Order

Our son and his wife live next door.  Today, they walked across to our patio and visited with us for a while.  (We kept our social distance of 6 feet for the most part.)

Carissa is carrying our next grand-baby girl in September.She worked in the hospital on a floor with respiratory patients until a few days ago.  Her OB doctor told her to take leave and go home. The current threat from the Covid-19 virus puts her at risk.

She shared with me today that she had been doing a lot of cleaning.  There's the baby's room to make ready, and all the household chores that we all never seem to get caught up on.  There is a lot to be put in order.

After they left, I sat for a while and thought about all the things I need to put in order.  So far since this quarantine, I've done precious little besides cook and eat!  I need to make it my purpose to get some of those things accomplished.  There are plenty things to get in order.

I've heard a lot about how this "Stay At Home" thing has altered our lives for the better.  We have to stay in our homes with each other, without activities and busyness to distract us from dealing with one another! (Perhaps some relationships are being put in order.)

There looms a threat that has always been there....death.

This unseen enemy we are calling Covid-19 is just one avenue to our inevitable end.  Death.


Whether we live to die of old age, our body just exhausting itself and quitting, or whether it is suddenly in an accident caused by someone else's recklessness, or a myriad of other scenarios....death will come.  Our house should be in order.


"In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet... came to him and said ..."Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'" (2 Kings 20:1 NASB)

Hezekiah was 29 years old.  He had been king for some 14 years.  He knew that one day, he would die.  He just wasn't expecting it to come now.  There was no proper heir to his throne, so there were a lot of ends that would be loose.  He had been a good king, better than most.  He had been thru a lot, but there was more threats to the kingdom, more work to be done.

Why now?

But Hezekiah didn't ask that.  He didn't even ask specifically to be healed. He just asked God to remember how hard he had tried.  His heart was completely devoted and committed to obedience.  No personal agenda, no self-righteousness.

"Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly" (2 Kings 20:3 NASB)

Incredible.  And God granted Hezekiah fifteen more years. 


The news on every front cries out about the threat our globe faces.  People are sick and dying.  Not just in one town, or one state, or even in one country.  The entire world feels the breath of death from this virus. 

I wonder if I am the only one that has heard the whisper, "Set your house in order". 

Oh, I don't mean I think I am going to get this virus and die, (though I could).  I'm not paranoid about it, but I am trying to be wise and cooperative.  And it is a definite reminder... my house should be in order.  My affairs should be organized and easily accessed.  But above that, my spiritual house should be in order.

What have I allowed to be a priority that should not be?
What have I placed faith in, rather than in God?
What do I value?
What do I miss in this isolation?

I have purposely looked for God's blessing. 

I have plenty food. (And toilet paper!!)
I have no huge debt to fret about now that my income is halted.
I have ways to connect and communicate with anyone, anywhere.

The most profound thing I am witnessing God doing, is bringing His people, who are called by His Name, out from among the masses.  The buildings are empty, but God's people are being gathered and united.