The "Wow, Woe, and Wherever" Response

Unsplash: Joshua Earle

I'm journeying through the book of Isaiah (with the aid of this beautiful Bible study guide), and I've come to a familiar passage found in the beginning of chapter six.

Perhaps this passage is familiar for you as well. It is Isaiah's vision of God, his "cleansing and calling" as some scholars put it.

"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. 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. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!'  And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke."   Isaiah 1:1-4

I've come to see that this is the WOW part of Isaiah's response to God. It is true: when we get a sense of how awesome, holy, BIG and powerful God is, it makes a profound impact on us and causes us to stop what we are doing and do a mental and spiritual reset.

But the next part of Isaiah's response is interesting and impactful as well:

"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!'

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'"  Isaiah 1:5-7

I call this the WOE response. When we see God in his greatness and glory, we soon realize how small, sinful, and weak we are, and it can cause us to despair.  Our WHOA soon turns to WOE as we know that we don't have a lot of moral ground to stand on beside God in our own strength and ability.

Thankfully, God makes a way for us to be with Him through the process of atonement! We see a picture of this when the angel touches a burning coal to Isaiah's mouth to take his sin and guilt away. We as believers experience this cleansing when we trust in Jesus' saving work to take away our sin, so we can be united to Him and stand justified before God.

But Isaiah's response which follows this WOW and WOE is most interesting and challenging to me.

"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.'”  Isaiah 1:8

In essence, Isaiah says to God WHEREVER--wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to do--send ME.

Is that not beautiful? 

It seems that whenever we truly encounter the living, holy, awesome, mighty God, it ceases to be "life as usual" for us.

We see this in the lives of the disciples whom Jesus called.  At his command to "follow Him," they promptly left their day jobs, lifestyles, even friends and family in some cases, to adopt the agenda that Jesus had marked out for them to spread the gospel throughout the land.

So, what about you, dear friend?  Have you had an encouter with the living God that has caused you to see your sin, step into forgiveness, and then lay down your plans for your life, eager to do and say all that God asks of you?

May your life--may my life--never be the same when we encounter God.  May we be able to say to God, like Isaiah did: "wherever and whatever" in the power of his Holy Spirit today.

 

God’s Perfect Justice

 

Photo credit: Mr. Dietrich

“Don’t you SEE that?”

“Aren’t you going to DO something?!”

“This is ridiculous!”

“Are you kidding me?!”

This was the chorus that surrounded me last evening as I watched a home varsity lacrosse game from the stands. 

Cries rose up from adult men, women, and high school students alike, mostly directed at the referees, but also to one another, as they shouted in disbelief at the failure of flags thrown and fouls overlooked during the second half of the game. 

This conference match up always proves to be harrowing as both teams are superior in the league. Let’s just say that “contentious” might be putting it mildly, and I could feel the electric energy and palpable tension the entire time of play. 

On one level, it was an interesting display to watch. Our home players would score, then do a quick-step-and-fist-pump in front of the visiting student section. In similar form, their players would run at full speed toward one another, take a flying leap, and chest bump one another. It was quite a show of “athletic peacocking” as well as lacrosse playing skills to say the least.

Both teams played their hearts out as the game went into two periods of overtime. 

Finally, with one sure-fire shot into the net, sudden victory was achieved and the visiting team cheered at their game win.

I overheard one frustrated home team fan voice to another, “This is the worst officiating I’ve ever seen in my life!”

As a mom of one of the home team players, I can understand the frustration that was being vented throughout the game. But I am not certain that poor officiating handed our opponents their victory; I could see times when our team dropped the ball or plays could have been better executed. The car ride home was quiet and it put me into a pensive mood, reflecting upon God‘s perfect justice and His sure victory at the end of the Age.

Isaiah 11 says this beautifully, starting with verse 3:

 “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness, he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.” Isaiah 11:3-5

The passage goes on to paint a picture of how the lion will lay down with the lamb and how little children will play near the hole of the cobra. 

Won’t it be amazing in God‘s kingdom that there will be no rivalries or contentiousness, a place where predators and prey will live in harmony?!

You see, in God‘s kingdom, it plays out this way:

Did you SEE that? 

Yes, God SEES and KNOWS. 

Are you going to DO something about that? 

Yes, God will. (In fact, He already did by sending His Son, and He currently is as His kingdom unfolds here on earth)

My son came home with a bent pole from the last play (I’m thankful his pole bore the brunt of all that force, and not him!).

Maybe you, like me, feel a little bent up and beat up from the battle that wages in the world, and in our very own hearts at times.

But as believers in Christ, we’re so blessed to know the victor and to have the assurance that the battle has already been fought and WON!

Jesus is Better

Unsplash: Emma Shappley

Last week, we looked at the exhortation to throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that entangles us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us (see Hebrews 12:1).  Put in this way, it seems that throwing off our excess baggage, as it were, is for our benefit: to achieve the purpose God has for us, for our good and for His ultimate glory. In the larger context of Hebrews, we can do this because Jesus (as the author of Hebrews so eloquently lays out for us) is better.

This week, we will consider a few other reasons why we are called to throw off all that hinders us and the sin that can entangle that also appear in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews.

There is a sizable section of the chapter devoted to the concept that God disciplines us because He is our father and we are His children, and that His reproof is actually an outpouring of His love, done only as  a result of our relationship as sons to Him. 

"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.' [requoted from Prov 3: 11-12] It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?"   Hebrews 12:5-7

So, when we feel the conviction of sin, we ought to interpret that as the grace bestowed upon us by a tender, loving Father, laboring to draw us closer to Himself.  It is not a bad thing, ultimately, but a very good thing! It establishes us as His children, giving us comfort and security that we are indeed a part of His fold.

Lastly, the twelfth chapter of Hebrews ends with the concept that God is to be feared. In fact, a huge reason why we ought to gettison anything in our lives that does not serve our spiritual walk or bring glory to Him is that God is a powerful, frightening, wrathful God, and what He says GOES.  I am afraid that we do not meditate upon God's wrath enough as modern Christ-followers.  Yes, God is our gracious Father, disciplining us out of His fatherly love. But He is also a wrathful, terrifying God with whom no one dared encounter in the time of the Exodus. (If you recall, the Israelite people elected Moses to be their spokesperson and mediator out of fear of talking directly with God or coming into His presence.)

"For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, 'If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.' Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I tremble with fear.'”    Hebrews 12:18-21

I am challenged by how this chapter includes the exhortation found in verse 25: 

"See that you do not refuse him who is speaking." 

Will you...will I...ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit to throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles?  Or will we listen, obey, and choose not to quench the Spirit's work in our hearts and lives?

I am thankful for the power we have through our union with Christ to say NO to sin, since sin is quite literally dead to us (see Romans 6), and for the ability in Christ to throw off and to run hard!  May we do this in our lives, and may a watching world be in wonder at the amazing God in all of our midst.