A leader’s reputation takes a lifetime to build and just a moment to tarnish. Read 2 Kings 20.

Hezekiah’s overall life legacy is listed in 2 Kings 18:5-7a, “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.” What a tremendous legacy for a godly leader.

In Chapter 20 Hezekiah becomes ill and calls for God’s prophet Isaiah to ask if he will live or die. When Isaiah tells him the word from the Lord is that he will die, Hezekiah asks God to remember his faithful deeds and God graciously grants him another 15 years of life. Early in those 15 years, envoys from Babylon, who heard Hezekiah was ill, came to pay their respects. Hezekiah is so flattered that his pride fully flaunts the wealth God had given the nation under his rule.

After the envoys left, God again sent Isaiah to Hezekiah and he delivered a message from God stating that because of Hezekiah’s pride God would someday allow Babylon to carry off the riches Hezekiah and the kings before him had stored up and that some of Hezekiah’s descendents would become captives and servants in the palace in Babylon. Hezekiah’s attitude is demonstrated in his response to Isaiah’s message, “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good; Hezekiah replied. For he thought, ‘will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?’” How tragic that the last thing recorded about Hezekiah in 2 Kings tarnishes this great leader’s character!

Have you worked hard to build a good reputation? A leader’s legacy is made up of the entirety of their leadership life. Every leader is just one decision away from adding a negative footnote to what may be a very positive leadership legacy. Wise Christian leaders can learn from Hezekiah and seek God’s favor to finish well.