Thursday, July 17, 2014
Reading for today: Isaiah 5-8

I love the description of God that Isaiah records in chapter 6 – of course I hear the songs that have been written about the messages found here going through my head. Songs that depict the supremacy of God, the calling of a sinful man, the response of that calling. Words that bring us to the throne room of God, or at least should.

In Isaiah 6 we see the life-transforming vision of God that Isaiah had and how he responded to his call to prophetic ministry. This passage is well-known because it shows us the dramatic transformation of a sinful man, who has an incredible encounter with the one, true and holy God. Isaiah was given a vision of God that changed his life forever. And by his willingness to follow that calling, Isaiah was able to give us a glimpse of the majesty of God. Isaiah recorded this encounter to call us (you and me) to a higher view of the sovereignty and power and authority of God. I like how AW Tozer puts it: “The greatest need of the moment is that lighthearted, superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with his train filling the temple.” If we truly see God in that way, would we be able to stay, lukewarm, uncommitted Christians?

John Piper In his book “The Supremacy of God in Preaching” writes about using Isaiah 6 as his sermon text. In his message he used this passage, trying to portray the glory, majesty, and holiness of God. A young family was present that day, which had just discovered that their child was being sexually abused by a close relative. Several weeks later, Piper learned about the incredibly traumatic story. The husband took him aside one Sunday after service and said, “John, these have been the hardest months of our lives. Do you know what has gotten me through? The vision of God’s holiness that you gave me… It has been the rock we could stand on.”

So what is your view of God? How do you see God? Kind, loving, true, just, gracious, slow to anger? What characteristics do you attribute to God? 1 Chronicles 29:11 puts it this way, "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.”
A right view of God is everything. It is only when we put God in the proper perspective that everything else is brought into focus.


Blessings
PK