“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27
Dear Ones:
With every revelation of God that we see in the Scriptures comes with it a call to respond to it. Often, if not always, the revelation or vision of God, corresponds to a specific need in the heart and life of the one seeing it. For example, in Isaiah’s vision of God, he writes that he saw the Lord, “…sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” (6:1) It is in this vision of the power and authority of God, that Isaiah hears the cries of the seraphims: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” (v.3) The specific need of Isaiah is seen in his response to the vision: “Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.” (v.5) The Lord will respond to Isaiah’s profession of need by touching his lips, taking away his iniquity, and cleansing him. Why? Isaiah will be become a prophet of God to Israel, a very significant one. For this, he will need lips that are clean, and a heart that us pure. This vision of God, and Isaiah’s cleansing, has another “effect,” or result. It brings Isaiah to the place where he is wholeheartedly willing to commit himself to the King for the full outworking of His will and purpose. We see this in the Lord’s words: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us,” to which Isaiah will respond: “Here am I, send me.” (v.8) The power of the vision translates into the effective power of God given to Isaiah for the enormous task at hand.
Paul the Apostle, like Isaiah, had a vision of God, of Christ. Eventually, this vision or knowledge of God would bring him to the place where he would declare: “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death.” (Romans 7:24) Isaiah had declared: “Woe is me.” Paul would say, “O wretched man that I am.” If there is anything that these two men have in common, it is to express their utter helplessness and hopelessness to be and to do anything pleasing or acceptable to God. We find that the book of Isaiah is perhaps one of the greatest books of the Bible, the clearest and most complete “gospel” account in the Old Testament. He accomplished this blessed task by the power of God, the power of a vision, which produced faith in him to believe God for His strength and power. The Apostle Paul was brought to see his nothingness, only to be brought to see his resources in Christ. He then will declare: “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13) The vision of God for both men resulted in them learning to live by the strength, and resources of Another, of Christ, for whom nothing is too hard, or difficult.
It was Catherine Booth, founder of the Salvation Army in France, who learned well the truth of her union with Christ, and that she was to live by His life. One application of her faith concerned the difficulties, and opposition that she faced in Paris. She learned to take her stand on the truth of her union with Christ, stating that she was IN Him and He was IN her. But then she would go a step further by declaring to Him: “If nothing is too hard for Thee, nothing shall be to hard for me.” Her vision of God, and of her life in His, brought her to experience His courage and strength, His overcoming life.
It was Charles Wesley who penned the following words: “All things are possible to God; To Christ, the power of God in me. Now shed Thy mighty Self abroad; Let me no longer live but Thee.” Here is a man who knows the reality of his union with Christ, but who also, chooses to believing live by Christ’s power and life.
Dear Father, Anoint our eyes to see Thee, and our lives in Thee, Christ our life and strength. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad