Unclean Lips

“Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).

The gleaming beauty of God’s holiness was like a mirror held up before the prophet Isaiah. He saw his own filth and need. Notice, it is his lips which he especially perceives as unclean. What we say reveals what is in our hearts, and Isaiah clearly perceived the heart of man in himself.

Did the prophet frantically hurry to cleanse himself? No! Confessing his ruined condition to God was all he needed to do. God did the cleansing.

Now, humbled and cleansed, Isaiah is ready for commitment. “Send me,” he pleads with God. And God sent him. His mission was to tell Israel about his vision of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.

Does our understanding of God’s message cause our lips, once cleansed, to cry out, “Send me”?

—Adapted from The Wells of Salvation by Charles and Norma Ellis.