meh is me

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In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

Isaiah 6:1

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I heard another Christian Recording Artist ™️ do it. Belting out the last word of a lyric, she made “me” sound like “mehhhh!” I know it’s a stylized vocalization but I hear it more and more.

“Peace, peace over mehhhhhh!”

Which has got me thinking.

About Isaiah.

And “woe is me.”

And how we’ve gotten more ‘meh’ about ourselves. Allow me to share a personal testimony:

In a recent prayer journal entry I devoted pages to sentences starting with the words, “I wish I wasn’t…” For instance, “I wish I wasn’t critical.” “I wish I wasn’t overly sensitive.” “I wish I wasn’t self-absorbed.” On and on it went, each confession going deeper into the soil of my soul.

“I wish I wasn’t jealous.”

his robe filled the temple

I often confess my sins to Jesus when I’m journaling but this was especially brutal. I’d been giving myself a pass too often when it came to sins of flesh and spirit and ya boy needed a “come to Jesus meeting ” if you get my drift.

“I wish I wasn’t offendable.”

Isaiah 6 says the prophet got a house call. While he was praying in the Temple one day his eyes were turned toward a heavenly scene where he saw God enthroned, high and lifted up. It’s interesting that the part of God he saw was his hind parts. You probably recall that Moses was shown something quite similar.

“The hem of his robe,” the Bible has it.

During Isaiah’s time kings of Assyria were renowned for removing the train of the robe of a conquered rival king and attaching it to the train of his own robe. The longer the train the more impressive was his dynasty.

When Isaiah looked up and saw the heavens opened before him he saw the Almighty’s robe with a train of every rival king, kingdom, principality, power, and ruler of darkness behind him!

No rivals.

Here are these awesomely holy and sinless creatures and they couldn’t stand to be naked and exposed before the Almighty God. Isaiah must surely have thought, “If they are this guarded in his presence, how can I stand to do so?”

“I wish I was a better friend.”

“I wish I didn’t need affirmation.”

“I wish I wasn’t prideful.”

Isaiah was caught red-handed. No, he wasn’t doing something wicked or immoral. He was praying. God found him in a place of depression over the death of the king, his friend, Uzziah. Under Uzziah’s rule Judah experienced great peace and prosperity.

Assyria was a rising world power and Jerusalem was in its sights. Isaiah was worried. So God flashed him the hem of his robe and said, “Prophet! You miss your King, your friend Uzziah? You worship me with your lips but your heart is elsewhere…”

First the hem, now the Voice. God‘s voice thundered and shook the heavens: WHOM SHALL I SEND? WHO WILL GO FOR US? ENOUGH TIME HAS BEEN SPENT LOITERING AND GRIEVING OVER WHAT IS NOT, YOU MUST WITNESS TO WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN!

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I said, “Woe to me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”

Isaiah 6:5

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It was absolutely vital to the mission of God to call his man…and absolutely vital to his cause that his man be rightly ready. God wanted sanctified lips to preach his message and Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me!”

a new look at an old word

As a man of the new covenant, I know that Jesus took on himself my Ultimate Woe, my curse, my judgment. When I speak the word woe today, it is not a word that makes me fear condemnation. It leads me to repentance.

Woe is me, but saved am I. I am covered in the righteousness of Christ.

Paul said, “Woe is me if I don’t preach the gospel!” So heavy was the burden of God on him to preach the gospel with clarity and courage, he didn’t want to fail God and — likewise — those he was called to bless with the good news of the Kingdom.

We meh ourselves too much. Forgive that person? Meh. I know I shouldn’t get angry… Meh. It was just a small lie. Meh. My social media account isn’t my idol! Meh. I’ve gotten lazy in the Lord. Meh. I know I should trust the Lord instead of worry but… Meh. Repent? Meh. Call to say I’m sorry? Meh. I know I gossip, but…Meh.

Meh, meh, meh. You notice what’s mostly in that word? Me.

I cannot wait until all my “I wish I wasn’t…” confessions — and there will be more — are final, done, kaput. The train of my robe is so long I keep tripping over myself. Lord, have mercy. Shake the foundations. Finish the work in me.

Lord, haste the Day. Get the glory.

Here am I.

Selah, amen.