They were calling out to each other: ‘Holy, holy, holy! The LORD Almighty is holy! His glory fills the world." Isaiah 6:3, GNT

 

In this vision that Isaiah saw, we are overwhelmed by the glory and holiness of God. Every time I read this passage, I realise that God is completely different. To the theologian, Karl Barth, the fact that God is totally different is crucial to our understanding of him.

 

God is so transcendent, so different from us and the world we live in, that one might wonder whether contact between God and us is even possible. Even more difficult is the question of love between him and us. If Isaiah, who as a prophet was very near to God, was so overwhelmed by this vision that he could only cry out, “There is no hope for me! I am doomed,” what about us?

 

As I grow older, I am becoming increasingly impressed by the idea of the mystery of God. When I was younger, I was certain that I knew all the answers about God, but now that I am more advanced in years, I see him as the One who is completely different from what I perceived him to be in my youth. I recently read about Fransiscus of Assisi and wished to experience something of the mystery he experienced in his relationship with God.

 

Time and again, all of this brings me back to the question of God’s love for me and my love for him. How does it work? If I do not always understand how my love for my wife, children and grandchildren works, how can I ever understand what the Bible means by God’s love for me? I am such an insignificant little person when viewed against the background of Isaiah’s vision. Listen to what Isaiah said in Isaiah 6:1,4: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on his throne, high and exalted, and his robe filled the whole Temple. … The sound of their voices made the foundation of the Temple shake, and the Temple itself was filled with smoke.”

 

Does this great God also love me?

 

Come walk through the Bible with me this month to see how the story of God’s love for us unfolds, and also to see the interaction between his love for me, my love for him and my love for my fellow man.

 

Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, please help me to understand more about your love for me. Amen