Perspective
Read Isaiah 6:1-7.
What does it mean to be called by God? For an Old Testament prophet, it meant that his life was turned upside down and he was given a new perspective—a heavenly perspective.
Isaiah was in mourning. He was grieving. He had gone to the Temple to find some solace after the death of his friend and king, Uzziah. Most of us have been there—not to the Temple, per se, but we've found ourselves fleeing to a comfortable place in a time of need or trial. Isaiah comes to the Temple to spend some quiet time in the presence of the God he knows and trusts. I imagine that on the way, he's asking God to explain: why did Uzziah die? Why now? And what now? What comes next for the nation?
When he arrives at the Temple, he is given a vision of the Lord in his heaven. Not that God can only show up at church, but God does show up where Isaiah is. He will show up in the places where we are grieving as well. And the perspective Isaiah gains is this: God is God, and Isaiah is not.
God is God: "'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" (6:3-4).
Isaiah is not: "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (6:5).
What does it mean to be called by God? For an Old Testament prophet, it meant that his life was turned upside down and he was given a new perspective—a heavenly perspective.
Isaiah was in mourning. He was grieving. He had gone to the Temple to find some solace after the death of his friend and king, Uzziah. Most of us have been there—not to the Temple, per se, but we've found ourselves fleeing to a comfortable place in a time of need or trial. Isaiah comes to the Temple to spend some quiet time in the presence of the God he knows and trusts. I imagine that on the way, he's asking God to explain: why did Uzziah die? Why now? And what now? What comes next for the nation?
When he arrives at the Temple, he is given a vision of the Lord in his heaven. Not that God can only show up at church, but God does show up where Isaiah is. He will show up in the places where we are grieving as well. And the perspective Isaiah gains is this: God is God, and Isaiah is not.
God is God: "'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" (6:3-4).
Isaiah is not: "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (6:5).
And while that perspective could have led to another round of despair and grief, Isaiah instead finds himself touched by the grace of God. He is reminded that he is and can be forgiven. He is gently nudged toward the fact that he doesn't have to be God; that job is already taken. He can, however, be used by God to make a difference in the world. His call is not to stay in the Temple; his call is to go, to preach, and to bring people back to an encounter with this God. Isaiah's ministry is not to be about Isaiah; it's to be about the God whose glory fills the Temple and, indeed, the whole earth (Psalm 72:19).
And the same call Isaiah had still rests on you and me. You have been forgiven. You have been commissioned. Go! Speak! Shine!
I pray I will have a clearer picture of his calling on my life at some point.
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