How would you be able to say “yes” when God commissions you
to a task that will probably end with gloom and doom? How would you remain faithful to a call that
seems to have no hope?
Like those who have
to work in a environment that grows increasingly hostile;
Like those who care
for loved ones whose sufferings seem never-ending;
Like parents who
witness their children straying down the road toward destruction;
Like God’s people
who pray for the revival of their church for years only to see problems
mounting and the situation getting worse;
Like the church
that is supposed to be a witness for Jesus’ redeeming power, yet finds itself
becoming less and less relevant in a society of unprecedented moral and ethical
decline.
That was what
Prophet Isaiah faced. He was called to be a prophet to the kingdom of Judah.
But no matter how hard he worked, he knew that the nation would eventually be
destroyed (Isaiah 6:9-13). Talking about
wasting time!
What would enable
Isaiah to say “yes”?
First, a vision of
glorious holiness of God!
1 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. (Isaiah 6:1-4)
Then, an acute
awareness of his own uncleanness and sinfulness as a proper response to God’s
glorious presence:
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." (Isaiah 6:5)
Third,
an act of cleansing and sanctification in his life:
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live
coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said,
"See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin
atoned for." (Isaiah 6:6-7)
Only then, Isaiah was
able to receive God’s commission.
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!" (Isaiah 6:8)
As the ambassadors of
Christ with a great commission yet facing tremendous obstacles and challenges,
we are desperately in need of the
glorious visions of God’s holiness, the cleansing of Christ’s blood, and the
empowering of the Holy Spirit.
As weak and as easily
discouraged as we are, we need God to do
this work in us often!
May the Lord, in His
great mercy, satisfy these desires of our heart!
