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Isaiah 6: 5 (NIV)
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For
I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my
eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
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| With revelation comes response.* |
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My husband was preparing an offering meditation to present
in church on Sunday and he decided that he ought to get my permission before he
used my name in vain. He had referred to himself as a “colossal” sinner because
of his sinful past (he didn’t become a Christian until he was in his twenties);
in contrast, he called me a “milquetoast” sinner. I vehemently objected to the
term and demanded that he reword his description of me. Indeed, I cannot point
to episodes of scandal and rebellion in my life, but I am a sinner all the
same.
Isaiah saw the Lord “seated on a throne, high and exalted,”
and what he saw changed him forever. Seeing the glory of God opened his eyes to
the truth about himself. You also may have a dramatic testimony about how God
changed your life; but with or without the drama, exposure to God exposes our
sin. Even those of us who are “milquetoast” sinners.
Isaiah’s response to his new awareness gives us a template
for how we should react when we have reached that crossroads of our former
ignorance and our new realization. He confessed his sinfulness as recorded in
this verse, and we see proof of his repentance in his answer to God’s call
(verse 8): “Here am I. Send me!” Sin – recognized, confessed, and repented – is
forgiven and forgotten. When we follow his example, our lives, purged of the
shame, become purified vessels, worthy to serve the King, the Lord Almighty.
Did Isaiah know exactly what he was agreeing to do? Probably
not. But he knew that God needed him and he answered the call. We are faced
with that same moment of decision. What will you choose – repentance or
rejection? Are you afraid of what God will require of you? Are you unwilling to
trust him to direct your path? Or will you bravely and faithfully say, “I have
seen the King. Send me.”
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| We cannot bring our service to God in an unclean vessel.* |
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