Yet again it is time for the linked Bible study. Quick bit of news on this, due to time constraints the linked Bible study will be now posted on the first Monday of each month only. Hopefully this will allow more time to spend reflecting on each topic and time to pray for inspiration. I am hoping to use the other spot where the linked bible study would go to try another project out, there are a couple of ideas out there but non as yet fully formed. I will keep you updated as and when things progress.
So now God's Broadcasting Channel proudly brings you Isaiah. Specifically Isaiah 6, check out the link to read online or feel free to use your own translation. Also as usual you can read the corresponding post here.
I am actually really pleased that this was the passage chosen to look at this week as unbeknown to my friend this passage has been in my mind for some time. The main reason being is that I have been going through somewhat of a transition of late. I am at a point in my life where things could go pretty much anywhere, I have so many options and opportunities. What am I going to do with my life? Where do I want to go? What do I want to do? These 3 questions have been constant companions over the past year as I have been moving on from being a student into postgraduate life. The answers to these questions were very simple to begin with, I want to be a scientist, I want to travel and work around the whole world and I want to make as much money as I can while doing these things. Well that was until I began to get serious about my life as a Christian. God has done a lot in my life over the last 12 to 18 months and in that time I have grown closer to Him. And towards the end of my studies when I had some big decisions to make I began to ask God what it was He wanted me to do. At first I wrestled with my problems with prayer, I thought I could not hear Him, I thought I had no way to know His plans. Through an ongoing learning process I have begun to pray on a more regular basis and started to learn to see His signs and messages in my life. Through this growth in my prayer life and an increase in personal Bible study I have begun to realise a number of things. One is another passage from Isaiah;
Isaiah 55:8-9
"I don't think the way you think.
The way you work isn't the way I work."
God's Decree.
"For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
The way I think, the way I work is not the way that God works. His methods are as far removed from mine as they could be. Just as this is the case it is also true that my "needs" and "wants" are not the same as His. The things I wanted out of life are not the same as what God wants for me. The way I have lived my life is not how God wants me to live it. And this brings me back to Isaiah 6.
Isaiah 6:5
I said,
"Doom! It's Doomsday!
I'm as good as dead!
Every word I've ever spoken is tainted—
blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I've looked God in the face!
The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!"
How true this is in my life, in the past I have spoken many things that God would never say. Many times I have even spoken out against God, actively attacked Him and His people. If ever anyone's words were tainted then mine have been. In the same way I have had, and still have many friends who are the same, they do not believe in God and are active against Him using words against Him. So who am I to be coming to God, who am I standing freely in His presence.
Isaiah 6:7
He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
"Look. This coal has touched your lips.
Gone your guilt,
your sins wiped out."
God however has the power to wipe away these sins of my past, He is able to burn them away with a hot coal. Even better than this I have been freely given forgiveness through the death of Jesus, I have been washed in the blood of Christ. Because of this my sinful nature can be accounted for and made right, because my sins have been dealt with I am able to be accepted and used by God.
Isaiah 6:8
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
"Whom shall I send?
Who will go for us?"
I spoke up,
"I'll go.
Send me!"
The end of this chapter again holds significance for me, the reason being is that with my life being in the position it is in right now I have the opportunity to answer His call. He is standing there asking us "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" If we do not answer with a resounding "I'll go, send me!" then can we really say we are His. I spoke Saturday morning about giving your heart to Jesus and I feel this is a restatement of what I said there. Have you given your heart to Jesus? Have you given Him all of your life? Are you holding anything back from him? If so why? I want to give everything I have to Jesus, I want him to use my life, I want my response to be "I'll go, send me!"
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