REVDANS

Isaiah 6:11 ESV  Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”

How many times have we strugglers asked this question?! Through interminable financial difficulties, through lingering illness, through painful relationships, through unfulfilling work, through unrewarding ministry, we cry out, “HOW LONG!!!”

We think, “God will never give me more than I can bear, but I don’t understand how he can trust me with so much!”

When Isaiah was confronted with the task the Lord had assigned to him, he too cries out, “How long?”

The prophet feels that in the divine counsels there must be a limit to this process of judicial hardening, that it must reach a crisis with a day of hope beyond it. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

God does not give that hope, except to declare that there will be a remnant who will respond.

In Matthew 13 Jesus explains to his disciples why he teaches the people in parables. He uses the words spoken to Isaiah as his explanation, reminding the disciples of the hardness and spiritual dullness that is the spiritual condition of many people during his ministry.

In Acts 28 Paul called together the leaders of the Jews in Rome to explain to them his circumstances and to proclaim to them the gospel. Because of his testimony, a strong disagreement arose among those who were open to Paul’s teaching and those who were not. Paul quotes the words of Isaiah to explain their unwillingness to listen.

In Romans 11 Paul uses the message of Isaiah to explain the rejection of the Jews to the Messiah sent from God to deliver them.

In John 12 John uses the words of Isaiah to explain the reason that people still failed to believe in Jesus, even after the signs he had performed in their midst.

One thing I have learned in ministry is this: the spiritual dullness and power of unbelief is beyond comprehension and the words of Isaiah are as appropriate a description of the condition of people in our day as they were in his:

Isaiah 6:9-10 ESV  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.”

Anyone who answers the call of God and thinks that because we are willing to go that people will be willing to receive is under a serious cloud of delusion. We are called to go because people need our ministry, and God is sending us because he wants them to know him, but we cannot harbor any illusions here (or delusions) that the task will be easy or that the work will be immediately rewarding. Much prayer, long hours, heavy heart, and deep spiritual concern await those who enter into a ministry of helping people in need who think they need no help.

Now, I am not trying to be pessimistic, overly skeptical, or deliberately discouraging. I am seeking to present a realistic idea of what to expect in ministry. Are there rewards? YES! Will some people respond? YES! Will there be times of elation and satisfaction? YES! Will this be a bed of roses? NO! NO! NO!

If you don’t understand the full scope of the ministry or the challenges that await you, you will be tempted to give up, start over elsewhere, run and hide, or go back on the call. Don’t you do it!

How long? Until….

Isaiah 6:8 ESV  … Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

When young Samuel heard the voice of God, he mistook it for Eli’s voice and ran to Eli crying, “Here I am!” He did this three times before Eli recognized that it was the Lord’s voice Samuel was hearing and told him to respond to the voice in this way: “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” The message that God gives to Samuel was certainly a burden for a young boy to bear, but Samuel responded to the Lord, and “grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.”

“Here I am!” “Present and ready for duty, Sir!” This is a wonderful response to the call of God. It is the way servants whom God has used always respond. God will not force us into his service. He will not twist the arm or pull by the hair. He wants willing servants, who go because he called.

Now, we need to realize that this response is just like the response of any groom or bride. When they answer the question of commitment with “I do” or “I will”, they really don’t have a clue about what that answer will involve or how it will challenge and change their lives. So, when we answer, “Here I am! Send me,” we also have no clue about how our answer will challenge and change us. I believe that we are usually, as Isaiah was here, sincere in our response and desire to serve. But we are clueless as to what that will involve. Of course, if we knew everything that our “Yes” would involve, we might be reluctant to respond at all. But respond we have and keep our word we must.

God does give Isaiah an indication of the kind of ministry he would have. Tell them, God says:

‘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.”
Isaiah 6:9-10 ESV 

In essence, God is saying to Isaiah that he is to speak for God but the people will not listen to him. Isaiah is going to have a challenging ministry and one with little visible results. It will be, at times, discouraging and disheartening. I can hear a voice saying, “Are you doing this for ME or for yourself.” I’m doing this for you, God. “Are you wanting recognition, praise, acclaim, or do you want to hear ‘Well done’?” I want to hear “Well done.” “Are you concerned about me and my word or are you concerned about your reputation?” I’m concerned about you and your word, God! “Then, go and do the task I have assigned to you and I will be with you!”

Are you ready to say, “Here I am! Send me”? Have you said it and now are struggling with its application to your life and circumstances? God’s call comes with his enabling grace.

Isaiah 6:8 ESV  And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

Here is the test of friendship, indeed the test for best friends: Will you be there for me when I need you? Best friends always respond: No matter where you are, no matter when you need me, I will be there for you!

Anyone who has followed hard after God has had the experience of the “call.” The call is the challenge to follow God into ministry, into service. Jesus came NOT to be served, but to serve. God does not just reveal himself to us so that we can “have the experience.” He comes to us in order to prepare us to go for him to others. “Go into all the world and disciple all nations.” When you seek God and his kingdom, you can expect the question to come: Will you go?

Now, we may respond as Moses did and offer God excuses. Remember, God revealed himself to Moses from the burning bush.  Moses was on holy ground and hid his face, afraid to look at God. It is from that bush that God speaks to Moses about what is on HIS heart. When you are seeking God, you expect to share with him what is on YOUR heart. But you may not be prepared for him to share what is on HIS heart. He has determined to deliver his people from Egypt and wants Moses to take the message to Pharaoh to “let my people go.” Moses immediately begins to make excuses.

Excuse 1: Who am I? Who am I, God, to represent you? I don’t have money, I don’t have status, I don’t have recognition, I don’t have advanced degrees, I don’t have visual appeal, I don’t have a glamorous lifestyle, I don’t have what it takes. And to whom does the world listen? To those who do. But I also believe that the world will have to pay attention to someone in whom and through whom the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE is working! God says to you, “But I will be with you!”

Excuse 2: When I am asked about whom I serve, what do I say? We have heard the response before, just as Moses heard it from Pharaoh, “Who do you think you are?” We are so afraid that we will be made an embarrassment if we are asked about God, that we choose to avoid religious questions and religious discussion altogether. The solution to this dilemma is not to avoid these discussions or to cower in a corner afraid to “be found out.” GET PREPARED! God says, “I am who I am.” Jesus says, “He is the God of the living and not the dead.” Get to know him, if you intend to represent him. There ARE answers and you CAN know the God you seek to serve. “I AM” has revealed himself to us in his WORLD, in his WORD, and most specially in his SON.

Excuse 3: They will not believe me or listen to me! Sometimes we get the idea that WE are the ones who have to make the impression, get the job done, assure results. We forget that we are partners with the living God, who has made the world, worked miracles, accomplished his plan, worked according to his good pleasure. We start to bear the burden of the work on our shoulders, thinking that the God who has requested our service has left the task to us. What do you have in your hand? God can use it in miraculous ways, if you will let go, trust, and allow him to work. God does NOT call us to get results. He calls us to be faithful and obedient.

Excuse 4: I don’t have what it takes. Now, we often mistake this kind of response for humility. And Moses was, after all, the meekest and humblest man on the face of the earth. Well, forget using this one with God. He sees through our false humility and sees selfish pride. We want to deflect the question of “who will go?” by just shrugging it off with the old “I can’t do it” mantra of childhood days. “I am the God who made you!” You can’t, but I can through you! I will take what you have and make it work! If God is calling you, he wants to use you and He will do the work through you. You just need to be willing to be his vessel.

Excuse 5: Here I am, please send HIM or HER! Send someone else. God, I just don’t want to do this. It seems too difficult, too challenging, too dangerous, too big. At this point, the Bible says that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” In other words, God gets upset when we try to excuse ourselves with “can’t someone else do it!” My mom always had the same response when I tried to use the “can’t Mark or Carolyn do it.” She would say, “But I asked you to do it!” If God has called YOU, he wants YOU to do it.

Isaiah used none of these excuses with God here, but I think there are many who respond the way Moses did. What excuses are you using to avoid the call of God to get involved in service? When are you going to stop making excuses and get “going”?

The disobedient and selfish will respond to the flattery of the world and listen to its siren song, but God’s people will stand up and move forward with him. Daniel 11:32 ESV  He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

Isaiah 6:6-7 ESV  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.”

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

There are some things that we know about sin:

1.  Sin’s consequences don’t simply disappear just because we ignore them.

Experience has taught us that this is true. King David was still struggling with the consequences of his unconfessed sins of adultery and murder a year later. The undercurrent of restlessness, shame, and guilt causes turmoil in relationships, outbursts of anger and rage, physical illness, emotional instability, and mental anguish. Until dealt with, the guilt and shame of sin eat away at our internal lives and can ultimately destroy us. Like a volcano, the bubbling cauldron of these internal feelings lie waiting to erupt with violent force unexpectedly.

2.  True guilt is the result of sin and it lingers until sin is dealt with.

God has created us with an internal alarm called the “conscience.” It goes off inside us when we sin and continues to sound until a satisfactory solution is provided. The only way to remove the guilt of sin is to deal with it properly. It can’t be ignored or dismissed. It must be removed. God offers pardon that is genuine, sufficient, and readily available to the repentant sinner.

3.  False guilt lingers when we are unsure that the remedy for sin is sufficient.

False guilt is the kind of guilt that holds us back, even after we have applied the remedy for sin, because we do not trust that the remedy is sufficient. We doubt that the apology is genuine, we wonder about ulterior motives, we cannot believe that forgiveness is possible, we even doubt that God desires to forgive or has provided for our forgiveness. We may feel that we deserve to be convicted or haven’t been punished enough.

4.  Forgiveness that doesn’t deal with the satisfaction of sin’s penalty is hollow and discomforting.

We intuitively know that an “I’m sorry” isn’t enough to satisfy sin’s consequences or our guilt. We struggle to find ways to “repay” the one we have wronged because we feel that we haven’t “atoned” for our sins. We know that there is a price for sin and, until we are convinced it has been paid, we will not be satisfied with less.

5.  The Bible lays the foundation of the satisfaction of sin’s penalty through substitutionary sacrifice.

The consistent message of both Testaments in the Bible portray sin as the problem and sacrifice as the solution. The author of Hebrews reveals the connection most clearly. The continual offering of sacrifices in the Old Testament established both the need for sacrifice and the insufficiency of the blood of bulls and goats to deal sufficiently with sin.

6.  God has provided the sacrifice himself: Jesus Christ his one and only Son is our sacrificial lamb.

This is also the consistent message of the Bible. Abraham experienced in a vivid illustration what God has done for all of us. His son was spared and God himself provided the sacrifice for the altar on Mount Moriah. No wonder John 3:16 is a favorite verse. It describes the gift of God as his Son for our sin.

7.  The release and relief of true forgiveness is a blessed experience.

Psalms 32:1-2 ESV Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Romans 4:7-8 ESV  “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

The solution to Isaiah’s need is provided through the purging of his sin by divine fire from the altar. This is a wonderful comfort for anyone who has seen the Lord and confronted the gravity of sin. Sin must be dealt with and we are not capable of dealing with it ourselves. Thankfully, God has dealt with it for us and is willing to apply the solution to our need, even as Isaiah experienced the purification of his lips with the burning coal administered by God’s angelic servant. The only condition is repentance: a willingness to turn from our sin and receive God’s forgiveness.

Isaiah 6:5 ESV  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!”

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

It is obvious to the reader that Isaiah felt an acute unworthiness to enter worship and praise so majestic and holy. He may have also felt an unworthiness to share the message of God as a prophet. I find it interesting that he focused on the lips and recognized that they were “unclean.” He also realized that he was living among “a people of unclean lips.” I believe that we are prone to think of sin as that which we commit by DOING something wrong or NOT DOING something we know we should. But to admit that we sin most frequently and most viciously with our mouths is uncommon. Many are not even aware of sins of the mouth. We cut, we hurt, we wound others with our speech. And we are not anxious to talk about it either. We even excuse it as harmless, meaningless, unintentional and humorous. We live in a culture of impure speech and communication, and we are oblivious to it.

Controlling our language is challenging. In fact, it is so difficult to control our speech that James places controlling the tongue as the test of self-control.

James 3:2 ESV  For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

Lying, stretching the truth, slander, gossip, foolish talk, crude joking, and impure communication are common all around us—in fact, so common that we seldom notice and rarely confront the culprits.

Partly, I think that these sins of speech are common because we tend to think of them as less sinful and less harmful. Neither assumption is true. The Bible clearly says that they are sin, and their destructiveness is evident to any thinking person, especially to the person who has been the brunt or target of such a sin.

How can we be sure that our communication is pleasing to the Lord? St. Paul reminds the Ephesian believers:

Ephesians 4:29 ESV  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Communication that builds others up, that offers grace to those who hear, is the kind of communication that pleases the Lord. This type of communication does not just “happen.” This communication requires purposeful effort. Choosing the most beneficial message demands a thoughtful and perceptive approach that considers the needs, circumstances, and mood of the person.

Proverbs 25:11 ESV  A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11 CEV  The right word at the right time is like precious gold set in silver.

It is RARE and PRICELESS.

Isaiah 6:5 ESV  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!”

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

Having received a renewed vision of the majesty and holiness of God, Isaiah is immediately aware of his own sinfulness. This is the challenge and difficulty of approaching God. The closer we get, the greater the light shines into our lives and illuminates the dark corners, revealing the dust and grime of sin, whose presence we were previously unaware of.

Isaiah is not alone in this experience. Job expresses a deep consciousness of guilt, after seeing the holiness and majesty of God:

Job 42:5-6 ESV  I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

The apostle Peter expresses a similar sentiment after the miracle of a large catch of fish.

Luke 5:8 ESV  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

The painful truth is this: we cannot get close to God without confronting our sin. This truth may adequately explain why so few pursue God passionately. To do so is to plumb the depths of our own inadequacies, insecurities, ill-tempers, and iniquities. We cannot remain comfortable, indeed we cannot remain the same, when we confront the glory, majesty, and holiness of God. God remains unchanged, demanding that we change as we move ever nearer or withdraw if we refuse.

May the Fellowship of the Burning Heart press on into His presence and face the painful truth. And may we join King David in praying:

Psalms 139:23-24 ESV  Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Isaiah 6:1    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.

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

Have you ever experienced circumstances so dramatic, so unsettling, so upsetting that they rocked your world, sending you searching for new meaning to life, a reevaluation of your present situation, a reordering of priorities?

Isaiah notes that King Uzziah died. He was a powerful and, for the most part godly king who reigned from 792 to 740 BC, but was stricken with leprosy, and remained leprous until his death, because he insisted on offering incense in the temple. That presumption cost the king greatly.

It seems that Isaiah was affected by the passing of Uzziah. He uses the death as a marker for this vision, because it seems to have made a powerful impression on him. Something was stirring in the soul of Isaiah. Perhaps he needed a reassurance of God’s presence or leading.

In 1975 I found myself in a situation where I was struggling to find God’s leading for my future. I was attending a Bible college, but was unsure that I wanted to pursue the ministry. My father had left the ministry years earlier, bitter and disillusioned about Christians (so called) and the church, and he discouraged me from considering this option. I wasn’t particularly eager to pursue this path anyway, realizing that it would be a difficult path demanding sacrifice and humility.

I found myself at a Christian summer camp as a counselor and, unexpectedly during an evening service, God spoke to me deeply in my spirit. I knew unmistakably that he was the source of the voice and I could neither ignore nor expel the impact of his presence. I could only lie on my face before him in silence, weeping for what seemed like an eternity, though the incident only lasted an hour or so. Upon rising from that encounter, I left determined not only to continue my Bible college education, but to enter the ministry as well. That encounter with God has propelled me through over 38 years of Christian ministry, certain that this is God’s leading for my life. Though my dad declared emphatically that this was the last thing in the world he would have wished for me, this path has proven both satisfying and rewarding.

Another incident occurred in 2006, when I lost my best friend, his teenage daughter, and two parents to death within the course of less than a year. There are times when circumstances will no longer permit us to continue on our present course in comfort and security. We are shaken to the core and our comfort and stability are unmasked as fear, insecurity and faithlessness. We see that what we have been satisfied to accept as our lot, what we have been willing to endure as our station in life, the price we have been willing to pay for maintaining the status quo, is no longer agreeable, no longer acceptable, no longer tolerable. I was set on a course that redirected my pursuits and brought me to Nashville, TN.

This past year brought changes that caused me to take a hard inward look. The fact that I am entering my last decade of ministry before age starts becoming a hindrance (or at least the effects of age) has also precipitated the desire to answer a challenging question: How can I spend these years most effectively? I don’t want to waste a single day, because there are so many less left to accomplish what God has called me to do. And there is a stirring in my soul to move to a deeper level of knowing God. I also want to leave, as Paul said, faithful men who will be able to teach others. It’s time to consider the kind of legacy I want to leave behind.

I confess that I am a little apprehensive (fearful) about these rumblings of God in my soul. They usually mean that he is going to shake up my world again. That’s the challenge of following God; you don’t know all that will need to change, but you are certain that things will change.

I wonder if this is what Isaiah experienced “in the year King Uzziah died.” I’m also wondering if any of my readers have experienced what I am describing.