Numbers

Isaiah 6:1-2

“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.”

In this chapter, Isaiah has a revelation of the awesomeness of God, a God who sits in authority over all things, and whose glory fills the heaven and the earth as the water covers the sea. It is this revelation of God that brings Isaiah to the revelation of himself. "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.” It is only out of a revelation of God that we come to understand the magnitude of our need for God in our lives and our ministry.

When Isaiah truly recognizes his need, God comes down and meets him at his point of need and purifies his unclean lips, declaring him clean and positioning him for service. God then identifies what he is called to do and the expected results of his service.

Isaiah 6:8-11 “Then Isaiah said, "Here am I! Send me." And God said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return and be healed." Then Isaiah said, "Lord, how long?" And God answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate.”

God reveals himself to Isaiah, calls him and empowers him to be one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history during one of the worst times of Israel’s history. God tells Isaiah that no one would hear, understand, see or perceive what he was saying because God had made their hearts dull, ears heavy, and shut their eyes so that they wouldn’t understand and be healed. Isaiah asked how long he is to carry one this seemingly fruitless ministry, and God responds that he is to continue to do so until Israel is destroyed and taken into captivity.

Too often today we measure our calling and success in ministry by manmade standards. We laud those who have big “successful” churches and ministries and oftentimes feel as though we are failing because we fail to achieve what the world and church world deems to be successful. If Isaiah’s prophetic ministry were to be today, he would probably be branded as crazy, out of touch with the times, and a failure at reaching his generation.

God does raise up great ministries, but God’s measure of success is based not on man’s capabilities but upon our obedience to what He has called each of us to do no matter what the response. We live in a time of great opportunity but also a time of spiritual decay around the world and opposition to the truth. Despite the darkness, opposition, and at times seeming lack of success, we cannot pull back. What we need today are men and women like Isaiah, who have had a life-changing revelation of God that propels them and sustains them in life and in ministry no matter what the cost, consequences or results.

May God reveal himself afresh to you today and empower you to do what He has called you to do.

Andy