Sorry for the late posting. I changed my days off this week and it messed up my routine........
In Isaiah chapter 6 we read about the call of Isaiah to his prophetic ministry of warning Judah regarding their wickedness.
In his vision, Isaiah expresses his concern about his worthiness in verse 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 LordAlmighty."
Isaiah's concern was resolved by the seraphim in verses 6-7: "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.”"
Isaiah understood that he was not perfect and that the words from his lips are no different than everyone else. He needed to have his sins atoned for. We are no different. We are wicked with our words, thoughts, and actions too. Lucky for us, we have an opportunity of this atonement too; through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Once again, we have read how the Lord will call people to do His work that do not "feel" worthy to do so. It is God who equips, prepares, and leads those whom He calls. It is not our ability, but God's.
When God calls His messenger, He also prepares the people receiving the message. It is prophesied that the people will hear and see, but will not understand nor perceive (vs 9). The hearts of the people in the land were hardened, along with having fingers in their ears, and blindfolds covering their eyes. The result of this hardness was their rejection to God's warnings.
Isaiah's response to this rejection was not that this was going to be an exercise in futility, but rather he asks, "For how long, O lord?" (vs 11)
We are called to tell others of God and His love and He will prepare the hearts of those who hear it. They may reject those words at the time of hearing them, but it does not mean we are to not plant those seeds.
For how long are we to tell others about God? Until our city is emptied out and the houses are left deserted. That's how long. My prayer is that I can have that desire and passion in letting others know of our Saviour.
1 comment:
Great post Conrad.
It would have been so easy (and so human!) for Isaiah to respond with dejection with such a futile-seeming mission. What an encouragement to us to keep on speaking the gospel message as long as there is still hope.
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