The only question involved in the problem of right living is whether we will have our way or let God have His way. If we insist on having our own way, it is certain that right living will not follow.
The heart of man is very deceitful, and prone to have its own way. Indeed, there is nothing more natural than for a person to think he knows better what is best for him than God does. Of course it is not anything bad that he wants; it is something good and desirable, and he has the best of reasons for wanting it.
But that which is good and desirable in itself, may or may not be suited to the circumstances of the individual desiring it. His desire for it is based on the assumption that just the right time and circumstances exist in his case for what he seeks--an assumption which only the possession of superhuman wisdom could justify.
King Hezekiah, one of the best kings of Judah, was at one time "sick unto death," (2 Kings 20:1) and received word from the Lord by the prophet Isaiah that he should "die, and not live." (2 Kings 20:1)
Hezekiah, however, did not wish to die, but thought it would be better for him to live; and he "wept sore," (2 Kings 20:3) and prayed that he might live. He expressed his reasons for desiring to live: "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not seek the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living. ... The grave cannot praise You; death cannot celebrate You; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth." (Isaiah 38:10-11,18)
Certainly, if reason can ever show a better way than the one indicated in the word of the Lord, it was so in the case of Hezekiah.
The Lord heard Hezekiah's prayer, and sent Isaiah to him with the word that his life should be prolonged fifteen years. But these fifteen years added nothing to Hezekiah, but rather took from the luster of his reign. For we read that: "Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 32:25)
Also, "In the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land [in causing the sun to return ten degrees backward], God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart." (2 Chronicles 32:21)
And Hezekiah died, leaving on the throne a son that had been born to him during the added fifteen years; and thus the wicked reign of Manasseh followed.
It is never safe, even with apparently the best of motives and of reasons, to seek our own way in opposition to the word of the Lord. The only place any person can afford to be in, is the place where God puts him; and when in His providence the time comes, if it does, that we are to be put in the grave, it will not be wise for us to prefer and seek life in preference to death. The language of wisdom is always, "Your will, not mine, be done;" (Luke 22:42) and "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." (Job 13:15)--Present Truth, February 8, 1894.