Friday, January 4, 2019

Rocking the Temple

Friday, January 4, 2019

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord.  He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.  Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings.  With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.  They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!  The whole earth is filled with his glory!”  Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.  Then I said, “It’s all over!  I am doomed, for I am a sinful man.  I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips.  Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”  Isaiah 6:1-5(NLT)

Every time I think of Isaiah, or read his prophecy, I cannot get that sentence I heard many years ago out of my head:
If you have never stood in the presence of Almighty God with the ground shaking under you, and your lips burning because you realize you are a sinful man, you have never really stood in the presence of Almighty God.
There are so many inadequate ideas about who God really is:
·      Some name Him as Creator, far off, and unknowable
·      Some see Him only as a judge, stern, unloving punisher of all humans
·      Some imagine He’s all warm and fuzzy, love…your best life is His only waking thoughts…He’s like a great, cosmic vending machine…pop-in a request, and you win the lottery from Heaven.
The only problem with those inadequate ideas of God is they’re inadequate. 
·      God IS the creator, and he is certainly different than us, but His deepest desire is for relationship; he want us to know him. 
·      As JUDGE, God will involve himself in our lives for the sake of righteous fairness, but only because He is just and righteous; he is the only one in the universe equipped to judge. 
·      As for that insipid Heavenly vending machine idea…leave that to the curly-haired Sunday morning Texas tv guru.  God never promised to give you everything you want, only everything that is best for you, and that which fits with His will (which, by the way, is always what’s best for you.)  When I was seven, I wanted a real horse; but we lived in an 800 square foot 4 room house, and my father got laid-off at the factory often.  Mom and Dad could not have afforded to feed a horse, much less buy one.  But they also knew their son would have trouble following through on caring for that horse, feeding, brushing, walking, exercise; their son couldn’t keep his shoes tied!  If earthly parents understand their child, certainly God doesn’t just throw the divine checkbook open to our whims and greed.
So, what do you do when you find yourself standing in the presence of an Almighty God, Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of the universe, and the place is rocking because the thunderous angels are flying back and forth before the throne, shouting Glory to God?  Do you dare speak?  Would you even be able to speak?  Should you try?  Isaiah did what we should do – he acknowledged his own sinfulness and frail nature in the presence of the power that drives every molecule of creation.  He knew he was a “goner” if he got what he deserved, so he presented himself to God as one who stood in need of mercy.
That day in the temple Isaiah was as nervous as Tennessee Ernie Ford’s long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers with the temple rocking all around him.  I’ve stood a few times at Niagara Falls, the border between New York and Canada, with the water spewing over a 167-foot drop at the rate of 85,000 cubic feet per second[2].  That’s a LOT of water, and it makes a lot of noise, shaking the ground under you, and intimidating people like me from getting too close to the ferocious activity on the other side of the protective hand-railing.  But there are also generators harnessing that power, producing 2.4 gigawatts of power, one of the largest power-producers in the world.  Dangerous if you’re careless, but able to light up several counties if approached with respect.
And, like Isaiah, what we find when we come to God is a powerful, but merciful God who always wants us to find forgiveness in His presence, and the open door to a new way that leads to eternal life, and fellowship with Him.
For You Today
God wants us near Him, so, get close – but remember Isaiah; approach on your knees.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.




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