
Some time ago, while doing a field day clean up in our home, we lifted the coffee table off of the area rug we had in the living room. We had vacuumed around the coffee table without moving it, and to our eyes, the area rug was clean of the usual pet hair, crumbs, and dirt that usually accumulates in any household. But, when we took the coffee table off of that one area, we were confronted with how the area rug should look and were taken back at the difference between what we perceived as clean and what was truly clean.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5 NIV
5“Woe to me! I [too] am doomed! —because I, a man with unclean lips,living among a people with unclean lips,have seen with my own eyesthe King, Adonai-Tzva’ot!” Isaiah 6:5 CJB

“All things are equal, and nothing is forbidden,” is the cry of these modern-day ‘prophets.’ What once was sacrosanct, is now considered old-fashioned and passe’. Recently while one group was deemed to be selfish and self-serving for demonstrating peacefully for businesses to be allowed to re-open, others who rioted in our streets, causing tremendous damage, as well as the injury and deaths of many, were lauded as heroes. What was right before is now thrown aside, and I have to wonder (perhaps as Isaiah had) what would be the end result.
With the upward look, Isaiah saw the Lord (6:1). We know when that was (740 B.C.) and that Uzziah was one of the great kings. His death was a time of national mourning.
Times of national crisis are opportunities for people to have a new experience with God. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way. Recent events have been opportunities for revival in our land, but I haven’t seen much indication that it has taken place.
Isaiah went into the temple. The earthly throne was empty, but Isaiah saw God on His throne. Regardless of what goes on down here, God is still on His throne.
Vines Expository Bible Notes, Copyright © 2020 by Jerry Vines. (emphasis added)
“Whom should I send?
Who will go for us?”
I answered, “I’m here, send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
‘Yes, you hear, but you don’t understand.
You certainly see, but you don’t get the point!’
10 “Make the heart of this people [sluggish with] fat,
stop up their ears, and shut their eyes.
Otherwise, seeing with their eyes,
and hearing with their ears,
then understanding with their hearts,
they might repent and be healed!” Isaiah 6:8-10 CJB
The excerpt from Vines reveals what had not happened to Israel and Judah; they had neglected to look up and see that God is always on His throne. In our country, where it seems that no place is protected from the mayhem and strife occurring, we must stop looking at others and find our focus upon God. Only with such a focus will we individually and corporately find our way again.
Only then can we hope to indeed remain, “…one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
“It’s me; it’s me, O Lord, standing in need of prayer…”
https://hymnary.org/text/not_my_brother_nor_my_sister_but_its_me
This is the time for the Church to step up and make a difference; to show the world and our nation that violence is not the answer to any injustice. Pastor Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s and, through non-violent demonstrations brought the impact of Jim Crow laws and segregation into the public spotlight that would not allow them to be overlooked any longer. We can and must do the same now. Remember God’s reply when Isaiah asked for how long he would be ministering the word to Judah:
houses without human presence,
the land utterly wasted;
12 until Adonai drives the people far away,
and the land is one vast desolation.
13 If even a tenth [of the people] remain,
it will again be devoured."
Isaiah 6:11 CJB
