Whenever God reveals himself in worship we catch a glimpse of what God is really like. When we see God as He is we then see ourselves as we really are. We become self aware with HD clarity. That was Isaiah’s experience when he saw the Lord. Check the next verse in the story: “Then I said, ‘It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies'” (Isaiah 6:5, NLT).
The revelation of God leads to the realization of what we are really like. God had revealed himself to Isaiah as the holy and exalted King. Because of that, Isaiah had to come to terms with his own sin and the sin of the people. I don’t believe that Isaiah’s reference to the sin of the people suggests that he is claiming to be better than others with filthy lips. After all, it’s wasn’t a clean lips competition. For Isaiah to claim to have the cleanest lips in town would be like bragging about being the skinniest kid at fat camp.
God’s self disclosure is like seeing your reflection in a mirror. When you look in the mirror, you see what you really look like. The mirror tells no lies. When we see God as He really is then we see ourselves as we really are. Sometimes I think we forget that element of worship. We want to “see the Lord” in worship, but we don’t expect to see ourselves for what we really are. So what do we do with this realization? I’ll take up the next element of worship in tomorrow’s post.
