Read Isaiah 6:1-7
According to Isaiah 1:1, Isaiah became a spokesman for
God beginning sometime in Uzziah’s 52-year reign. During that time he spoke
against the sinfulness of Judah, especially their speech and actions against
the Lord, and about God’s glorious presence.
(Isaiah 3:8) He also spoke of the
Lord as his “well-beloved” (Isaiah 5:1).
As a prophet, it is pretty doubtful that he would have been
foul-mouthed, abusive or even given to ranting and raving, though what he was
given to say was pretty harsh. He was a man of truth, intercession and praise.
However, that wasn’t his self-assessment when he actually saw the extent of
God’s glory. His response was, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man
of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)
Compared to God’s incredible glory, he recognized that
all he had said was inadequate and ignorant. Compared to God’s immeasurable
glory, what came from his mouth was so far off target that Isaiah considered it
blasphemous. He had chastised the people for their speech and actions, however,
measuring his own against the true glory of God it was he who was “ruined.”
In response to his genuine contriteness, God could
have merely waved it off with understanding that he had functioned out of his
limited knowledge and understanding. God could have simply spoken a word of
forgiveness. Instead, He sent a seraph,
the winged declarers of God’s glory, to take a coal from the altar and touch Isaiah’s
lips with cleansing grace. There had to
be something significant about these hot coals.
In Revelations 8:3, we are told that before God’s
throne is a golden altar. On this altar,
the prayers of the saints are burnt as incense filling God’s presence with a
sweet aroma of worship. The coal that
touched Isaiah’s lips came from this altar and was infused with his and others’
praise and faith-based petitions. As inadequate and ignorant as they may have
been God’s grace had transformed them into worship. “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know
how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with groanings too
deep for words” (Romans 8:26). He takes our inadequate and ignorant praise
and faith-based petitions, and they too are transformed into God-pleasing
incense and cast upon the golden altar filling His presence with the sweet
aroma of worship.
But what if there is more to these hot coals than
simply filling the presence of God with a pleasant fragrance? James 5:16 NIV
states, “The prayers of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Our prayers never talk God into doing
something He didn’t plan on doing. They do not inform Him of things of which He
is unaware. They proclaim His worthiness
and our faith in His trustworthiness to meet a specific need. The persistency of our prayers infuse the
coals, which may be exactly what He chooses to use to touch the ones for whom
we are praying with His cleansing and healing grace. Just as God used a coal to
bring cleansing grace to Isaiah, imagine Him using the coals infused with our
prayers to touch others’ lives as well as your own.
Making It Personal
How do you think your praise, petitions and comments about
God measure up to His true glory?
What role does complacency and willfulness play in this
inevitable inadequacy? Is this an abuse
of the Holy Spirit as interceder and translator of our prayers into fitting
words of God’s holiness?
How does knowing your praise and petition are the aroma
God breathes impact your attitude regarding prayer? What do you think is His favorite fragrance?
(2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
Imagine your prayers infusing the coals before the Throne
of Grace. Who needs to be touched by
just one of these coals?
Applying this image to Romans 12:20 radically changes
the meaning of “heaping coals on his head.”
What if instead of judgment or overwhelming conviction
being heaped upon them is God-worshipping intercession? If applying one coal to Isaiah’s mouth
brought about cleansing, transforming grace, just think what heaping upon them
coals infused with God-pleasing prayers would accomplish!
Who need coals of grace heaped upon them?
How does this imagery impact your attitude and acts of prayer?
