Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, June 4, 2023
by Madison Johnston, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: God promises to hold us close in times of suffering, sharing with us a uniquely redeeming, refining and ever-present power.
The fact that this passage starts with a death tells us that we are in a time of uncertainty, upheaval and anxiety—and a quick, contextual look into Isaiah Chapters 5 and 7 confirm that. King Uzziah is no longer in control, social injustices have been called out and violent foreign invasions have been predicted. Folks are feeling scared. Folks are feeling worried. Folks are feeling disoriented and stressed out and vulnerable.
You would think they would find comfort in a prophetic vision of a God whose authority—unlike Uzziah’s—has no end. You would think that the image of the creator of the universe sitting high and lofty on a throne surrounded by a heavenly host of mystical creatures would bring them some peace of mind and spirit. The promise of an eternal power in the face of an incredibly temporal one seems nice. But Isaiah responds to this promise with worry, insecurity, and self-doubt. “Woe is me!” he says. “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.”
Isaiah is having feelings about his feelings. Has that ever happened to you? Maybe you’ve caught yourself feeling guilty about feeling good. Maybe you’ve felt frustrated about feeling sad. Or maybe you’ve realized that you feel a little excited about feeling angry. The combinations of feelings about feelings border on limitless.
Isaiah is feeling nervous about feeling nervous in the wake of the death of Uzziah. He is feeling embarrassed about feeling discouraged about the hardship about to come, but equally embarrassed about letting himself dare to hope that God could call him to do something about it. Ultimately, Isaiah is feeling small and insignificant in the presence of a kingly God—ashamed about his shame. Maybe Isaiah isn’t the only one feeling this way. Maybe the people to whom he is speaking—the people he represents—are struggling with their own tensions. Their own feelings about their feelings.
But what does God offer Isaiah and, by extension, his followers? Encounter. Change. Refining fire. God shows Isaiah that cutting through the layers of emotion that amplify stress—embracing pain and trauma and scary things head on—can bring with it the relief of healing.
Our God is a God who wants us to experience delivery, not despair. Our God is a God who offers us the gift of redemption instead of leaving us to linger in remorse. God loves us too much to let us stay stuck in the feelings we have about our feelings.
