October 1

Read: Isaiah 6:1-4

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne (Isaiah 6:1).

Doors To A New Experience With God

What are the circumstances that have power to lift a Christian’s vision until he sees his Lord in a new perspective? How are the doors opened to a new experience with God?

Our text does more than merely to date Isaiah’s vision; it tells us why as well as when. Uzziah had been a strong monarch but now he was dead. Threatening clouds of war were gathering to the north of Judah. The new king was barely twenty-five years of age. Were those young hands strong enough to hold the reins and to guide the nation? Isaiah was disturbed to the depths; but he was wise enough to take his concern to God in prayer.

Is the new vision of God to be found as simply as that? Yes. It is like the worried shopper, her arms filled with packages. She comes to a closed door and has no free hand to open it. But as she simply moves forward an electric eye releases unseen power that opens the closed door and she moves through it into God’s world on the other side.

It was disturbance over the dead king that made possible Isaiah’s vision of the living God. Had there been no empty earthly throne, he would never have seen the throne of God. In our walk with the Lord, have we come to some dead-end street? Some closed door? This can be the occasion for release to a wider experience. If we but keep moving toward God in prayer, there is a power that opens the door.

Prayer For Today

Who, dear Lord, ever came to Thee with a pious heart and was rejected? Who ever sought Thee and found Thee not? Who ever sought help with Thee and did not obtain it? Who ever prayed for Thy grace and did not receive it? Who ever called upon Thee without being heard? — Menno Simons, about 1538.