0152. Woe! Or the Cry of the Believer
Woe! Or the Cry of the Believer
"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" (Isa_6:5).
In the 5th chapter of Isaiah, the Prophet had pronounced a succession of woes against others.
In the 6th chapter the Prophet saw in a vision, "the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up".
Above the throne stood the seraphim, and they cried one to another saying: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory". Then Isaiah cried: "Woe is me! for I am undone".
When Christians get a vision of God and of His holiness, they are sure, at the same time, to get a vision of their own unworthiness.
It is a good thing for saved people to realize their shortcomings.
There are many who are powerless and without any desire for fellowship with God. Many believers have a form of Godliness, but they know nothing of its power; they come before the Lord as the people come, and they worship as the people worship; the words of the minister are to them as a pleasant sound, as of one who has a pleasing voice.
They hear God’s Word, but they do it not.
They worship with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him.
Saddest of all, many of these prayerless, burden-less, and worshipless saints have no sense of lack; they seem wholly oblivious to the fact that they are living far from God.
The story of Isaiah brings before us the hour when a believer is fully awakened to his need, and when he cries, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips". There is one supreme precedent for betterment, and that is a sense of lack.
The believer must first understand his true state of heart, before he will seek for better things.
Where there is no sickness, there is no need of a physician.
Where there is no sense of sin, there is no true repentance.
It is necessary for one to realize his weariness before he seeks rest; his thirst, before he seeks water; his hunger, before he seeks food.
It is a happy day when the Christian sees the Lord, high and lifted up, and begins to realize his own uncleanness. Then he can sing:
"Lord lift me up, and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, place my feet on higher ground."
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR