Day 13 - Friday, December 15
Title:  AN INVITATION TO ANSWER GOD’S CALL
Scripture: Isaiah 6: 1–8 (NJV)
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. 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. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 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.” 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. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” 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.”

Poetry & Poet:
“An Invitation to Light”
by Benjamin Cutler

What is distance but a failure
of light?—light pulled
to its listless terminus, a rope
grown heavy with reaching. Take,
for instance, the third and fourth folds
of mountain: how they pale
like lips bruised blue with need
of breath; how, from my distant seat
behind this window, these peaks lose
laurels and pines, rivers and vines:
courageous greens that never feared
to be so gray.
And what of your window?—where
the light fails me entirely, where
you read these lines
despite this failing. Friend:
let us tie each frayed photon
into a new, far-reaching braid.
Light needs such quiet, gentle work.

AN INVITATION TO ANSWER GOD’S CALL   

In this Advent season, we seriously consider the invitation of God on our lives.

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord…” There is a back story that seems to come to a head when the King died. This is a time in history when Uzziah, Isaiah’s first cousin, was king of Judah, a time when Judah was very prosperous. It must have been a crisis for Isaiah. We know from 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, Uzziah started out a good king, but “when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord.” (2 Chron 26:16) This all resulted in God’s judgment of him with leprosy, ultimately ending in his death.

As with Isaiah, there are times in our lives when God breaks through to us in a way we cannot ignore. The transcendent God arrested Isaiah’s attention giving him an overwhelming sense of his presence. We are privileged to have a window in to Isaiah’s response to God, which becomes for us a challenge to respond to the “invitation” God gives us. That invitation to Isaiah comes as a result of a life changing worship experience. We can see this in the first eight verses. This experience had a dramatic effect on Isaiah. 

We get insight into this experience from John 12:41 as John informs us, Isaiah saw Jesus in his overwhelming worship experience. “These things Isaiah said, because he saw his glory, and he spoke of him.” 

This experience had a dramatic effect on Isaiah. There is a clear pattern of worship we can easily see in four alliterative sections. A worship experience of this magnitude begins with a Conception of God’s holiness. (Vs 1-4) Then we are driven to a Confession of unrighteousness (v 5). That is followed by Cleansing from sin (vs 6-7) and finally receiving a Commission to go (v 8).

Many years ago, my wife and I attended a play based on the life of David Wilkerson, the man who formed Teen Challenge in New York, in 1958. I still clearly recall where we sat in the balcony, with good seats to view the actors. My heart warmed to the hurting people whose lives were reeling out of control, as played by the cast. Suddenly I was transfixed in a vision of people in foreign lands who desperately needed to hear the Good News of Christ. At that moment I felt God was saying to me, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” It was as if I raised my hand to Christ, “Then I said, “here am I. Send Me!” I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but as life continued to unfold, ten years later, my wife and I found ourselves on the plane headed for Europe as newly appointed missionaries. 

Looking back to that night in a California church, I know that I had a numinous experience with Christ. To this day, thirty-seven plus years later, we still serve, doing Kingdom work. God has taken me to sixty countries over that time, where I have ministered to people from many diverse cultures. Like Isaiah, the course of my life was changed dramatically because of a worship experience with Christ. 

My challenge to you is to raise your hands with me and say, “Here am I Lord, send me!” He will amaze you in ways you never expected.

Prayer
Lord, I pray for all our readers, that you will bring them to the reality of the question Isaiah faced and how he responded. For those who may be wrestling with this already yet have not responded; for those who have never heard from you or in any way considered it, come strongly to them in undeniable ways. Give them the joy of what Isaiah and I have found by “going” wherever you take them, “doing” whatever you give them to do. May they have the wisdom to know and the courage to say YES!
Amen

Dr. Glenn T. Collard
Director of Coram Deo International
Charlotte, North Carolina

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.