’s eyes,
just as David his forefather had done.”
It doesn’t get much better than that.
This is the highest rating
that Jehovah could give an earthly king,
comparing him favorably to David.
This shows us just how much
Jehovah loved Hezekiah.
Yes, he left him alone for that moment
for a specific purpose,
but he never abandoned him,
and he remembered him for good.
So in the end, it comes down to this:
What will Jehovah see when he looks at you?
Well, we’re confident that as long
as you continue to cultivate gratitude
by thanking him every day
for the blessings from him
(this appreciative meditation
continually fostering genuine humility),
Jehovah will be pleased
and delighted with what he sees
when you are ‘left alone.’

Joel Kelly: Left Alone—159th Gilead Graduation
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Joel Kelly: Left Alone—159th Gilead Graduation

One of the few—the few—
good kings God’s people ever had:
Jehovah absolutely loved Hezekiah
and supported him in miraculous ways.
But there was a point
when Jehovah left him alone.
Let’s go to 2 Chronicles chapter 32
to see what led up to this.
Second Chronicles 32:24 tells us
that Hezekiah was very sick
and cried out to Jehovah.
But notice in verse 24 that it tells us
Jehovah “answered him and gave him a sign.”
The sign: the shadow moving backward
—it was a miracle
which may have involved the relationship
between the sun and the earth.
Now, if the sun is moving backward
and the sky is over Jerusalem,
it may have been moving
backward everywhere,
including places where they worship the sun,
places like Babylon,
which brings us to verse 31:
“However, when the spokesman
of the princes of Babylon were sent
to ask him about the sign
that had occurred in the land.”
Just imagine for a moment.
What do you think that meeting was like?
These sun-worshipping Babylonians,
they come to give him a gift,
they showed him respect,
they paid him attention.
How would he react?
Jehovah was curious.
But notice what Jehovah does next
in verse 31:
“The true God left him alone
“to put him to the test,
to get to know all that was in his heart.”
“Left him alone”—what does that mean?
Well, it certainly does not mean
Jehovah abandoned Hezekiah
or forgot about him,
but perhaps it was more in the sense
of just taking a step back
—a step back to observe without interference.
How would Hezekiah respond?
Jehovah didn’t send in Isaiah, for example,
to go coach him
on what to say to the Babylonians.
And as a result, we see everything
that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
He foolishly showed off everything
in his treasure house.
So it appears there had been
some haughtiness growing there,
this desire for more attention
and perhaps even an elevated view of himself.
When do you think
Jehovah might have first noticed
tendencies toward haughtiness in Hezekiah?
Was it perhaps because of the vast riches
and glory that he had?
Did that go to his head?
Or was it the miraculous cure
Jehovah gave him for his illness?
Or could it have been
when Jehovah sent the angel
to kill 185,000 Assyrians in one night
and the resulting respect
the surrounding nations showed him.
We don’t know exactly
when the haughtiness started,
but we do know the sad result.
The prophet Isaiah comes
and tells him that everything he showed off
will be taken away to Babylon.
That was quite a reproof from Isaiah.
How would Hezekiah respond?
How would you have responded?
Well, let’s look at verse 26:
“However, Hezekiah humbled himself
for the haughtiness of his heart.”
So we see here that he performed
the vital step of self-correction.
This situation developed in such a way
where he had to come face-to-face
with his own haughtiness.
And he did.
He dealt with it.
He got the point.
But the timing of this haughtiness
is quite interesting
because it came
shortly after Jehovah defeated the Assyrians
and shortly after Jehovah gave him
this miraculous cure.
And therein lies the lesson for you and me:
It’s when a servant of Jehovah
is enjoying success
or has accomplished something worthwhile;
this may be the moment
Jehovah leaves you alone
just to see what’s in your heart.
So when was the last time
you accomplished something worthwhile?
Today certainly comes to mind,
Today being the day
that you’ll graduate from Gilead
and the results of your Gilead training
will be obvious.
The friends in your assignment
are going to give you attention and praise,
and they’ll be able to tell
by the way you teach:
‘Oh, he must be a Gilead graduate.’
You know, at first, all of this attention
probably won’t be very appealing to you
with your current level of spirituality.
But could it be that as time goes along,
you gradually start
to develop a taste for it?
You enjoy the sweetness of the praise,
perhaps even basking for a moment
in the spotlight
enjoying the sugar high
that comes from all of that attention.
Now, you may even start to think:
‘You know, all of this, of course,
is just from Jehovah.
‘It’s the training he gave me,
‘but I find it interesting
that I’m the one Jehovah chose to train.
‘And since he trained me,
well, I must be the one in line
for the next privilege.’
Now, if these kinds of thoughts
come up in your heart and mind,
this is the time to ask yourself,
‘Did Jehovah just leave me alone
to see what’s in my heart?’
And if you detect
such haughtiness in your heart,
how do you reverse it?
Well, by doing the very thing
Hezekiah failed to do in the first place.
Go back to verse 25,
and notice what he failed to do:
“Hezekiah did not respond appreciatively
to the good done to him,
for his heart became haughty.”
He should have been thanking Jehovah
the whole way
and appreciating the fact
that all of these blessings
were coming from Jehovah.
But this verse teaches us
that haughtiness is connected
with a lack of appreciation.
Now, if that’s the case,
the opposite is also true,
that gratitude fosters humility.
This one verse teaches us
that we need to focus,
not on all the good that we have done,
but on all the good that has been done to us.
What good has been done to you
over the past five months or so?
For instance, as you well know,
the Bethelites in your home branch,
they’ve been working very hard
to pick up the slack
so that you could be away
and study for these five months.
Your fellow Bethelites here
have been working tirelessly to support you
so that you can focus
and benefit fully from this training.
Think of the help you received
inside the classroom.
You were helped
to make connections in Bible accounts
that you simply may not have seen
on your own.
And all of this—all of this—
is because of the spiritual food
of the very highest quality
provided through “the faithful
and discreet slave,”
none of which would be possible
without Jehovah God giving us
his written Word, the Bible,
and pouring out holy spirit
so that we can understand it.
This is the type of appreciative meditation
that will save you.
Gratitude will guard you.
It will shield you from haughtiness.
Now, this very significant event
in Hezekiah’s life
was documented no less than three times
by three different Bible writers.
But is it the first thing
that comes to your mind
when you think of Hezekiah?
Not likely.
The reason being
that Jehovah inspired Bible writers
to focus in on his good qualities,
the qualities for which we remember Hezekiah,
his faith, his courage.
And in the end,
how did Jehovah remember Hezekiah?
Let’s look over to 2 Chronicles chapter 29,
verse 2
—2 Chronicles 29:2.
What is the rating
Jehovah gave King Hezekiah?
Verse 2 tells us:
“He kept doing what was right
in Jehovah’s eyes,
just as David his forefather had done.”
It doesn’t get much better than that.
This is the highest rating
that Jehovah could give an earthly king,
comparing him favorably to David.
This shows us just how much
Jehovah loved Hezekiah.
Yes, he left him alone for that moment
for a specific purpose,
but he never abandoned him,
and he remembered him for good.
So in the end, it comes down to this:
What will Jehovah see when he looks at you?
Well, we’re confident that as long
as you continue to cultivate gratitude
by thanking him every day
for the blessings from him
(this appreciative meditation
continually fostering genuine humility),
Jehovah will be pleased
and delighted with what he sees
when you are ‘left alone.’


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