Isaiah had the rare privilege of seeing God on His Throne.
Immediately he speaks of his unworthiness. I can relate to that. I almost always feel unworthy of the presence of the Lord. I feel His presence in many ways in my life, the blessings I have received from Him are immeasurable. But I am grateful and humbled by His attention...
Isaiah receives a commission from the Lord to go forth and share the gospel. He is told to make people's hearts heavy and ears deaf and eyes blind. I wonder about this. It seems that conversion to the Lord, which is the object and design of the work of His servants, is not a logical, empirical thing. We cannot quantify the Spirit. It is real, and it is discernible. But it is not something you can measure or really even describe. The feelings have been likened to a burning in the bosom, or a still small voice, or a warm, fuzzy feeling. All of this are accurate, but incomplete. When my spirit, that eternal side of my nature, the "me" in me, feels the oh, so gentle promptings from the Lord it is like my body is full of light. I am often overcome with emotion and find it difficult to speak. Yet it is incredibly soft and sweet, and if I'm not paying careful attention I miss it. It's like a warm gentle breeze on a summer evening. And unlike most things in this world designed to mimic this kind of experience, there is no let-down, no crash. It just mellows out into a overall sense of well-being. This is the power that changes people's lives and leads them to the Lord.
Isaiah asks how long he should serve and is told, in essence, forever.
I am reminded of the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 123:
7. It is an imperative duty that we owe to God, to angels, with whom we shall be brought to stand, and also to ourselves, to our wives, and children, who have been made to bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny and oppression, supported and urged on and upheld by the influence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the children, and filled the world with confusion, and has been growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity
8. It is an iron yoke, it is a strong band, they are the very handcuffs, and chains, and shackles, and fetters of hell.
9. Therefore, it is an imperative duty that we owe, not only to our own wives and children, but to the widows and the fatherless, whose husbands and fathers have been murdered under its iron hand;
10. Which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil himself to tremble and palsy.
11. And also it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation, and to all the pure in heart -
12. For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it -
13. Therefore that we should waste and wear out our lives in bring to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them, and they are truly manifest from heaven -
14. These things should then be attended to with great earnestness.
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