As I’m fond of saying, God using you to accomplish His purposes is not necessarily good news for you. Here in Isaiah we have another prime example of that in the King of Assyria who God intends to use to bring His vengeance on Israel. But what’s interesting to me in this is the idea that the King of Assyria assumes the good times will keep rolling forever.

I remember being about 20 and getting a labour job working for a guy in my church. He paid me $17.50/hour — in 2002 dollars — and the first week I worked, it was 6am starts and 5-7pm finishes 6 straight days. I made $1260 in a week! That was $65,000 a year! I was rich! I had plans for all that sweet, sweet money. But the very next week there wasn’t as much work. I would call my boss at 5am Monday and he’d say there was nothing today. Same story on Tuesday. And Wednesday. Thursday he had a small job — 4 hours — that he needed me to take care of. Suddenly that $65K annual salary wasn’t looking so likely.

Like the King of Assyria, we can think that WE did something great and now we are reaping the rewards of our good choices. And because we are so smart and savvy, those good times will keep on keeping on. But that’s not always true. Sometimes — oftentimes — they come to an end.

Everything we have it because God allows us to have it. Let’s try to keep that perspective. There may come a time when it will be taken away from us. Heaven forbid we ever end up like Job, but if we did… how would we respond? How would our response be if we lived knowing that everything we have is a loan from God. How would our response be different if we lived believing that everything we have is OWED to us because of our effort, skill, and knowledge?

Remember: a change in perspective changes everything else.