07/13/2017
Does God have to move something, or someone, out of the way before you will see Him? Is your attention focused somewhere other than on Him? Our God is a jealous God... He told us so, which begs the question... why do we taunt Him with our inattention? This is my concentration today. I am asking myself if there are people or things in my life that keep me from Him.
“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.”
Isaiah 6:1 ESV
Yes, God is a jealous God! He tells us this over and over again beginning in Exodus 20. So why do we continually do things that draw this ire out in Him? Listen to what He says...
“You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Exodus 20:5-6 ESV
Are we going to incite His jealousy? I hope I don't cause Him to remove obstructions that block my vision of Him. The price of failure can be high for us, because the reward is also high. Isaiah experienced the loss and the reward. He saw God after King Uzziah was removed from the picture, and two verses later we hear one of only two such utterances of "holy, holy, holy" that are recorded in the Bible. Isaiah hears it and John hears it again in Revelation ... both heard these words in visions from within heaven itself after experiencing the removal of their distractions. Isaiah wrote:
“And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"”
Isaiah 6:3 ESV
And John wrote this of his experience...
“And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"”
Revelation 4:8 ESV
The death of King Uzziah was the price, and Isaiah's vision was the consolation. God wanted his undivided attention, and when He had it, Isaiah was given the prophecy of the coming Messiah. John was imprisoned on the island of Patmos and then he was given the revelation of the second coming of Jesus Christ as his reward. This is certainly a case of the agony and the ecstasy! Are we too distracted by the world, or someone in it? Oswald Chambers wrote of such in these words...
"Our soul’s history with God is frequently the history of the ‘passing of the hero’. Over and over again God has to remove our friends in order to bring Himself in their place, and that is where we faint and fail and get discouraged." - Oswald Chambers
Death, imprisonment... these are high prices to pay. I pray that my attention is fully focused on the Lord, and that I don't need a wake-up call before I give Him my undivided attention and remove those things that might come between us.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for using me in ways that are far beyond my ability, and I pray that it isn't necessary to get my attention in the process. Your patience is unrivaled, but you also don't tolerate my placing people or things before you. Lord, help me in my effort to focus entirely on you. Give me the ability to concentrate on your needs throughout my days. But, if you should find it necessary to clear my vision and get my attention, then I will praise you for what comes next because your will is my reward, and your blessings and love exceed any price that is necessary for their good completion. At the moment I hear your voice and know you are calling me, I will be surrounded by the sound of heaven... and it is then that my soul shall begin to sing out in praise…
"How great thou art, how great thou art!
“Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.”
Psalms 86:3-6 KJV
Now and for ever more."
Rich Forbes