Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Isaiah - Day 114

versebyverse | October 01, 2008 17:59

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:5 (NIV):  " 'Woe to me!' I 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 Almighty.' "

Thought:  To me, until I come to a sense of personal "ruination", I will not fully know God.

Question:  Does "woe" come to you from outside yourself, or do you sense your own "woe" from within?

Isaiah reacts properly.  He also reacts personally.  This is good.  We all should react in these two ways to God.  To fail to do either results in never really knowing God fully at all.  If we do not react in true humility, our position before God is incorrect.  If we do not take in this scene personally, and accept responsibility for our condition before a Holy God, our need for His forgiveness is eliminated.  We must see our lack of holiness while simultaneously understanding how much above us He is in His holiness.  This produces the necessity for God, The One exalted high above us, to help us become "presentable" and "acceptable" in His sight.  Our "unclean lips"--sinfulness--must be dealt with.  We can do nothing.  The great, powerful God must do something.  Will he?  Is He kindly toward us?

Here is that word "woe" again.  We have seen it all through chapter 5 where God's judgments are pronounced against sinful Israel.  But this time the godly prophet Isaiah is announcing his own, personal "woe":  he feels worthless before such an awesome God as the angels boom out His holiness in loud praise.  The two kinds of woe are entirely different, and, to me, the "woe" of Isaiah, if found in our hearts as well, will eliminate the need for God to bring judgmental "woe" upon us!  This reminds me of Matthew 23:12:  "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."  Once we admit our sin and desperate need of cleansing, God moves favorably on our behalf.  Isaiah knows who God is!--that's the important issue:  the Lord is "the King, the LORD Almighty."  (All 4 letters of LORD capitalized indicates the Hebrew name "Jehovah", which is a transliteration of the word Yahweh, a word ancient Jews never pronounced out loud due to reverence for God's name.)

Prayer:  LORD Almighty, I bow before You!  I am undone in my sin!  Thank You for Your forgiveness through Christ.  Thank You for being willing to cleanse me!  Amen.

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