A New Perspective

Uzziah was a great King, a King that had caused Israel to prosper greatly during his 52-year reign.  Scripture tells us that he “𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫,” and that “𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑬𝒈𝒚𝒑𝒕.”  The year King Uzziah died there must have been great mourning and sorrow, the much-loved King was dead and who knew what would come next.  Would Israel continue to prosper?  Uncertain times for sure.

I wonder how Isaiah felt, he certainly had reason to be downcast and disheartened – perhaps he wondered, “𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?” Isaiah 6:1-4 tells us “𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑼𝒛𝒛𝒊𝒂𝒉 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅, 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒆; 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆.  𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒎, 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.”

Where was God in all of this?  𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗢𝗥𝗗 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲! The Great I AM was seated in heavenly places, He was high and exalted.  So holy is the LORD that the angels could not even look at Him and they covered their faces!  Cries of “𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝑨𝒍𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒚,” echoed throughout the throne room.  Isn’t it interesting that the LORD did not come down to Isaiah and reassure Him that everything would be OK, instead He gave him a vision of heaven, of Almighty God still on His throne!

Isaiah needed a new perspective, one which I know that I so often need and perhaps you do too.  When things are not going as planned, when difficult times are on our doorstep, when the world seems to be in chaos – we need a new perspective.  We need to see the sight of our Mighty King on His throne, surrounded by elders worshiping, flashes of lightning and thunder coming from the throne.  His holiness.  His glory.  To catch a glimpse of His splendor! I really do think that Isaiah’s life must have radically changed after seeing his God on the throne.  Our LORD Almighty still rules, He still reigns, He is still powerful, and still King.  It doesn’t matter what you see out there in the world, God is still victorious and always will be.  𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲.