David Bahn – Reflections

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Isaiah 6-8, Psalm 19.

Isaiah 6:1-7

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ 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!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

I’m sitting in the chapel on the first day of classes. The room is filled with men singing “Hark the voice of Jesus crying, who will go and work today?” It ends with those resounding words, straight out of Isaiah 6, “Here and I, send me! Send me!” The men were my classmates – all studying to become pastors. The rousing refrain etched its way into my heart. I was following the call of God to go, sent by his grace, and by the power of his Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus.

But who can serve such a high and holy God? The image Isaiah puts forth for us is striking. His vision is not just of the LORD, but the LORD high and lifted up. There is smoke filling the temple – the prayers of the saints? Seraphim are flying back and forth, crying out in praise the the thrice-holy God. The train of God’s robe fills the temple. This is a glorious sight! And Isaiah is undone.

I am not a fan of minimizing the idea of the fear of the LORD – making it only respectful reverence. I like to think of the fear of the LORD as what Isaiah experiences here. He is suddenly and painfully aware of both God’s holiness and his own sinfulness. He cannot imagine a way to escape God’s presence, nor can he imagine how he can remain in it. He is a sinner living in a world stained, broken, and infected by sin. Standing before the Holy One, he is undone.

But he is not undone for long. For God has a means by which he will be cleansed. When the question is raised, “Whom will I send? Who will go for me?” he will be emboldened to say, “Here am I, send me.”

I’m a big fan of Martin Luther’s Sacristy Prayer—especially the part in which he prays concerning the ministry entrusted to him: “If it were up to me, I would have ruined it long ago.”

Some people believe they cannot be God’s servant if they don’t have all of life and faith figured out. Some believe no one should not talk to others about Jesus without a seminary education. I challenge that way of thinking. God’s grace has always reached cross the chasm of our unworthiness, for he has called many a broken person – from Moses who said he couldn’t speak well, to Jeremiah, who said he was too young, to Ananias who was afraid to go to Saul of Tarsus, to Isaiah who knows all too well his sin.

God may be calling you, asking, who will go? Whom shall I send? To your neighbor. Your husband. Your daughter. Your mom. Your coworker. Your best friend. They all need to know – or even be reminded of – God’s grace and truth in Jesus.