We Need God to Do This Work in Us Often

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!