Do you know what gets stronger with age? Isaiah 34-39

Isaiah 39:1-2 (NASBStr)

Hezekiah Shows His Treasures

 At that time Merodach- baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

Old age does something to us all.   As we approach the final days of our lives the mirror reminds us of the terminal disease we all suffer from: Death.   God has sent His son to conquer death and remove the sting but the body is still under the pains of death.    Things begin to change and old age begins to show itself real and alive, despite the scent of death in the future for us all.   So, in the view of those depressing thoughts we see Hezekiah at a similar place in his life.  In the proceeding chapter we are told that as The Lord told him he as was about to die, he prayed to God and God gave him 15 more years.   Knowing you have a certain amount of time left must have been frightening and calming at the same time.    He knew he had ONLY 15 more years, but he also knew he HAD 15 more years.   The second half of that statement must have been where we find Hezekiah in the above verses.   When the visiting kings came to see Hezekiah (kings God would eventually use to defeat Judah after Hezekiah's death), Hezekiah's heart was filled with pride and his mind with his legacy.   He wanted to show of what his life work had accumulated.  Rather than give God the glory and be humble, the king was filled with pride and boasting.   Old age might diminish your strength.  You eyes might grow weak.   Your ability to run long distances, or run at all, might be slowed or stopped.  But, one that continues into old age in full vigor, and perhaps more strength than ever, is  your pride.   Whereas almost everything else in the human experience deteriorates with age, pride blossoms.   The older we are the more we think we know and others should listen.  The older we are the less we have to listen and submit to others and, at times we think, to God.    As we grow older let's not follow Hezekiah's example.  There are so many examples in God's Word of those, who in the twilight years of their lives, diminished in capacity and excelled in pride.   Humility should come with age.   But, it often stays in infancy despite our chronological age.