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Some 27 centuries ago, a son was born into the home of an aristocrat named Amoz in the city of Zion at a time when Assyria was a growing threat to Jewish power.
Names of enemy leaders such as Tiglath-Pileser II, Shalmaneser, Sargon, and Sennacherib were as familiar to the Jews then and there as Castro, Mao, Breshnev, and Bin Laden are to Americans now.
This son, Isaiah, realized that his nation was weak. But Isaiah had no intention of getting involved. His own life was planned out and comfortable. Until that is, God got his attention, and he watched that pampered life collapse.
Does God have your attention?
Isaiah’s awakening began with the unexpected death of the great King Uzziah, still in his 20s and a friend of Isaiah’s family. Like Abraham Lincoln’s in death 1865, or Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968, Uzziah’s death was connected to a bigger movement.
Isaiah 6:1-3 (New International Version) tells us:
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Principle 1: God uses circumstances to make us aware of His presence.
Isaiah’s words are, “I saw the Lord.” Note how his earthly situation of mourning that prompted him to turn his eyes upward to God.
Listen, the ultimate outcome of whatever you are going through should be the glory of God – whether it is a lingering illness, an unexpected move, a job change, or a job loss.
All of us have experienced and seen people saved at the funeral of a loved one. It was in that situation that suddenly the person became aware of God’s presence. People who were enemies become friends.
In Isaiah’s case, it was his friend who died, and that prompted his looking up.
Now watch this: he saw the Lord not frowning or running back and forth as in a panic, not anxious, puzzled or angry. He was calmly seated in a posture that spoke of majestic sovereignty and control.
Isaiah did not see a confused or anxious deity, but one in charge, with full perspective and absolute authority.
And Uzziah is never mentioned again.
It is now the prophet and His God— with His presence filling the temple – who commands Isaiah’s and our attention.
This column is part one of a three part series. Next month: After He’s Got Your Attention. Rev. St. Clair Mitchell is Senior Pastor of Evangel Assembly of God in Temple Hills, MD, and founder of the International Ministerial Alliance.
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