Dear Isaiah

A Letter to Isaiah

Dear Isaiah

Having just finished reading the sixth chapter of your book I could not resist writing this letter to you in the way of seeking some clarification. It is indeed an inspiring chapter, possibly the best one in your complete writing. How I would love to sit down and discuss it with you, there be a few things that leave me questioning.

My first question Isaiah is this: I am wondering how it is when you enter the temple you seem to have those marvellous and moving visions like the one you had in the year that King Uzziah died? In all the years I have been going into the church I have never seemed to have such visions. 

I am familiar with the number of pipes that the organ has, but I never come into contact with seraphs or cherubims. I find it all rather difficult to comprehend. I was wondering Isaiah, what kind of frame of mind is it that you have as you enter the temple?  Do you enter with sense of expectancy ready to come face to face with your God? Or do you enter expecting the preacher just might on this day entertain me?

I am reminded of the discussion I had one day on the way home from church with some of my fellow Christians, and with one particular family who attended on a regular basis. The old father said, "The minister was very dry today, almost verging on boring." "Yes," responded the mother, "he also went on far too long, there is a good chance that the dinner in the oven will be overcooked. At this point, their young son spoke up, " It was not so bad, I thought it was good value for the fifty pence I put in the offering plate."

I am wondering Isaiah if we went with the same expectations as you would we not end up so disappointed? Seems to me that we do not expect to meet God and therefore we fail to see him there waiting for us. 

The next thing that caught my attention was your reaction to the vision. The very first thing that occurred was that looking again at yourself, you seemed to become acutely aware of your own inadequacies. Having looked at yourself you did not like what you saw. "Woe is me!" you cried, "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips." Maybe it is the same for us, Isaiah, we do not like what we see of ourselves so we play self-righteous building a wall around ourselves, keeping God and pain at arm's length.

Do we need to become a bit more like yourself Isaiah?  Do we need to be a bit more honest with ourselves? I suspect it was not easy to admit your failings and weaknesses and it is the same for us, we do not have the desire to become truly honest and face the difficulty of making a fresh beginning so we leave as disappointed as we were when we arrived, with little or no expectations.

It seems that on that day not only did you see yourself for what you were but you also became aware that forgiveness was as you stood before your God. Having found this enlightenment your life took a very sudden change. You heard your God ask a question, "Whom shall I send?" With no hesitation, you responded. "Here I am Lord, send me."

I have to thank you, Isaiah, for this. It never is simple to admit our failings and accept that we need to be forgiven and make a clean break and start afresh. We all know the theory and possibly even the theology yet we continue to beat ourselves and carry the burden of past mistakes onward with us.

Maybe you are right? maybe we need to follow your example. Like you learn to say, "Yes Lord I am free to start again, here I am, send me."