SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 22
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” [Isaiah 22:13]
“Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, O you mighty man. He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die and there your splendid chariots will remain– you disgrace to your master’s house! I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position. [Isaiah 22:17-19]
Isaiah has a message for Shebna, the steward of the palace in Jerusalem, warning him about partying and living it up while the people languish – your day is coming!
This philosophy – we might as well live it up while we can, no need stressing ourselves about the suffering of others, just enjoy yourself – is one that many people live by today as well.
It is a hopeless and unfulfilling philosophy, gorging yourself with pleasure until we die; also known as hedonism.
Living for pleasure, living for ourselves, accumulating wealth, making a name for ourselves, building big homes, buying expensive cars, wasting our wealth for selfish pleasures.
Rich to ourselves, we are impoverished in spirit towards God and others – we couldn’t care less about them.

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” [Luke 12:16-21]
Jesus picks up on Shebna’s hedonism in this story that he tells, about someone who is rich in this world but not rich towards God or people.
Beware, you fool, for your life will be demanded of you; you will have to give an account of your wasteful, selfish hedonism; all that you gained in this world will be taken from you.
Rich in this world, or rich toward God and others?
Those who live for selfish purposes will eventually lose everything they desperately cling to.

What am I clinging to for hope or pleasure; am I rich toward God and others, or trying to be rich in the world?
Do I live by the hedonistic philosophy of this world; even if I say I am not, do my actions say otherwise?
Everything that we rely on in this world – our money, bank account or investments, our home, our job, our social security, our stable government, our healthcare – all these are unreliable, shaky, uncertain.
“In that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken. [Isaiah 22:25]
How many people have found this out the hard way in the recent economic downturn?
And if you didn’t experience it, what about those around you that did; do you care, or do you just focus on your own safe place, and enjoy your own security without concern for those around you?
God is always shaking the foundations to test whether our security is in Him or in this world?
God will allow economic crisis to compel us to see where our true wealth is.

Am I rich towards God? Others?
Do I invest as much of myself in my relationship with God, or in serving others, as I do in myself, my comfort, my happiness?
Even aside from my necessary expenses, where does most of my disposable income go?
And how many of my ‘necessary’ expenses are really necessary?
Am I actually living according to a modified expression of worldly hedonism, with a small does of religion and God to help me justify it?
Or am I actually living my life for God, for others?

PRAYER:
Lord, help me to see whether my heart clings to You or to my stuff, my money, my comfort and happiness. I want to be rich toward You and those around me.