Isaiah 6:5: “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! / Because 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.'”

July 31st, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

King Uzziah, the 11th king of Judah, died while Isaiah was ministering in Judah. Uzziah was crowned at the age of 16 and reigned 52 years. Despite his failings, he was perhaps the greatest king since David. Uzziah had been a friend to Isaiah; and when he died, Isaiah was heartbroken and discouraged. So Isaiah made his way to the temple to seek the Lord. There in the temple, Isaiah had a ground-shaking encounter with God Almighty. As soon as he saw the vision of God’s holiness, it vividly reminded him of his own unworthiness, making him painfully aware of his sin.

Encountering God in a way that makes us acutely aware of His holiness and our sinfulness, which then leads us to repentance and submission, was then and is now, the way God prepares a person for cleansing and commissioning. Years before, when King Uzziah had entered the temple, he had became angry because the priests wouldn’t let him do what he thought he should be able to do, offer sacrifices. When Isaiah came into the temple, he had the completely opposite response, realizing his own unworthiness and thinking he shouldn’t even be there. One man came out of the temple a leper and the other came out clean and purified. So which do you suppose is the proper response to God’s presence, Uzziah’s or Isaiah’s?

High in the Rockies, in southwestern Alberta, during a raging blizzard, John Elliott logged many miles through the deep snows of the mountain passes, checking for avalanches. As dusk and exhaustion overcame him, he decided to “hole-up.” He made it wearily back to his cabin. But dazed with fatigue, he did not light a fire or remove his wet clothing. As the blizzard blasted through the cracks in the old cabin walls, the sleeping forest ranger sank into oblivion, paralyzed by the pleasure of the storm’s icy caress. Suddenly, however, his dog sprang into action, and with unrelenting whines, finally managed to rouse his nearly comatose friend. “If that dog hadn’t been with me, I’d be dead today,” John Elliott said. “When you’re freezing to death, you actually feel warm all over, and you don’t wake up because it feels too good.” This is a powerful illustration of the deadly deceptiveness of sin. We are rarely able to rouse ourselves out of our sin because we are paralyzed by its pleasure. We need a dramatic encounter with the holiness of God to stir us up, before it’s too late.

“LORD, please help us to get a glimpse of You so that we can understand our need for Your cleansing touch again this day.”