yesterday i mentioned my "coming back" to the Lord. and true to His wonderful nature, He welcomed me. i had a nice day, pretty quiet, went to church and enjoyed worship. our church has a ROCKIN' young pastor on board, moved here from california this summer, was not raised in a Christian home and is born again, and has changed the worship culture of our church. so that was good.
but i was still feeling the heaviness of the last few weeks. i kind of "get it" when people who are not Christian say that the church is all about guilt. because as a Christian, when i am not with God, i am left with just a miserable feeling. i hate it. the thing that i have found though, is that God hates for us to feel that way also, and is so quick to really "clean our slates" and start over again, to let us experience Himself so personally, to welcome us home.
so this morning He did that for me.
i was reading in Isaiah, my daily bible brought me to chapter 6. it's important for me to note that i did not CHOOSE to read this, but God chose it to be printed for september 10th. i put it in it's entire form (from the Message) below, but the gist is this. Isaiah got a chance to witness the Lord in His glory, and it was amazing. he saw the seraphim (angels) and they were so cool, and he saw the Lord's robe, and it was huge and beautiful. then, at the same time, he realized how UNWORTHY for all of this he was. so he said to the Lord, Every word I've ever spoken is tainted—blasphemous even! And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate. when i read this, i knew instantly that the Lord was telling me He knew how i felt. i have a hard time putting it in words, but that's it, right there. that there is NO WAY i'll ever get it right or be good enough. and that even though i have been talking about God, i've been lying inside, because i've sort of been "binge eating" the things of this world. relying on earthly things for satisfaction, for lack of a better description.
then, the following part of scripture made me cry. Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said, "Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out." that is it! the God of all creation, speaking DIRECTLY into me, with the answer that i needed to hear, since yesterday when i decided to have a "God day." so funny that he waited til the following morning to respond, but it truly is as if He came in, sat down with me on the couch, and told me it was okay and that He still loved me. isn't that FABULOUS?
oh Lord, i'm so grateful. i feel like today is my "new day" and that i can do anything. and naturally, He also made clear to me at the end of the scripture what that "anything" should be. And then I heard the voice of the Master: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" I spoke up, "I'll go. Send me!" yes, Lord. i'll go, you can send me whereever you want me to go.
have a great day everybody :)
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,
Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
"Doom! It's Doomsday!
I'm as good as dead!
Every word I've ever spoken is tainted—
blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I've looked God in the face!
The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!"
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
"Look. This coal has touched your lips.
Gone your guilt,
your sins wiped out."
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
"Whom shall I send?
Who will go for us?"
I spoke up,
"I'll go.
Send me!"
7 comments:
Wow. That's powerful. Thank you for sharing, and I hope the "new Bobbi" is having a great day. :)
i am!
yes, i have read that scripture before, and wondered about it, but today i really GOT it.
:) isn't He good????!
Yeah, I have never really got that one before, either. So the deal is that even though we say and do (talk and walk) the God things, there is a place in our earthly, sinful hearts that will always be self-seeking and rotten and God knows this and loves us anyway and sent Jesus to fill that gap and make us pure like the coal did for Isaiah???
i think the coal is the "cleansing" process we go through with God. He DOES know we need this, and woe is us, we always will.
but for me the key thing that happened in my heart is that i turned from self-loathing to "send me Lord" in one quick instance...it really was miraculous how i felt in my heart :)
ahhhh. clean is good.
Gotcha. I could use a bit of that myself. Thanks.
Deep, very good read. I think the power of the Word is amazing. We can read the same verse several different times and we have to be in the right 'place' to hear it. Thanks for sharing B!
I am late reading this, sorry. It touched me though. I wish I ahd read this just after my hike, maybe it wouldn't have taken me so long to understand what God was doing. I hope we all have more 'God days'.
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