Confrontation, Confession, Commitment

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord. . .” (Isaiah 6:8, italics mine)

Isaiah’s “then” came after his remorseful acknowledgment of personal sin.

"

'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!'" (5)

When the confrontation of God's awe and holiness occurred, followed by confession of sin, then—only then—did Isaiah hear the call of the Lord.

"'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'" (8)

Then—only then—followed the humble, sincere response.

"'Here I am, send me.'" (8)

Please do not misunderstand. God does not only use sinless servant vessels. Only His Son Jesus was that. But what He does desire and require are useable vessels who, when confronted, are humble enough and broken enough to say “woe is me” in authentic acknowledgment of personal sin. Only with such confession can the Lord’s call be heard and heeded.

Because a refusal to confess revealed specific sin—fueled by a careless view of the Creator's awe and holiness—diminishes the audibility of the Lord's messages in our lives, which results in abated activity of the Lord’s working through our lives.

And sometimes, it requires the experience of a monumental moment—a personally shaking "woe is me"—to get us to an authentically-hearing posture.

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The Almighty, "the Lord, high and exalted," knows how to use our environments and circumstances to jolt us with the wonder of His presence and awe and the magnitude of His holiness and glory, just as He did with Isaiah. He knows the precise confrontation that will humble His beloved child toward repentance, resulting in spiritual perception, clarity, and the commitment to carry forth His redemptive agenda, determined by His unparalleled, loving wisdom.

The only right reaction, the only acceptable response that will bring about our participation in His righteous, good plans is an Isaiah one:

holy reverence that results in heart-felt repentance,

unobstructed ears that humbly listen,

and a life that readily responds.