Isaiah 6:1-9 (NIV) 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.’
I
wonder how many of us today would count ourselves among those who hear but do
not understand, who see but do not perceive. Instead, we build up a lot of
petty resentment, small guilts, failures, wrongs, hurts, and doubts that make life
heavy, tiring, dull. We fall into a kind of spiritual stupor. We attend church,
are loyal to the church, recognize that the church is a good and important
institution, but have never really been touched in the center of our life by
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Outwardly we still go through the motions of faith. But,
inwardly, we think, “who cares? I’m too tired, too burdened, too weary.”
Then
God drops that tiny spark of redeeming love into our lives and it acts like a
giant incinerator, burning up all that useless clutter that has made our hearts
dull toward God. Our lives are lightened by losing all that junk we have carried
around for so many years, our eyes are opened and our hearts are made sensitive
to the presence of the living God.
The
prophet Isaiah gives us a unique, personal, inside view of what it is like to
have God open our eyes and ears and make our hearts open and responsive to
God’s living Presence. As God breaks down the barriers around our lives we may
be shaken. But it is only for the moment, because God does not reveal Himself
nor enter our life simply to rattle us. We receive God’s shalom, His life, His
power, His love, His grace. In the process we may have been shaken and may have
felt remorseful, but now we experience what it’s all about, and this beautiful
things happens. We become obedient to God’s will though God does not take
advantage. He leaves us totally free. But, we say, “I’m here. Send me.”
From
a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 13, 1974
©
Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)
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