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.
