Set Your Affairs In Order

Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’”

Isaiah 38:1

I’ll admit that I’m sort of a stickler for having the dinner table set properly for meals. But don’t worry—I don’t notice it when I’m in other people’s homes! In case you need a refresher course, the knife goes on the right with the blade pointing inward for safety. The spoon is to the right of the knife, and the fork is on the left with a napkin beside it to the outside. If you look at your place setting from left to right you’ll see napkin, fork, plate, knife, and spoon.

In today’s verse, this instruction from God for King Hezekiah was delivered just as matter-of-factly as when I ask Kali to help set the table.

Something that we need to set in order that is far more important than how to set a proper table is our eternal destinies. We can hobble our way through life, crippled by the things that separate us from truly connecting with God. Or we can get right with Him through Christ and enjoy intimate friendship each moment of every day.

It’s true that these physical bodies of ours are going to die one day. Setting our spiritual affairs in order involves first of all knowing that we can become children of God by believing and receiving Jesus Christ into our lives. Growing in our relationship with Him means putting Him first in our lives, getting to know Him through His Word, communicating with Him through prayer, and trusting Him to help us grow to become more like Him.

Next time we set the table, let’s reflect on the time when we made sure we had set our spiritual affairs in order and thank God for setting a place for us at His future banquet table.