AS I was paging through None But The Hungry Heart giving thought to today’s posting, I happened upon the Isaiah 6:5 reference (below) and immediately my mind went back years ago, probably more than 50 years ago, when I was exhorted from that verse taken in the context of Isaiah 6. I was attending a weekend retreat in northern California with a small group of young people from the church I was attending at the time. I don’t recall who the speaker was; nor do I remember the Isaiah 6 message topic or main points made. I just know that it was a pivotal moment in self-reflection that left a deep indelible impression upon me.
“Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips…for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts’’ – Isa. 6.5
THE one thing I do remember, and this I have shared with others from time to time, is that what the speaker was saying, his presentation and points that he made, were completely lost upon me in what I actually gleaned and brought away from his message. Thinking back to that moment, I remember looking at my scribbled notes compared to the presentation handout and outline, seeing that they were two entirely different things. I heard his words, but my thoughts and heart took an entirely different path – and I walked away with a deeply changed perspective of perceived reality. This event has always stuck with me making me mindful that when we hear the Word being preached or read it in print, regardless the presenter or author – pay attention, give ear, you may hear and be blessed in an unexpected way apart from the speaker’s or author’s intentions. It is the Word that is “alive and powerful” first and foremost (Heb. 4:12); and that powerful Word changes things, hearts and minds. As Christ prayed, “Sanctify them in truth, thy Word in truth” (John 17:17), sometimes the Lord may use a very unlikely circumstance or person to unfold a hidden treasure from His Word.
Well, with that, let’s take a look at another None But the Hungry Heart offering. – “Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.” -1Sam. 3:9
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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1-8 UnClean! Unclean!
“Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips…for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts’’ (Isa. 6.5).
Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18). This includes giving thanks for the disclosure of self! At first, we seek to hide our sinfulness and to save our life. Later, by His grace, we yearn to be freed from self, regardless of the cost. And the price is the Cross.
“Many a young Christian, who has not been forewarned of this necessary voyage of discovery upon which the Holy Spirit will certainly embark him (Romans Seven), has been plunged into almost incurable despair at the sight of the sinfulness which is his by nature. He has in the first place rejoiced greatly in the forgiveness of his sins, and his acceptance by God; but sooner or later he begins to realize that all is not well, and that he has failed and fallen from the high standard which he set himself to reach in the first flush of his conversion.
“Little does he know how healthy his condition is, and that this shattering discovery is but the prelude to a magnificent series of further discoveries of things which God has expressly designed for his eternal enrichment. All through life God has to show us our own utter sinfulness and need, in order to more fully lead us on into realms of grace.” -J.C.M.
“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil” (2 Thess. 3:3).
