For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
When you dine with powerful people pay attention to what is going on around you. Do not let the food take all of your attention or you may be tricked into agreeing with something against your interests.
This is a good psalm for meditating on. I really need to spend more time meditating on some of these psalms. God is indeed my helper. It is He who sees me through difficult times.
I have been struggling with what message we should take from this passage. I finally figured out how to put it in words. No matter what credentials of righteousness we have, our birth in good families, our good training, our dedication to God’s laws, Paul has them matched or beat. No matter what persecution we have suffered, Paul has suffered more. If Paul does not think his “resume” is worth boasting about, than ours certainly isn’t. Rather let us boast of the ways in which God has worked through us despite our weaknesses and failings.
The passage begins with a great scene. Isaiah was caught up in a glorious vision, but then he realized that he was in the presence of the Holy God. Isaiah is overwhelmed by his guilt. I am not quite sure of the symbolism of the hot coal taken off of the altar. However, it seems to me that there is dual symbolism here. The first part is that the coal transfers righteousness to Isaiah from the holiness it had by being on the altar. The second part is the “sterilization” that comes from the coal being fiery hot, so hot that a seraphim had to use tongs to handle it. I think this twofold purification tells us something about what we go through as God grants us His salvation. There is a transfer of His holiness to us, but there is also a searing to sterilize and kill the sin in our lives.
The scene then transitions to one of the most poignant scenes in the Bible. God asks who He shall send as a messenger and Isaiah responds, “Here I am. Send me.” This is a great scene and it should inspire us to offer ourselves up to God’s service. There is a great hymn based on this which never fails to move me. It really is a great song. However, its message does not match up with this passage. Because as soon as Isaiah offers himself to be God’s messenger God tells him that His message is that the people will not understand what God has to say to them. We are being sent with God’s message, knowing that the following is true:
nor hear with their ears,
nor understand with their hearts
and turn to me for healing.”
Yes, even knowing that, when God says “Whom shall I send?” I want to stand forth and shout, “Here I am. Send me.” Unfortunately, all too often I look around sheepishly and quietly whisper when I realize there is no one else, “I’m here, I can go.” But you know what, God can use even me.