WOE TO ME
- Teresa Allissa Citro
- Sep 20, 2017
- 3 min read
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted..." Isaiah 6:1 Let me tell you what is so unbelievable to me about this verse.
First, King Uzziah had been generally a good king, but in the end he tried to take over the high priest duties, and this was a sin. God punished him, and he became a leper, and remained leprous until he died. You see, Isaiah had served as a scribe in the royal palace. This was a prestigious career. He walked in and out of the King's Palace. He saw what was happening.
Notice here that Isaiah saw the Lord, “in the year of King Uzziah’s death!"
Why didn’t God show himself before? Can it be because God wanted Isaiah to understand what the consequences to sin would be?
What was Isaiah’s response? “Woe to me!” he cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's Armies!"
You see he acknowledged that he had unclean lips, and that he lived among those who were not clean. How were they not clean? It means they were morally impure, evil, and vile, with unclean thoughts. They were morally defiled. They were unworthy. Because of this, he was tainted, contaminated, and felt dirty before a holy and pure God. May I suggest to you that where you go, who you are with, what you allow to enter your mind, because of who you choose to hang out with makes you unclean?
Secondly, I am impressed by how out of the way God went to call Isaiah. He could just have called to him and told him what he wanted, but God being God gave him a vision. This was no ordinary vision. Isaiah saw the Lord. He saw him in all of his splendor, beauty, and majesty. I believe God showed himself as holy because Isaiah would never be the same again. He needed to see that sin cannot dwell in Holiness. Why do I believe this? Because, immediately, Isaiah’s response was. Woe to me! Isaiah was filled with despair, anguish, and grief.
Have you seen the Lord?
Has the Holy Spirit shown you what sin does?
Isaiah immediately acknowledged his sin, and God being gracious, kind, and loving already had made the provision for him. One of the seraphs flew to him with a live burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched his lips and said, “See, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Today, if you confess with your lips Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and ask forgiveness, He will touch you with the fire of the Holy Spirit never to be the same again.
To God be all the glory!
Isaiah became one of the greatest Old Testament prophets, had powerful messages of both judgment and hope, carried out a consistent ministry, even though he was really ignored, his ministry brought him before five kings. He outlived them, and my favorite of all, he is quoted 50 times in the New Testament. People might not have heard what he had to tell them in his day, but billions of people adhere to what he has written.
You see what happens when we acknowledge our sins?
Do you see what God does with a life that is dedicated and sold out for Him?
Compare that to King Uzziah.
God is still calling, “whom shall we send?”
What is your response to the Holy Spirit?
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