Intro:How big is your view of God? How does he capture your imagination? Isaiah was a pretty good guy ….. from a morals perspective. Isaiah was a prophet of the Lord, he was not doing the bad things the other Israelites were doing and he sought the Lord during the dark days of Israel. He probably even had a big view of God …. though not big enough!
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the LORD sitting on his throne with his kingly robe filling the temple. Imagine that. Isaiah is having a quiet time in the Israeli wilderness and all of a sudden finds himself looking at the LORD. That’s wild. What we learn from this is very instructive:
1. Seeing God made Isaiah fall down as if dead. This happens to most OT folks that see God or his angels. They usually have to be touched and brought back to life. Kind of like the paddles an ambulance crew would use to revive a heart attack victim.
2. The angels had special protection from God’s glory. The angels in the presence of God had 3 sets of wings. 1 set to keep them off the ground, 1 set to cover their feet and 1 set to cover their eyes. They could not stand to look at his glory!
3. The train of God’s robe filled the temple. In the ancient world, the length of a king’s robe indicated how righteous and honored the king was. Isaiah says that God’s robe “filled the temple”. That would be overwhelming.
4. Isaiah was convicted of sin. Really, he was a good guy! Just not compared to a great King. He had to have his mouth burned with a hot coal to cleanse his lips from sin.
How big is your view of God?
Read: Matthew 6:9-13
9Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 13Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
Think:
In this section of the prayer we are back where we began … with God! We close our prayer time praising him while reminding ourselves of who he is.
He is the God that is a King! He has a kingdom that will never end!
He is the God of power! He has dominion that will never end!
He is the God of glory! He has splendor that will never end!
The OT word for glory, kavod, means heavy or weighty. It refers to a “weighty” person in society, someone who is honorable, impressive, worthy of respect. Usually a warrior or a wealthy or prominent individual was considered to have kavod. When used of God it speaks of his weighty presence and impressive worth. One good definition for glory is, “that reputation for greatness which God alone deserves.” The key word is alone.
This is the God we claim to know and get to pray to! How big is your view of God?
Do:
Take time to praise God for who he is. Thank him for being YOUR king, YOUR power and YOUR glory. He is your protector and the one who lifts your head.
As you pray, take time to tell him how marvelous he is.
Make a commitment to tell someone today how awesome your God is.
If you have time, listen to some of the new songs in the Worship Center below.
DevoLink: Devotions to help you Link with God.
