Our second challenge on Sunday centered around the way that we see God...our view of Him. Now I would venture to guess that no one reading this blog would say that they have actually seen God. We may have seen the results of His presence, or the work of God in the life of someone we know or even our own life, but we haven't seen God in the way that Isaiah did in Isaiah chapter 6.
Read Isaiah 6:1-8.
Now notice some things here about Isaiah's interaction with God.
1--He truly saw God. No filters, no veils, no nothing. He says in verse 1, "I saw the Lord..." and then he explains what all he saw as he was looking at the Lord. So many times when we come to the Scriptures (which is where we truly see God), we come with a set of filters that taint our vision of Him. We come with preconceived notions that come from our past experiences, our upbringing, or our theological bent. But God wants us to look at Him without these filters, and just see Him for Who He is. We need to truly see God...no filters, no bias...and let that change us.
2--When Isaiah saw God for Who He was, he saw himself for who he was. Notice his response to seeing all of this in verse 5: "Woe to me! I am ruined!" A loose paraphrase might be, "Oh no! I'm going to die!" Why? "I am a man of unclean lips (or a sinner) and I live among a people of unclean lips (or sinners), and my eyes have seen the...Lord Almighty!"
When we see God for Who He truly is, then we realize just how much of a sinner we truly are. When God's reality becomes reality to us, our sinfulness becomes that much more apparent. There is nothing more hideous than seeing something you thought was clean held up next to something that really is clean. You thought it was looking good, but then you see that it wasn't all that good at all.
Isaiah identified his lips as unclean. Why was that? Because he was a preacher, and had been preaching for quite a while before this particular event took place. He was struck by the purity of God and that his own words were not as pure as God's words. This caused him to think that God would strike him down because of it.
But God's mercy triumphed over judgement and he sent the angel to purify Isaiah's lips. A burning hot coal on the mouth would have been painful. But that leads to the next thing I want you to think about...
3--When we see ourselves for who we are, it brings pain. God had to purge Isaiah from his sin and so when it happened, He brought pain upon him. Friends, our sin should bring us pain. Maybe not physical pain as in having a burning hot coal touch the part of your body that is sinful, but the pain of knowing that we have offended a righteous, holy, sovereign God. If our repentance and confession doesn't bring a modicum of pain, are we truly repentant? Pain is not always a bad thing.
When I was in college I tried my hand for about a week at weightlifting. Needless to say, I didn't stick with it. But one of the things that I remember my trainer telling me was this..."Pain is just weakness leaving the body!" I never forgot that. And this applies to the Christian life as well. When we experience pain...the pain of repentance, the pain of loss, the pain of being unjustly accused and persecuted...weakness leaves us. Spiritual weakness becomes a thing of the past. We become Spiritual Body Builders that can face the toughest of challenges in the strength that we have been given from the Lord. And we remember that it is not our strength, but God's!
4--Only after his sin was purged was Isaiah ready to do the work that God had called him to do. Friend, what is it in your life that the coal needs to touch? Perhaps it is your mind harboring lust, greed, envy or bitterness. Perhaps it is your hand that reaches out to steal, hurt or hide those things that are unworthy of the follower of Christ. Perhaps it is your lips that speak gossip, slander or lies. Perhaps it is your feet that take you to places you should not be. Whatever the case is, ask God to show you Who He is so that you will have the courage to tell Him where your sin is the ripest. Then He will purge your sin...painful as it may be...and then He will call to you.
Then be ready to say with Isaiah..."Here am I! Send me!"
Feel free to comment below or ask a question. And we hope to see you on Sunday!
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