April 20

Isaiah 6:5‑7
“Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged”—Isa. 6:5-75Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. (Isaiah 6:5‑7).
IT is always of interest when one is privileged to get a personal and intimate account of the revelation of God to a human soul. In this chapter Isaiah sets us into the secret of his wonderful power and equipment for service, He takes us into the sanctuary, shows us how the Lord was revealed to him, and lets us know the circumstances of his call to the prophetic office. This was the real starting-point of his effective ministry. We know from chapter 1:1, that he began to witness for God in the days of King Uzziah. As the events recorded in chapter 6 took place in the year that ruler died, we conclude that these experiences were subsequent to his earlier prophetic testimony. Many another servant of God has preached to others before learning to know the Lord himself in a definite way and before being brought into the full consciousness of cleansing and enduement for service. Yet we need not think of this as Isaiah’s “second blessing.” It was rather a part of God’s dealing with him in order that he might be better prepared to give out the Word to others because of knowing the reality of having to do with God himself.
Speak Thou Thy living Word to me,
That I Thy messenger may be,
Indwelt by love and power divine.
To preach that precious truth of Thine.
For Thy strength is in weakness shown,
So, standing in Thy power alone,
Which by Thy grace shall in me dwell.
The story of the cross I’ll tell.”
—Robert R. Pentecost.