Isaiah 6

Early 18th century Russian Icon. Prophet Isaiah holding scroll with Isa. 2:2

Oh, my – another week has almost gone by and I’ve only touched once on our Sunday School lessons in Isaiah, and that was last week! This past Sunday we skipped from chapter 1 to chapter 6. I had forgotten that those first five chapters happened before Isaiah volunteered, answering God’s call:

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (Isaiah 6:8 KJV)

Unlike Paul, he was not blinded and he described what he saw in verses 1-4. Like Paul, he realized how unworthy he was:

Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5 KJV)

Now, I haven’t decided which would be preferable, the live coal held in tongs by an angel, or the blindness that fell on Paul. I would pray that in either case, the removal would allow me to be fit for service and that I would respond with “Send me.”

Of course, I didn’t. I opted for an every day ordinary marriage and the daily perils of American life with a husband, children, homemaking and employment. Missed opportunities. Which is one reason I continue to encourage Bible reading and share through this blog – one of my ministries is to share what I read. To plant seeds of curiosity, if you will, and pray they find fertile soil to bear their own fruit that I (mostly likely) will not see in this lifetime.

Not a problem – I doubt Isaiah nor Paul conceptualized how their words would be received over thousands of years. God knows that not all will hear:

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. (Isaiah 6:9 KJV)

Isaiah did not ask about salary, subsistence or working conditions, but he did ask about the length of time he was to “go, and tell this people.”

Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. (Isaiah 6:11-12 KJV)

Now, that’s a long time!! Are you prepared to not have people listen to us for that length of time? Perhaps, when you hear the results:

But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. (Isaiah 6:13 KJV)

Not too clear to me, but there’s that seed thing again. I do believe I’ll continue, always praying for that good ground of Matthew 13:3-9 and Mark 4:3-8.

Hear ye, indeed.