Daily Lesson for December 12, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 through 13:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory.’ 

4The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph* touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ 8Then 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!’ 9And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:

“Keep listening, but do not comprehend;

keep looking, but do not understand.” 

10 Make the mind of this people dull,

   and stop their ears,

   and shut their eyes,

so that they may not look with their eyes,

   and listen with their ears,

and comprehend with their minds,

   and turn and be healed.’ 

11 Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said:

‘Until cities lie waste

   without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

   and the land is utterly desolate; 

12 until the Lord sends everyone far away,

   and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. 

13 Even if a tenth part remains in it,

   it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak

   whose stump remains standing

   when it is felled.’

The holy seed is its stump.

The “Comfort, Comfort” has not been spoken, and it will not be spoken for some time. For the people are not yet ready.  They still have eyes that will not see and ears that will not here. 

And the word for this is Denial. 

We all live with some level of denial all the time. We are not yet ready to accept the full story set before us. We fool ourselves into thinking we have things under control. It was “just a phase”.  It won’t happen again. We can still manage it all. We don’t realize or acknowledge just how unmanageable our lives have become. 

The word of the LORD comes to the Prophet. It burns his lips like a hot coal. The truth is painful — painful to speak and painful to hear. That’s why the people shake their heads. They just aren’t ready. They will have to lose more before they get ready. It turns out their rock bottom is somewhere around China.

So the people aren’t ready. And they can’t be forced. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. 

But all is not lost. For the truth has been told, and a seed planted. And when the house falls in and all else is laid desolate, that seed of truth will be the thing with the power to set the people free.