Monday, September 17: Isaiah 6- .Oh, to see the Lord

 

I sat and wondered what it would be like to see the Lord as was Isaiah's privilege... In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

"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."

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

He said, "Go and tell this people... (1-9)

I imagine my heart beating wildly, fear, yes, actual FEAR mixed with reverence and awe covering me. I doubt I could speak. And when the Lord speaks I wonder if I could hear, not for lack of interest or anything like that but because I am overwhelmed.

Isaiah stood, fully cognoscente of his sin, his lack, his unworthiness. I'm sure I and any human would be there, too.

Often when I think of heaven, I think of being overwhelmed in the presence, physical, actual presence of perfection. Isaiah had a taste of that here on earth and it marked his life forever.

Oh, God, I don't know that I even dare to pray that I have an experience like Isaiah. It is too wonderful and the responsibility thereafter too great. I will pray for a sense of Your presence. I will pray for a growing sense of Your presence in and around my life from now until You bring me into your full presence.  Through Christ, my Lord, I pray. Amen.