Upward. Inward. Outward. Part 2

Yesterday’s post focused on Isaiah’s beholding God. Today, his response to looking inward. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Our second point: Woe to me I'm unclean. Why is that a significant point? Why would one initiate the experience of wanting to see baggage within? To avoid living the shallow life – the life of a Pharisee. To prevent mental, emotional and physical dis-ease. To live a more fulfilling life.

Part of the objective of Christian counseling it to help people see their uncleanness – insecurity, anger, fears etc. from which they can be set free.

The Bible: Psa.139:23-24 Search me O God. Know my heart. Point out anything within me that displeases you.
Psa.19:12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Job 42:5-6 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
And Peter's words in Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"
Even SOCRATES saw the need for a healthy in ward look when htre said, " The unexamined life is not worth living."

The woe to me demonstrates our willingness to face ourselves which is not a common trait of today's Christianity. We're reticent to allow God to show us our "woe to me." Paul reminds us of the importance of it in context of the communion table: 1CO 11:28-31 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. And the following verses indicate that some haven't, resulting in sickness and even death. A man ought to examine himself.

And in that examination we may see: I am so quickly angered. I have such a tendency toward a critical spirit. I see my selfish manipulative "I've got to have my way," The gossip, worry, jealousy, fear, carrying resentment toward that one who irritates me so greatly. Priorities out of balance. Impatience. Lust...have I included everybody?
Holy Spirit driven self-examination.

C.S. Lewis observed: "When a man is getting better, he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less.

The most dysfunctional folk I saw in the counselor's office were those who refused to see the bad within. Jonathon Edwards puts an exclamation point to Lewis's statement with "I have had a vastly greater sense of my own wickedness and the badness of my heart than ever I had before my conversion."

As we behold God with a spirit of authenticity,(a deep honesty) we not only see the "bad" within, but we also see that we are image bearers of the Creator, as found in Genesis chapter one and which we’ll focus on next.

An image-bearer of the Creator, yet possessing a flesh dimension that can be ugly and destructive.
Chuck Swindoll in his book Come Before Winter: "It is vital that we see ourselves as we really are in the light of God's written Word...then be open to change where change is needed. I warn you, the No. 1 enemy of change is the hard-core, self-satisfied sin nature within you. Like a spoiled child, it has been gratified and indulged for years, so it will not give up without a violent temper tantrum. Change is its greatest threat, and a confrontation between the two is inevitable. Change must be allowed to face and conquer the intimidations of inward habit and I repeat the warning that a nose to nose meeting will never be an easy one."

I’m confronted with spiritual pride, self sufficiency, too easily irritated, selfishness among other “woe is me.” When God reveals Himself to you, what “woe is me” do you see?
Our next post will address the remedy for this awareness.