OUR LORD FROM WHOM WE SHOULD SEEK DISERNMENT

Isaiah chapter 39 verses 3 - 5 speaks of an occasion  where Hezekiah,  king of Israel, hosted  an entourage from Babylon that had been sent with a message of good wishes concerning his recovery from an illness.

Hezekiah obliged the visitors and showed them the treasures of Israel and all the armories. 

When the men had gone, the prophet Isaiah arrived and confronted the king. The passage reads this way;

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

When Isaiah learned that everything in Israel's treasuries and armories had been revealed to the strangers, the prophet immediately spoke a word that all that the envoys from Babylon had seen would be carried away to Babylon including the people of Israel and even the king's own descendants.

This passage warns us of how strangers of unknown intentions should be handled with caution and spiritual council should be sought before engaging them. If Isaiah had been on location to give insight on the intentions of the visitors from Babylon, the error of making all of Israel's resources and strengths known to Babylon would not have occurred.

The prophetic gift of discernment would have been brought to bear by the experienced prophet of the Lord and access to the secret things of Israel would have been limited.

Let us bless the Lord who makes available the gift of discernment that can convey the underlying  spiritual drivers of persons and events and give warning of danger.

Amen.