We Can Lose Everything We Have Worked For

Note from today’s Bible reading: Isaiah 21-27

Through the prophet Isaiah, God addressed Shebna, a steward of the royal household in Judah (Isaiah 22:15). This man served under King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:17-18). Though the king would receive a message of hope in the face of the threat from the Assyrians (cf. 2 Kings 19:6-7), the message to Shebna was not as hopeful.

God said to this steward, “What right do you have here, and whom do you have here, that you have hewn a tomb for yourself here, you who hew a tomb on the height, you who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock? Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And He is about to grasp you firmly and roll you tightly like a ball, to be cast into a vast country; there you will die and there your splendid chariots will be, the shame of your master’s house. I will depose you from your office, and I will pull you down from your station” (Isaiah 22:16-19).

Despite the grim outlook (preparing a tomb for himself), this man believed that he was important enough and worthy of honor to be remembered in this way. Yet despite his preparations to this end, it would all amount to nothing. He would lose his position and die in a foreign land. We need to learn the same lesson as this obscure Old Testament character.

So remember that we can lose everything we have worked for. Let us not think that we are more important than we are. Rather than pursuing our own course, we need to follow the path laid out for us by the Lord.