Daily Reading
Daily Thought
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
Isaiah speaks for God to a nation in judgment. He sings a song to Judah of a beautiful vineyard full of grapes gone bad. Past the point of pruning, it is time to uproot:
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed. ~Isaiah 5:5-6
God gives six reasons why, “Woe to those who…” delivered by his prophet Isaiah, repeated six times (Isaiah 5:8, 11, 18, 20 21, 22). Judah, having rejected God, lives in a world turned downside up, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).
There is a seventh woe, but it comes not from God, rather from Isaiah toward himself. A vision of the holiness of God confronts Isaiah with his own sinfulness, and he cries: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5). God’s prophet is humbled in the presence of the righteousness of God, and, in this moment, God’s prophet receives grace. Isaiah’s unclean lips are purified when “one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for’” (Isaiah 6:6-7).
The prophet is prepared to bring God’s Word to the nation. Truth must be spoken with courage and clarity, and always by a heart humbled, by a soul touched with the grace of God.
Daily Prayer
Righteous God, You are good and Your Words bring life. May I be one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. If something is wrong, may I be a defender of right, a defender of justice. May I be one who speaks up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of the broken and the poor and the needy.
Knowing Your goodness, experiencing Your grace, I will speak truth, Your Word, to the world around me.
Amen
Daily Question
Are you prepared to share God’s Word with others?