Today’s passage: Isaiah 22
Helpful thoughts:
- “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” has been used often to justify living in the moment…sort of a “You only live once” kind of statement. However, in this context, it is used to describe an open act of rebellion and indifference to God. The people chose, even in their last days before judgment, to refuse repentance.
- The rebuke of Shebna (Vs. 15-25) serves as an individual example of what Judah, as a nation, was living like as a whole.
- Shebna was serving over the household of David, and was preparing to make a monument to himself while the household he was overseeing was about to be destroyed.
- God gave Judah several reasons and prophecies to encourage them to trust in Him and not their human alliances or power to save them. They chose to ignore them.
Questions to consider:
- Why does the life philosophy of living in the moment and considering death as the end ring hollow for the Christian? How should the reality of eternal life affect how you think about today?
- What is the motivation of a leader if his desire is to build a monument to himself? How is leadership far different than awards and praise?