Set Your House in Order: Heeding Isaiah’s Advice to Prepare for the Inevitable End

What would you do if you knew your days on earth were numbered?

Plan your funeral? Would you write a will? Speak to a loved one?

Hezekiah faced that “memento mori” (Latin for “you must die”).

In Isa 38, he became critically ill, and it was apparent he was facing the end. Isaiah the prophet appears before him and tells him:

Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” Isaiah 38:1 (ESV)

That stark reality drives Hezekiah to his knees, imploring God to spare his life. In a jaw-dropping gesture, God shows him the shadow on the staircase and makes the shadow march backward.

He gets 15 more years.

Yet, we should heed what he hears on his deathbed every day.

Put your house in order. The words are military words. Put your life in rank and make it march to the proper cadence.

We know that death forces many things.

Eugene O’Kelly knew what to do. O’Kelley was a busy man as the chairman of KPMG, one of the largest accounting firms in the world.

He was at the top of his profession with many years to live until he didn’t.

At 53, doctors found a shadow on a CAT scan. He had brain cancer, the kind that is not cured by surgery or treated by chemotherapy.

He had a few months to live.

It was during those months he wrote the book Chasing Daylight. The title comes from a golfer’s vocabulary who is trying to finish a round before the sun sets.

For O’Kelly, there was more at stake than a golf score. So what did he do?

He made a list of all the people who contributed to his life. A few were business relations. Most were friends. Some were old teachers.

He phoned each one and asked for a little bit of their time.

In 100 days, he sat down with each to tell them how they changed his life. And all were stunned by his story. Most wept.

If you are in perfect health, vertical to the world, and feeling fine, the dying man’s advice still fits. We need to do as the dying O’Kelly did.

Put your house in order.

We know what an “ordered” house looks like physically. It functions well and is clean without clutter. Bills get paid on time. When order happens, calm ensues.

Why should that not reflect our lives? Could you not put your house in order starting today?

How? A few ways come to mind.

Forgive those who have offended you. Life is too short to hold grudges. Often, you forget the reasons for the offense. All that remains is the smoldering ash of resentment remains. Forgive people. It makes life easier.

Write a note of gratitude. We all have people who have changed us in some way. One thing I know is most never realize the difference they made. Write a note—an actual handwritten note—telling someone how much they mean to you. They will feel better, but so will you.

Reshuffle your priorities. Life scrambles what is good from best. Urgencies shout at us while the important things of life shrink in the corner, waiting to be noticed. When death happens, will you have lived for the right things or died with the wrong things?

Take care of your health. As I have aged, my body reminds me it does not work as well anymore. Lose some weight. Learn to walk in a way you won’t stumble and fall. Get some exercise to avoid many preventable diseases of aging. It will be more valuable than your nest egg.

Hezekiah received the grace of a backward-moving shadow. Yet, all can benefit from Isaiah’s command.

Get your house in order.