As you probably noticed, the story of Isaiah’s selection by God is different from the other selection stories we’ve looked at. For one thing, Isaiah’s story is told by Isaiah himself, while the other stories we’ve looked at were told in the third person, by a narrator. For another thing, the other stories we’ve looked at involved God coming to where the people involved were: God comes to Moses on Mount Horeb; God comes to Joshua by the Jordan River. In Isaiah’s case, Isaiah is taken to God. Isaiah sees the Lord seated on a throne, sees the seraphs flying around, sees the smoke from the incense, all of it.
Another difference is that God allows Isaiah to volunteer for this job, rather than just being selected. Now, obviously, Isaiah was brought to the presence of God for a reason, and Isaiah knew that. Still, it’s interesting to see that God did not go to Isaiah, the way God did to Moses, and say “Here’s what you’re going to do.” Instead, God said, “I need to send someone” and waited for Isaiah to raise his hand and offer himself as God’s messenger.
None of those things is the biggest difference in the story of Isaiah’s selection, though. The biggest difference is what God told Isaiah to do.
Isaiah is told to give a message to the people of Israel. That message is this: the people of Israel don’t understand, and they’re not going to understand. He’s supposed to tell them that they will hear but not understand, and that they will see but not perceive. He’s supposed to say that their hearts are calloused, that their ears are dull, and that their eyes are closed. This is going to continue until everything is ruined—their cities, their lands, everything—and they are sent off into exile, far from their homeland.
I wonder if, at that point, Isaiah wanted to say, “Hey, uh, God? Um, you know what I just said about, ‘Here am I, send me’? Can I have a little more time to think about that? Could I maybe just have a few days and get back to you?”
The message that God selected Isaiah to give the people of Israel was a lot different from the ones given to Moses and Joshua. They were going to be heroes. Moses was going to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Joshua was going to lead them into the Promised Land. They were going to be heroes, and they were still scared of doing what God wanted them to do.
How do you think Isaiah felt? He was not going to be any kind of a hero. Think about it. If the things he told people about did not happen, he’d look like a fool. If the things he told people about did happen, well, no one was going to give Isaiah any credit for predicting it. The people of Israel would be destroyed. No one would be interested in hearing Isaiah tell them, “I told you so,” and in fact Isaiah would not be much interested in saying it. This was pretty much a no-win situation for him.
Isaiah was given a message nobody wanted to hear. The reason nobody wanted to hear it was that the people of Israel had gotten used to pretty much ignoring God by this point. They were used to doing whatever they wanted. Nobody wanted to hear that this was wrong. Nobody wanted to hear that they needed to change their lives and turn back to God. Nobody wanted to hear that their actions and their choices had consequences, and that they were headed down a path that was leading inevitably to their destruction.
There are times when Christians are accused of being too judgmental. There are times when that’s true. I’m not standing here today saying Christians are perfect. There are also times, though, when the loving thing to do is to say something when we see someone headed in the wrong direction.
Look at it this way. Suppose you saw someone about to cross the street, and you saw a car coming at them. Would you just stand there and say nothing? Would you say “Well, you know, I don’t want to be judgmental about that person’s decision to cross the street with a car coming at them. I’d better just not say anything.” Of course not! You’d never do that. You’d yell, “Hey, look out! There’s a car coming! Stop!”
The reason we’d do that is because it is not showing love to someone to just stand by and watch them ruin their life. The thing is that a ruined life is the inevitable result when we do whatever we want to do rather than living the way God wants us to live.
Now, I want to make sure we understand why that result is inevitable. It’s not because God is sitting there waiting to pounce on us for making a mistake. It’s not because God is eager to punish us every time we step out of line. That’s not why God gave us rules for how to live.
The thing is that to be successful at anything, there are certain rules we have to follow. Whether we’re involved in farming, or banking, or law, or construction, or mechanics, or anything, we learn that there are certain ways to do certain things. We learn those ways not because someone’s going to punish us if we don’t follow them, but because those ways are the ways that work. The reason you don’t plant corn in August is not because you’ll be thrown in jail for it, but because it does not work. The reason a lawyer does not go into court without his paperwork in order is not because he’ll be fined for it, but because it does not work. It’s not that we’re going to be punished if we try those things. It’s just that we’re not going to get anyplace that way. We learn the rules for things not to avoid punishment, but because we want to be successful. We want to learn the ways that work.
That’s how it is with God’s rules. It’s not that God wants to punish us. It’s that God’s ways are the ways that work. God’s ways are the ways that will help us live good and happy lives. Doing things God’s way will not assure us health and wealth, but doing things God’s way will give us inner satisfaction and inner peace regardless of our external circumstances.
The people of Israel did not want to hear that. They would not listen to that. They did not want to start doing things God’s way. They were determined to do things their own way. That way was going to lead to ruin, just as surely as planting corn in August will lead to ruin.
At our Ash Wednesday service, we talked about how there are people in our society who want Christians to keep their faith to themselves. Frankly, a lot of times, we’re tempted to do just that. It’s easier. It’s easier to just go along with what society says and does. It’s easier to just be silent when we see someone headed in the wrong direction. No one will get mad at us that way. We won’t get into any trouble that way. Doing nothing when we see someone going down the wrong path is not the loving thing to do, and it’s not what God wants us to do.
Now, understand, going up to someone and pointing a finger in their face is not the loving thing to do, either. Chewing someone out and telling them God’s going to send them to hell is not the loving thing to do. God’s way is love. If we don’t act and speak in loving ways, we’re not following God any more than the people we’re supposedly trying to help.
Isaiah knew nobody was going to want to hear his message. He knew there was very little chance anything would change as a result of it. Still, he had to try. He gave his message over and over again, at different times, in different ways, to different groups of people. He did that not because he wanted to, not because it was the easy thing to do, but because it was the loving thing to do. He did it because he knew it was what God had selected him to do.
It’s what God selects us to do sometimes, too. When we see someone headed in the wrong way, God wants us to try to get them to turn around. They may not want to hear it. There may be very little chance anything will change. Still, we need to try. We need to try not because we want to, and not because it’s the easy thing to do, but because it’s the loving thing to do.
If we love the people around us, we need to try to help them, whether they want our help or not. Even when we think it won’t help, we still need to try. It’s the loving thing to do. And it’s what God has selected us to do.
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