Isaiah 6

(...from Monday, March 12, 2007)

For me, one of the most powerful passages in the Bible is Isaiah 6. As Isaiah sees the very God of the Universe in all his glory and splendor, the only thing he is able to do is fall prostate on the ground and cry out “Woe is me! I am ruined!” He is completely undone within himself and realizes death is the only solution to the whole situation. God of course has different plans. But almost every time I read this passage, I feel a sense of awe and fear, and in my own little, puny way, I almost feel like Isaiah felt. If there is one passage in the Bible that brings me before the all powerful King in utter humility and fear, I would have to say it is this chapter. That I am still living and that this God still has an assignment for me… Who am I to deserve such grace and honor? To have to Creator of the Universe say to me, "I have an important task for you to do…" I am humbled because I am nothing without him. Even the little I do have to give him, he gave to me first so that I could give it back to him. He knew that was the only way I could show my appreciation. He had to help me show my love and thankfulness to him! Oh how small I am and how little I have. And on the same scale, oh how GREAT God is! John Newton said it well, “all I know is that I’m a very great sinner and God is a very great Savior.” The only thing I can do on my own without God’s help is sin. Sin—doing anything without God’s help, even if the act is inherently good with good intentions. If it’s not done with God helping, it is sin. Oh how much I need him. And how humbled I am that he has chosen to use me simply because he wanted to: “The LORD does whatever pleases him…” (Psalm 135:6). Let us enter into the presence of the Lord today, humbly and reverently, with great fear. And in so doing, not only hear the voice of God, instructing us in how to live, but let him so radically change our lives that we will never be the same.

“‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;the whole earth is full of his glory!’

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’” (ESV)