Tomorrow Consequences

7.15.2011

Isaiah 22:13 13 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!” NIV

Often we get to the place where we just don’t care. Sometimes it’s a trial, a sickness, a sour relationship, a tough job – we get to the place where we could just care less. There is a small amount of hope that it will end and another small amount that the lessons learned will be of some value; but the main thought is it will be over at some point and the sooner the better; we just don’t care.

In Isaiah’s day, God was trying hard to get His people to believe in Him and trust in Him. In fact, He was doing to them as He promised in the curses of Deuteronomy 28 if they forsook Him (and they had). God uses human events to both reach and teach His followers; and God is somehow able to use all of the earth’s events collectively to protect and direct His followers. In that day, the world around Judah was falling apart, and enemy kings were flexing their muscles and making their moves. And so through His prophet God invited His people to repent and return to Him so that He could save them. But their attitude was, “Whatever… Let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we die! We just don’t care… Let’s live today like there’s no tomorrow!” Only God gets to determine if there’s a tomorrow and what we’re to do about it.

Every human ever born has to deal with tomorrow. Many live in the glory, or the misery, of yesterday; some cannot face the hope of tomorrow, another chance; somehow making amends for yesterday. But when faced with disease, disaster, disappointment, divorce, or what have you, all we really have is today; and the Lord’s help today. How we live today determines how we’ll hope in tomorrow. Isaiah said, “The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.” (Is 22:12) But all they did in response was party – they didn’t care about tomorrow.

One of the greatest sins of our time is our apathy about tomorrow. As we look at the financial and moral mess our nation is in, it’s obvious a lot of this was done with no thought of tomorrow. Leadership in the family, the church, or in a nation takes care of today, but never forgets about the tomorrow consequences of today. To live like there’s no tomorrow is altogether foolish and short-sighted; it disrespects both God and people. I need wisdom to live for today but grace to never forget about the consequences I’ll face as a result tomorrow.