Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5 NABRE)
Have you ever been star-struck? When we encounter someone who excels in any walk of life, part of our experience can include becoming filled with a sense of our own inadequacy.
Today's verse follows an encounter in which Isaiah had a life-changing and dramatic vision of the Lord. Isaiah, suddenly fully aware of God's infinite and eternal majesty, and by contrast his own insignificance, became terrified.
Isaiah was a prophet who preached about 740 years before Christ's birth. Living in a time when his people had largely turned their attention away from the Lord, Isaiah was keenly aware of the shattering consequences of their attitude and behavior.
An interesting side note: There are two root words from which the verb "doomed" in today's verse could be derived; one means “to perish, be doomed,” the other “to become silent,” and given Isaiah’s delight in puns and double entendre, he probably intended to sound both notes. “I am doomed!” is suggested by the popular belief that to see God would lead to one’s death; “I am struck silent!” is suggested by the emphasis on the lips, and such silence is attested elsewhere as the appropriate response to the vision of the Lord in the Temple.*
Today, I will seek a healthy "fear" of the Lord, aware of his greatness and my own need of his mercy.
Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, 120 martyrs in China who died between 1648 and 1930, pray for us.
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