If you need some encouragement, this one's for you.
This week I’m thinking about Isaiah in his vision; he sees himself standing before God, with God looking very terrifying and judgey, and he says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
And with an almost-magical touch of a burning coal, an angel restores Isaiah’s self-concept. The story Isaiah is telling about himself, about his unworthiness, is revised in an instant. He can see himself as belonging there in the presence of glory.
I’m thinking also of the exhausted fishermen in Luke 5, who have worked all night for nothing. No fish. No success. Their work has been a failure and they are beleaguered and disheartened.
And then, with an almost-magical word, Jesus invites them to try again. Try again at the thing you’ve already been failing at all night long! So they gather their last energy for one more try, and cast the nets again. And suddenly the story of the night of failure is revised. The fishermen can see themselves in light of success and blessing.
I wonder how many of us are in need of a new self-concept. Or in need of a bit of encouragement to give it one more try.
I know, it’s been hard. We’re beat down. So many of our efforts have failed. We have come to see ourselves as unworthy. We feel we don’t fit in with the glory all around us. And our pockets are empty at the end of long work.
May the burning coal touch your lips, revising the stories you tell about yourself.
May Christ’s word of encouragement touch your discouraged mind, giving you the strength to start again, to try again, and to embrace a new story of hope.
God, we have been through some difficult years.
We are weary after a long night’s work (1)
And worried about coming up empty-handed.
Our failures have etched themselves deep in our souls (2),
Leading us to believe we aren’t worthy of your company.
We are in need of a new story, a more true identity.