Sometimes I wring my hands in worry. I fret. I boil in anger and let emotions drive me.
I’m not sure how you react when bad things happen in the world, when events occur that seem unjust or jeopardize the foundations we stand on.
I’m not sure how you pick yourself up when seemingly godly people fall or loved ones go astray. I don’t know if you have experienced friends or acquaintances whose lifestyles oppose God’s direct commands and destroy the family He designed. I don’t know if your emotions churn at the evangelization of false twisted doctrine directly opposed to the Word of God.
These are things that hurt my heart and bother my soul. And I spend too much time churning over arguments and debates in my head. And in my gut.
I often need to reign myself in as I sit down to write and discipline my words not to represent a platform, but rather an opportunity to bring the Word of God to light and life.
And I’ve just brought myself up short again. I’ve reminded myself that God’s Word is sufficient to draw his children to Himself. He is great enough without my hand-wringing and pen-writing.
That huge gap, the murky gray I sometimes feel I live in, isn’t unique to now, to this time, to the worry and anxiousness I carry. It is a timeless battle. A war between heaven and hell.
I just finished writing an article on Isaiah’s temple vision. It took place over 700 years before Christ’s birth.
Corruption reigned in a murky swamp of disobedience. Priests and prophets rebelled against God’s covenant. And although Isaiah declared truth, and even though he obeyed, his words hardened the hearts of his listeners even more.
God gave Isaiah a vision in Chapter 6. Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a magnificent throne, exalted and high. His train was so great, it filled the whole temple.
Heavenly beings called Seraphim flew. They called to one another saying,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3 ESV)
A view of God’s holiness and magnificent glory should stop all of us in our tracks. It certainly stopped Isaiah.
“And I said: ‘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 ESV)
Other translations say, I am “undone,” “ruined,” or “doomed.”
Before the holiness of God, Isaiah thought he would die.
Clearly he saw the gap, huge and uncrossable which separated him from The Most High.
But the book of Isaiah, one of doom and justice, also wove hope throughout. In fact, in seeing God’s great holiness, Isaiah’s desperate need was met. It is there we too find hope.
Hope has come. Jesus Christ bridged that gap.
God did not diminish His holiness for us, rather He made a way for us to clothe ourselves in His righteousness. For apart from Jesus, we are, as Isaiah saw himself. Lost. Separated.
How very grateful I am for just a tiny glimpse of that gap. It is there Jesus met me, saved me and bridged that gaping hole. It is there I continue to repent, find grace, and worship the One Who is Worthy.
I would do a lot less hand ringing and instead hold more tightly to the Hand of the One Who holds mine, if I would but look more fully into His holiness. He can do what I cannot. He is able to convict of sins, turn hearts, change minds, and redirect thoughts. He can transform us inward out.
The character of God brings us to worship. Knowing God more deeply resets our beings and purpose. It helps us to be steadfast followers and faithful proclaimers like Isaiah within this culture and time.
In a world where sometimes I wring my hands and feel anguish and am burdened by unrest and moral decline, His unchanging holiness is what I need to call to mind. His character brings me to a place of worship and hope.
It is where I stop wringing my hands and lift them in praise.
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