In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 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 6:1-5 Removing the Veil Consider what the prophet saw. He sees Jehovah as Ruler, Governor, King; He is upon a throne, high and lifted up. It is the throne of absolute sovereignty: of resistless, questionless supremacy over all. He is in the temple where the throne is the mercy-seat, between the cherubim; over the ark of the covenant, which is the symbol and seal of friendly communion. His train, the skirts of His wondrous garment of light and love, filled the temple. Above, or upon, that train stood the seraphim. These are not, as I take it, angelic or super-angelic spirits, but the Divine Spirit Himself, the Holy Ghost, appearing thus in the aspect and attitude of gracious ministry. With this great sight voice and movement are joined. A voice of adoring awe fills the august temple with the echoing sound. The voice occasions commotion, excitement, shaken door-posts, the smoke of the glorious cloudy fire filling all the house. II. How the prophet felt. It is a thorough prostration. He falls on his face as one dead. He cannot stand that Divine presence—that living, personal, Divine presence—abruptly confronting him in the inmost shrine of the Lord’s sanctuary, and the sanctuary of his own heart. What the Lord really is, thus flashing on his conscience, shows him what he is himself. Undone! unclean! Unclean in the very sphere and line of living in which I ought to be most scrupulously clean! III. How the prophet’s case was met. There, full in his view, is an altar with its sacrifice; present to him then, though future; with a living coal from that living altar, the blessed Spirit touches him at the very point of his deepest self-despair. And the effect is as immediate as the touch. Nothing comes in between. Enough that there are, on the one side, the unclean lips, and on the other the live coal from off the altar. To the one let the other be applied, graciously, effectually, by the sevenfold, myriadfold, agency of the Spirit who is ever before the throne on high. The prophet asks nothing more. He hears the voice, as of Him who said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." IV. The subsequent offer and command. Two things are noticeable here: the grace of God in allowing the prophet, thus exercised, to be a volunteer for service; and the unreservedness of the prophet’s volunteering. It is no half-hearted purpose, conditional on circumstances; but the full, single-eyed heartiness of one loving much, because forgiven much, that breaks out in the frank, unqualified, unconditional self-enlistment and self-enrolment in the Lord’s host,—"Here am I; send me." R. S. Candlish, Sermons, p. 86. Seeing Ourselves-As God Sees Us "These verses teach us the essentials of true worship and of acceptable approach to God. And they seem to indicate these essentials as threefold, involving:-- I. A sense of personal wretchedness. To worship truly, there must be a sense of our own nothingness and need. The sense of wretchedness is first induced by the contemplation of the holiness and majesty of God. It is relieved by the condescension and mercy of the King. He is not only holy. "Mercy and truth meet together; righteousness and peace embrace each other;" and in that embrace the man who is undone is folded, and invited to bring forth his offering. II. A sense of pardon. "Our God is a consuming fire," and our first contemplation of Him thus is one which appals and overcomes us. But a little further prostration before the Holy One shows that the fire is a purging fire, not to consume the man, but only to erase the confessed uncleanness from his lips. With the anointing of the holy fire on the lip, there comes the new life into the heart, and now the mortal may mingle his praises with the seraphim themselves. III. But worship is not complete without service. To the ascription of the heart and lip there must be added the alacrity and obedience of the life. There was service for the seraphim: to fly with the live coal. And there is service for the seer: to fly with the living message. "Here am I; send me." Here is the alacrity of obedience. There is no curious inquiry about the nature of the service. The man becomes as winged as the seraph." (A. Mursell, Lights and Landmarks, p. 72.) "l am - I am a great sinner, as many other ways, so particularly by my lips. I am an unclean branch of an unclean tree; besides my own uncleanness, I have both by my omissions and commissions involved myself in the guilt of their sins. Have seen - The sight of this glorious and holy God gives me cause to fear that he is come to judgment against me." (John Wesley) "I am become dumb. There is something exceedingly affecting in this complaint. I am a man of unclean lips; I cannot say, Holy, holy, holy! which the seraphs exclaim. They are holy; I am not so: they see God, and live; I have seen him, and must die, because I am unholy. Only the pure in heart shall see God; and they only can live in his presence for ever, Reader, lay this to heart; and instead of boasting of thy excellence, and trusting in thy might, or comforting thyself in thy comparative innocence, thou wilt also be dumb before him, because thou hast been a man of unclean lips, and because thou hast still an unclean heart." (Adam Clarke) The Created-Meditating On the Creator “Because I am a man of unclean lips.” "There is a sense of the sin in society which makes a man not a Pharisee, but a prophet. It is easy to be cynical at the expense of our fellows, and to pour out stinging satires on the shams and weaknesses of society; but that is not the dominant spirit of the highest ministry. In the all-searching light of this vision, Isaiah sees that the world in which he lives is full of such shams; speech is a symbol and expression of life, and speech which should be clean and sweet, as well as truthful and strong, is vile and unclean. But the life of sinful people is the life the prophet shares, the atmosphere he breathes, the sphere in which he lives and moves. He cannot flee to the wilderness and leave it all behind. He must be in this world, but not of it; this he can do because he has learned that sin is an alien power in himself and in society. It is treason to the Divine King; in the name and by the power of the King it can be conquered. Through the influence of this deep revelation he can be a statesman as well as a religious teacher, a social reformer as well as a sacred singer, and through it all a saint. The vision means, then, the possibility of service. If there were no King a man might be content to be a time-server, but to the man who has seen the King the way of highest service is open, and he is “not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Life, then, finds its real meaning in service to God and man. Behind this man’s call to service there are certain great convictions which are a prophecy of, and a preparation for, the rich personal experience which is fully revealed in our Lord Jesus, and quickened in us by the power of His great sacrifice." (Note: W. G. Jordan, Prophetic Ideas and Ideals, p. 62)
"The central fact is the vision of God as King—“Mine eyes have seen the King.” You say, no man can see God and live. That is quite true; as we here see, this man did not live; in a very deep sense he died. The vision of God kills that it may make alive; the fire of the Divine revelation burns up the dross of pride and passion. The great need of that time is also our own great need, a true vision of the Divine, a lofty thought of God. This alone can meet the hunger of Isaiah’s soul and save the nation from utter failure. The popular religion was crude and impure; many worshipped idols, many ran after a spurious spiritualism, or reduced religion to a sensuous ritualism (Isa_1:11, Isa_2:8, Isa_8:18). That which made a hero of this young man, and gave power to the purest religion of his day, was the force which also nerved our fathers to cast out superstition and fight for liberty; the vision of a God who is supreme, who through His righteousness is really kind, who is revealed in Nature, who rules the nations and who does not disdain the cry of the penitent soul. No argument can do justice to this; it is a vision and a life. The saints and martyrs point to it as the object of their love and the source of their strength. Men of mighty intellect, of childlike heart, of pure spiritual aspiration, have through its inspiration saved the nation from despair and the Church from failure. The men who have borne the burdens and fought the battles which helped forward the world’s highest life, knew the meaning of the words, “Mine eyes have seen the King.” (Note: W. G. Jordan.) Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col 3:1-3 The Higher Aspirations of the Soul Here we are given some wise instruction by Paul on what the true Christian should be centering their thoughts and meditation on. The struggle will come when we learn to desire the things of God, more than what the world has to offer. This is when we will find ourselves in conflict many times, with the world, and all it's temptations and empty entertainments. But the rewards to our souls and spirits become priceless to us, and, we finally decide to close the doors to the cheap counterfeits of this world. Paul learned the value of setting his affections on things of God, and heaven, and encourages us, to do the same. What are the benefits? Here are a few to ponder. “Risen with Christ” (Col_3:1). 1. This relation implies the living union of the soul with Christ.—The apostle had spoken of the soul as dying with Christ, as buried with Him, as quickened with Him; and now he advances another step, and declares that it is also raised with Him. The union between the believer and Christ was so complete that he participates with Christ in all He has done. “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom_6:4). As the dead body of the man cast into the sepulchre of Elisha revived and stood up the moment it touched the bones of the prophet (2Ki_13:21), so the soul, dead in trespasses and sins, is quickened by believing contact with Christ, and rises into a higher and more glorious life. 2. This relation indicates the nature and tendencies of the soul.—“Risen with Christ: … set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col_3:1-2). The change involved in union with Christ affects man’s whole nature. It affects not only his practical conduct, but also his intellectual conceptions. He is translated from earth to heaven; and with this translation his point of view is altered, his standard of judgment wholly changed. His aspirations spurn the earthly and transitory, and soar towards the heavenly and eternal. The flies that sport upon the summer stream, while they plunge their bodies in the water, are careful not to wet their wings, so that they may fly again into the sunny air. So, while we are necessarily immersed in “things on the earth,” we should take heed that the wings of our soul are not so clogged as to retard our flight to heaven. II. The sublime objects of the soul’s higher aspirations.—“Things above” (Col_3:2). 1. Christ is above.—“Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Col_3:2). This indicates that Christ is exalted to the highest dignity. He is above all angelic powers, whatever their position or rank. The right hand of God also indicates the right hand of power. Thence Christ wields all the authority and power of universal government. “Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour.” He reigns on high in order to carry out to a glorious consummation the work He accomplished on the cross. To Him all hearts turn for love and blessedness, as the flowers turn to the sun. The rudiments of the world have no longer any power to satisfy. The soul ascends to heaven, for where the treasure is there will be the heart also; and the flow of time is rapidly hurrying us on to the moment when we shall be “Caught up to share The triumph of our Lord.” 2. The source of the greatest spiritual blessings is above.—When Christ ascended into the heavens He received gifts for men; and from His lofty throne He delights to distribute those gifts to the needy sons of men. Thence we receive pardon, the conscious favour of God, holiness of character, comfort in every time of distress, and hope to light the pathway of the future. Of all the blessings laid up for us above, the highest and the best is that which in itself includes all others—the gift of the Holy Ghost. All we want is there. 3. The heavenly home is above.—There is the abode of peace and purity; there temptation has no power, and suffering and sorrow can never enter; there the Saviour reveals His glories and diffuses the joy of His radiant presence; there all the members of the Father’s family assemble from every part of the globe, never more to separate. The soul, burdened with the cares of life, and troubled with multiplied disappointments, yearns for the rest of the heavenly home. The things on the earth can never satisfy the wants of the soul; they are unsuited to it; they are beneath it; and, liberated from their trammels by the resurrection power of Christ, it seeks its true happiness above the stars. III. The paramount duty of the soul to aspire to the highest good.—Seek, set “your affections on things above” (Col_3:1). A similar expression repeated for the emphasis. You are not only to seek heaven, but also to think heaven. The understanding must be engaged in duly estimating the value of heavenly things, the will in preferring them above all things earthly, the affections in embracing them as the objects to be most evidently desired and loved; in fact, all the powers of the soul must be constantly exercised in the search. The soul, raised from the death of sin, is ever responding to the attractive influence of its risen Lord. “Being thus already risen, every motion of grace is the struggle of the soul for the final consummation—the bird is caged, but the wings are free to flutter within their prison.” The soul is now willing, cheerfully and faithfully, to follow the call of duty, whatever it may entail. (Excerpts from Sermon texts) Some lessons learned in this meditation: The soul is endowed with vast powers and capable of the highest destiny. It is sad to witness thousands whose souls rise no higher than the things on the earth. The soul can realize its highest aspirations only as it is risen with Christ. To break this down into clearer terms: To all hopes of happiness from the present world; and, according to your profession, should feel no more appetite for the things of this life, than he does whose soul is departed into the invisible state. Your life is hid with Christ in God - Christ is your treasure; and where your treasure is, there is your heart. Christ lives in the bosom of the Father; as your heart is in him, ye also sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Christ is the life of your souls; and as he is hidden in the bosom of the Father, so are ye, who live through and in him. (Adam Clarke) The more we come to know Christ, His person, His reality, His company in our daily lives, the more we will desire to be where He is, and desire to seek the things above, where He is seated. The more He becomes a reality in our daily lives, the more the things of this life fades away. Psa 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. Psa 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Ascending With the Holy Spirit These verses in Colossians give a glimpse of what Paul had come to know by experience. A personal, individual relationship of companionship and friendship with Christ, while here in the body. This relationship is learned by those who have strove to inquire diligently for the Presence of God within. When we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who comes in to dwell within us at salvation and by invitation, that personal relationship begins to develop as we open the door of our hearts and souls by prayer, meditation and searching the word of God in our quiet hours with God. Many in history have gone this path, and found it to be a life-long journey of the soul and spirit-longing after the manifest Presence of the Lord, panting after Him, like a starving child. The more we seek Him, and follow after Him, the more He fills us with Himself, and draws us into union with Himself. I've learned He does not promise anything that He doesn't make good. He is faithful to all His promises. But the paradox to this is, those of this world, will never understand this, nor will they want to. You will find yourself more and more, a stranger here, it will become a wasteland to you.
Some who have chosen this path, that I would recommend who have left writings on this subject are Brother Lawrence, John Bunyan, Madam Guyon, Watchman Nee, Joy Dawson, Andrew Murray. These, along with many other's down through the ages, have experienced enough of the reality of the indwelling Spirit, to give an accurate account that God's indwelling within us is worth all the gold this world could offer, and, once you've experienced it, nothing else will satisfy. Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Lorna Couillard When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. Psa 63:6-7 In the Shadow of Thy Wings “When I remember thee upon my bed.” Lying awake, the good man betook himself to meditation, and then began to sing. He had a feast in the night, and a song in the night. He turned his bedchamber into an oratory, he consecrated his pillow, his praise anticipated the place of which it is written, “There is no night there,” Perhaps the wilderness helped to keep him awake; and if so, all the ages are debtors to it for this delightful hymn. If day's cares tempt us to forget God, it is well that night's quiet should lead us to remember him. We see best in the dark if we there see God best. “And meditate on thee in the night watches.” Keeping up sacred Worship in my heart as the priests and Levites celebrated it in the sanctuary. Perhaps David had formerly united with those “who by night stand ill the house of the Lord,” and now as he could not be with them in person, he remembers the hours as they pass, and unites with the choristers in spirit, blessing Jehovah as they did. It may be, moreover, that the king heard the voices of the sentries as they relieved guard, and each time he returned with renewed solemnity to his meditations upon his God. Night is congenial, in its silence and darkness, to a soul which would forget the world, and rise into a higher sphere. Absorption in the most hallowed of all themes makes watches, which else would be weary, glide away all too rapidly; it causes the lonely and hard couch to yield the most delightful repose - repose more restful than even sleep itself. We read of beds of ivory, but beds of piety are better far. Some revel in the night, but they are not a tithe so happy as those who meditate in God. “Because thou hast been my help.” Meditation had refreshed his memory and recalled to him his past deliverances. It were well if we oftener read our own diaries, especially noting the hand of the Lord in helping us in suffering, want, labour, or dilemma. This is the grand use of memory, to furnish us with proofs of the Lord's faithfulness, and lead us onward to a growing confidence in him. “Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.” The very shade of God is sweet to a believer. Under the eagle wings of Jehovah we hide from all fear, and we do this naturally and at once, because we have aforetime tried and proved both his love and his power. We are not only safe, but happy in God; we “rejoice” as well as repose. (Charles Spurgeon - Treasury of David) THE LONGING SOUL ABUNDANTLY SATISFIED
Victory For the Longing Soul This Psalm, with its passion of love and mystic rapture, is a monument for us of how the writer’s sorrows had brought to him a closer union with God, as our sorrows may do for us, like some treasure washed to our feet by a stormy sea. The key to the arrangement of the Psalm will be found in the threefold recurrence of an emphatic word. In the first verse we read, "My soul thirsteth for Thee;" in the fifth verse, "My soul shall be satisfied;" in the eighth verse, "My soul followeth hard after Thee." These three points are the turning-points of the Psalm; and they show us the soul longing, the longing soul satisfied, and the satisfied soul still seeking.
I. We have the soul longing for God. (1) This longing is not that of a man who has no possession of God. Rather is it the desire of a heart which is already in union with Him for a closer union; rather is it the tightening of the grasp with which the man already holds his Father in heaven. All begins with the utterance of a personal, appropriating faith. (2) Upon that there are built earnest seeking, expressed in the words "Early"—that is to say, "Earnestly"—"will I seek Thee," and! the intensest longing, breathing in the pathetic utterance, "My soul thirsteth for Thee". (3) Notice what it is, or rather whom it is, that the Psalmist longs for. "My soul thirsts for Thee." All souls do. Blessed are those who can say, "Thou art my God." (4) Notice when it was that this man thus longed. It was in the midst of his sorrow. (5) This longing, though it be struck out by sorrow, is not forced upon him for the first time by sorrow. The longing that springs in his heart is an old longing: "So have I gazed upon Thee in the sanctuary, to see Thy power and Thy glory." (6) This longing is animated by a profound consciousness that God is best: "Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life." (7) This longing is accompanied with a firm resolve of continuance: "Thus will I bless Thee while I live." II. In the second portion of the Psalm, which is included in the next three verses, we have the longing soul satisfied. (1) The fruition of God is contemporaneous with the desire after God. (2) The soul that possesses God is fed full. (3) The satisfied soul breaks into the music of praise. (4) This satisfaction leads to a triumphant hope. The past of the seeking soul is the certain pledge of its future. III. The final section of the Psalm gives us the satisfied soul still following after God. The word translated "followeth" here literally means to cleave or to cling. (1) "My soul cleaveth after God." Desire expands the heart; possession expands the heart. More of God comes when we can hold more of Him, and the end of all fruition is the renewed desire after further fruition. (2) There is also very beautifully here the co-operation and reciprocal action of the seeking soul and the sustaining God. We hold, and we are held. (3) The soul thus cleaving and following is gifted with a prophetic certainty. David’s certainty of the destruction of his foes is the same triumphant assurance, on a lower spiritual level, as Paul’s trumpet-blast of victory, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?". (A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, p. 243.) For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods. Psa 97:9 The Lord Reigneth There's times in seasons of prayer, that something that may have taken place during the business of the day, or something said by someone, will draw me to go deeper into a verse of scripture, and the Holy Spirit will open it up to me and expand my understanding of the magnitude of who God is-and His majesty and sovereignty in the universe that He created. At these times, it opens up to me the vastness of His reign, and His infinite wisdom, and patience. The deeper into these aspects I go, my heart and spirit is drawn like a magnet, to simply stop, and give Him praise, and worship Him for who He is-not asking for anything, or desiring anything else from Him. When meditation takes this turn in my soul, the manifest Presence of God is magnified, and envelops me, and the cares of this world, and the daily problems fade away, and He becomes the only thing that matters. It's in this place of meditation and prayer-that true dialogue, and conversation develops. Dan 2:47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Amo 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. This is the realm where many times, the Lord has revealed secrets to me regarding serious matters He wants intercession for, in regards to world leaders, and spiritual warfare in certain areas of the nations. When our spirits become in tune with the magnitude of His reality, we see world events through His lens- and through His perspective. When I take a verse of scripture such as this, I will cross-reference it with other's that open the understanding and expand the mind of God on what it's conveying. This kind of study is priceless in developing a relationship with the Lord, that few have the desire or patience to strive for-but, it is worth it. Lorna Couillard Below are a couple of meditations that further expand on this verse of scripture: “For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth.” And therefore do we rejoice to see the idols abolished and to see all mankind bending at thy throne. There is but one God, there cannot be another, and he is and ever must be over all. “Thou art exalted far above all gods.” As much as ALL is exalted above nothing, and perfection above folly. Jehovah is not alone high over Judea, but over all the earth, nor is he exalted over men only, but over everything that can be called god: the days are on their way when all men shall discern this truth, and shall render unto the Lord the glory which is due alone to him." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon-Treasury of David) Our Enemies-From God's Perspective The keynote here is the reign of God. To the wicked, it spells misery; to the believer, it is the inauguration of harmony and joy. It is as though herald-angels step from isle to isle, from mountain peak to mountain peak, with the glad tidings of great joy. It is not always easy to trace its advent. Clouds and darkness are around him. The eye of sense cannot penetrate the black enclosing pall, but faith is ever certain that righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne.
Sometimes God comes in fire, Psa_97:3, as at Sinai, or on the day of Pentecost, which took place on the anniversary of the giving of the Law. Days come like that on which Jerusalem fell, or when the Turks took Constantinople, or when Napoleon was shattered at Waterloo-then hills melt like wax. But through all dark and terrible dispensations the Kingdom is secretly growing, the Lord is being exalted, and light is being sown for His people, Psa_97:11. So, believer, your tears and fightings, as they pass, are absorbing heaven’s love and power, which they will hold in reserve though buried for long in the dark. Days are at hand of unspeakable gladness. Be of good cheer. (F.B. Meyer) |
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On this page there will be information regarding Christian mediation, and weekly short meditations. More content will be added as the Lord leads.
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Luk 6:12
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place,
and there prayed. Mark 1:35 Gander Story Poems
https://www.gander poems.org/ Resources
Madame Guyon - A Short and Easy Method of Prayer / Christian Audio Book (1 / 2)
https://youtu.be/eihZWpAk7y4?si=PQ-_J3Y6i8u-N2Ac Union With God By Jeanne Guyon Chapter 1 Of 7 https://youtu.be/d5AfKS2dFLg?si=VtWAeEurkAddTDpL The Practice of the Presence of God - audiobook Brother LAWRENCE (1614 - 1691)- https://youtu.be/rRAs_BK1NR8?si=hGAL4C829aH7DKMn Praying in the Spirit https://www.twosparrowsministry.org/the-prayer-closet Archives |