Your View Of God

Intro: Before Beth and I married, I had to do my own laundry. My technique of washing clothes was just like almost every other single male in the history of the U.S. – Everything in one load if possible. Blue jeans were washed with dress shirts, white socks, underwear, and everything else. In fact, you know if you put those things in the washer and they don’t quite fit, if you press them down a little harder they Will All Fit.

That is the Biblical way of doing laundry too - “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Did you catch that? Pressed down, shaking together – then it will surely run over.

It wasn’t until after we were married that I learned that you are supposed separate colors & whites. Needless to say, my whites no longer looked white. I never noticed the difference. They looked fine to me. But once I placed those old socks next to new ones I could see just how white socks were supposed to be. What happened is my view, my perception was skewed. I had become so used to the grayish, pinkish whites that I was unable to understand what white was. In a sense, my view was distorted.

Dr. Borror, Worship Prof at SWBTS says, “Your view of God is the most important view you have, and to the extent your view of God is distorted… to that extent your life is out of focus.” God is the focus of this morning’s sermon – is your view of God in focus or is it blurry or even smudged? We are going to examine the calling of the prophet Isaiah because we can see a transition from a life that is out of focus into one that is focused. Our text begins this morning actually talking about King Uzziah. Lets look at the text together.

I. The wise realize they are in the presence of the Almighty God (vs. 1-4).

This section of Isaiah begins by providing information about the when. When does this story take place? 1In the year of King Uzziah’s death. That would place the piece of history roughly around 740BC. That is somewhat important, but I want you to see that this reference is more than just a historical marker. Let me give you a little history of King Uzziah.

A. King Uzziah was considered a good king. In 2Chron 26 you can read, after this worship service, that King Uzziah followed the Lord. In fact, vs. 4 tells us that as long as he sought the LORD, God prospered him.

We read constantly thru the Old Testament how when a king followed the ways of the LORD, he and the nation would prosper. If they departed from the LORD then trouble would befall the nation. For example, Uzziah’s father, Amaziah, turned from following the LORD as he worshipped other nation’s gods. When that happened the Bible tells us, “From the time he turned away from following the LORD they conspired against him and ultimately killed him (2Chron 25:27). Then his son would reign alone.

During the early part of King Uzziah’s reign, the nation began to prosper again. He constructed cities, towers, cisterns, raised cattle, and planted numerous fruit trees. He also equipped Judah’s army with some of the most advanced weapons of the day. You need to understand this about King Uzziah, because we will come back to his story in a few minutes. Know that he was successful in the early part of his reign.

The text continues with the prophet describing the majesty of his creator. Listen to the words he uses to describe what he sees, Lofty and exalted. The Hebrew words give the picture that God is above all. The Hebrew word for exalted literally means to be high, exalted, rise above.

Illustration: Picture yourself living in Medieval England around the year 1540. You have a king by the name of Henry the 8th and you have been invited to one of his weddings. You see the king sitting on his throne before the ceremony begins. There is a sense of awe and wonder. Perhaps you may feel the same way if President Bush was to make a stop in Tyler, Tx and you go to see him give a speech. Once you leave, you may describe and write what you saw.

B. Seraphim (vs. 2). But Isaiah saw more than just the Lord sitting on His throne. He notices Seraphim, creatures that he describes as having 4 wings. Two covered their eyes most likely because they were in the presence of Almighty God. They may have been hovering around the Lord, but they were humbling themselves while doing so. In the same way, they also covered their feet. All of this shows or reveals their humility while in the presence of God. Creatures in Heaven already have a clear view and understanding of just how awesome and majestic God is. We know that by the next verse – 3.