One of my favorite passages in the Bible is from Isaiah 6. It shows the power of worship. When we come to church, we are reminded of the importance of worship. We sing songs, pray, and listen to the word preached. These are each expression of worship.
However, if we are honest, it is easy for us to get into our busy schedules and forget to put our focus where it needs to be every day. We let life get in the way and we feel overwhelmed. The same life that would be better and less stressed if we placed our focus and worship where it should be on God every day. We need to worship through the week.
Even though Isaiah was a prophet he is just like us. He is human with the tendency to get bogged down in life’s daily grind. In fact that’s the context of Isaiah 6. He was going through his everyday routine. Perhaps even jus going through the motions just get the job done. Then God showed up! When God shows us everything changes.
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because 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 live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
- Worship causes us to look up.
When Isaiah entered the temple to perform his daily duties something was different. It is not that God, and his presence was not there all the time but for whatever reason this day was special. God got his attention and caused him to look up.
When we take the time to worship, we pause and reflect on the greatness of God. When we do that, we cannot help but look up to the heavens and reflect on his holiness and glory Whether that be the stars we see in the sky or just his presence in the darkness. Worship causes us to reflect and consider all that God is.
- Worship causes you to look with in.
When God’s glory was put on display, and it caused Isaiah to look inside himself. He looked inside himself and consider not only his sin but the sin of his people. He realized that he had fallen so short of God standard of holiness. So he said “woe is me!” This is a form of confession and repentance.
God has a way of revealing to us what we already known in our heart of hearts. In the busyness of our lives and integration with culture we have been desensitized to the conviction that we ignore his Holy Spirit and continue to sin. When we truly do look inside and consider our sinfulness in light of God’s holiness that should lead to true worship in the form of confession and repentance.
Tomorrow we will look at two more things from the passage…
- Worship is cleansing.
- Worship is sending.
