April 20, 2022

Isaiah 20: 2 (NIV)

At that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah . . . He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

God wastes nothing.*

Isaiah was an educated man who was comfortable among the powerful and the elite of Judah. As an advisor to kings, he “helped set the course of his nation.”* Now God has issued a bizarre command to Isaiah: take off your clothes and your shoes. We assume that God did not intend for Isaiah to go about completely naked but that he was only required to remove the sackcloth which identified him as a prophet. And Isaiah did as he was told. For three years. 

God chose this method to present a “dramatic object lesson”* in protest of an alliance with Egypt and Cush. In our eyes, this appears to be a waste of Isaiah’s gifts and skills. Sometimes we, too, may be called to service that seems “beneath us” but when we, like Isaiah, say, “Here am I. Send me,” (Isaiah 6: 8) we’d better expect the unexpected! We can be certain, though, that whatever is required of us, it can’t compare to what our Savior endured on our behalf – and the reward far exceeds our sacrifices.

Based on my experience, I have concluded that if your response is not, ‘Oh no!’ it is probably not the call of God.*