THE ‘BUT’ OF GOD
Opening Prayer
Loving Lord, I praise You for the joy that comes because You are for me, with me, and within me each day.
Read Isaiah 6
Isaiah’s Commission
6 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. 2 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. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “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.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 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!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Sometimes God gives us images to help us grasp a fraction of His size and splendor. Picture God’s robe so big that just its train fills your church building. Let that image lead you to worship.It is easy for us to forget how serious sin is, or to minimize its significance.
We can be taken aback when we read passages like today’s, when God reveals the devastation He is going to bring to His beloved children. How can we square such destruction with such love?
The ‘live coal’ in verse 6 gives us a helpful picture. Just as surgical instruments must be heated to a very high heat to kill off every infectious micro-organism, so Isaiah’s lips had to be sterilized with heat to ensure they were completely clean. The only way to deal with sin is to eradicate it completely; to leave some ‘sin spores’ festering in the petri dish would be more harmful to Israel in the long run.
But don’t miss the ‘but’ at the end – when Israel is cleansed, that which is holy will survive. In this season of Advent, we recognize the darkness of our broken world, yet we await with eager anticipation the ‘but’ of God, the promised shoot of holiness emerging from the blackened stump.
Apply
Ponder on how great and merciful God is, despite your sin. Allow these thoughts to lead you into worship of our great God.
Closing prayer
Heavenly Father, You call me beyond myself; You send me beyond my imagination; You empower me beyond my capacity. I praise You.
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