‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ – Isaiah 6:3
If you would like to see the year 2020 stick around a while, you may be the only person on planet Earth who does. In a strange kind of way, the chaos, pandemic, economic downturns, political events, and other issues have shown Americans who they really are! And it has revealed that same thing to Christ-followers.
Take a moment on this last day of the year to spend time in the presence of your Holy God. Will you say as Isaiah did in chapter 6, “I am undone” (Isaiah6:5 KJ21)? Other translations say “ruined,” “doomed,” “unclean,” or “lost.” Whichever word appeals to you, it is clear that Isaiah felt there was no hope for him because his every word was sinful and he lived among people just like him. Oswald Chambers said, “There is always the sign that a man or woman is in the presence of God. There is never any vague sense of sin, but the concentration of sin in some personal particular.” Being in the presence of a Holy God is revelatory.
So what do you do? You accept His forgiveness (1 John 1:9), and you prepare yourself for another vision of Him in your life. You may not have a vision like that of Isaiah… few ever will… but you may have a keen sense of His calling on you. In that case, your response should be the same as his, “Here I am! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
Be ready for 2021 with your sins confessed and a readiness to accept God’s call upon your life. Pray for the newest members of Congress to contemplate what call God may have placed on them and to be ready to obey.
Today’s Verse: Isaiah 6:3
And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Isaiah 6
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
