The Prophet Isaiah once had a vision where he saw the Lord, “sitting on a throne” and Angels sang out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3). This was an amazing scene. Yet things take an interesting turn.
He began to hear the doorpost shake from the voice of these angels. The room is filled with smoke and Isaiah begins to have fear saying, “Woe is me, for I am [a]undone! Because 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). He is in fear because of his sin. He is aware that he needs to be cleansed. Sometimes we feel unworthy to go to church, worship, or speak to God because of our mistakes and sins. Other times we feel timid because of what we have heard on TV, at work, or simply waiting in a line with people. Sometimes we have thoughts that do not originate from ourselves but from something that we see as we live our lives. This is was Isaiah was saying, “And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” If you ever were traveling along a dirt road, you may know how easy it is for your new shiny vehicle to become unclean. Isaiah felt dusty and unworthy of God’s presence.
The next thing that he sees is and angel flying towards him, “having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar” (Isaia 6:6). I can see his reaction. The doorposts are shaking, smoke is in the air, and now an angel is caring a hot cole towards him. He probably thought that his life was over. He probably saw that there was no hope left and that this was how he would die.
Then the angel touched his mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” (Isaiah 6:7). There is power in the cleansing of our iniquities. Instead of saying purged, the New Living Translation says, “your sins are forgiven.”
After this takes place Isaiah heard the Lord say, “’Whom shall I send,And who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ 9 And He said, ‘Go…’” (Isaiah 6:8). His response to the Lord is totally different from his attitude earlier. When he saw the smoke and ground shaking, he was fearful. Now because he is aware of God’s forgiveness towards him, he is confident.
What causes someone to go from concern to calmness? It is power of forgiveness. As we are aware that Christ died for our sins, we will be filled with a positive morale to evangelize. We like Isaiah and Jonah all have a calling on our lives. He is calling all of us to go into all the world and preach the good news. How can we remove our feelings of unworthiness and anxiety? We must be conscious of the cleansing of our sins. May we all have the courage of Isaiah and say, “Here am I Lord, send me!”
