“The Lord will
wash away the filth of Zion’s people ... His glory will cover
everything” (Isaiah 4:4-5). The restoration of the divine glory is the
goal of the divine cleansing. What God does for us and in us is the
reversal of what sin does - “All have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God” (Romans 3:23). God’s people are His “vineyard”, “the garden of
His delight” (Isaiah 5:7). Our response to the Lord is to love Him and
worship Him: “Let me sing a love song to my Beloved” (Isaiah 5:1). We
rejoice in the Lord because He has forgiven our sin (Isaiah 6:7). We
sing praise to Him because all glory belongs to Him (Isaiah 6:3). Our
sin, which is great (Isaiah 6:5), has been forgiven - All glory to God!
This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvellous in our eyes. “The King” is
among us. He reveals Himself as the King of love. Out of love for the
Lord, we make our response - Here am I. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). As we
obey God’s command, “Go and tell the people” (Isaiah 6:9), we may find
that there is much that causes us to be discouraged - “the cities lie in
ruins ... The land is completely desolate ... A large area in the
middle of the land will be abandoned” (Isaiah 6:11-12). We will also
have some encouragement - “a stump is left - The holy seed will be the
land’s stump” (Isaiah 6:13). When we are tempted to give up, when
discouragement threatens to overwhelm us, we must remember that God is
still on the throne. He is the King - and He still loves us. He is the
King of love.
We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).
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