Psalm 103:12 English Standard Version (ESV) as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Do we believe this? If so, then why not be as bold as Isaiah yesterday? Our timidity is an emotional response to our failure to take God at His Word. We read 1 John and agree we have sin but fail to confess it and put it on the west bound train taking it away from us. We have the view of being covered rather than cleansed.

Boldness comes from accepting the truth and not deluding it. Jesus took our sins and removed them at the cross. Jesus deals with our emotions about who we are by repentance and confession.

Galatians 5:5 English Standard Version (ESV) For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

Romans 5:2 English Standard Version (ESV) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Grace will carry us through until we can rejoice in that hope. We will get there but not if we substitute truth for human emotions. We have to believe God and see our emotions for exactly what they are, a condition of the flesh.

2 Samuel 23:2 English Standard Version (ESV “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue.

Do we want to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us? He is not going to do that if we get carried away by our emotions. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to take reins in order for that to happen.

Can we let go of all the anger and bitterness we have towards the world for its part in current events?

Let go and let God.

Isaiah 6:1-8 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹  In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train^[a] of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”^[b]

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Isaiah begins with, “I saw the Lord.” No one comes in the presence of the Lord who is unworthy, no one. Yet here is Isaiah and this is his response to being in the presence of the Lord, “I am lost”. This is what Adam should have answered to God yesterday in Genesis 3. I considered Isaiah’s words, knowing he already is in the presence of the Lord and therefore worthy. Isaiah confesses his unworthiness, not of a truth but as an emotion, his personal feelings.

Then the angel comes with a coal and purges Isaiah lips and takes away Isaiah’s shame. He did not cover it as God did for Adam and Eve with the skins of animals. The coal came from the alter. Now Isaiah knows of a certainty that his sins are not just covered but removed altogether. Notice the confident reply from Isaiah to the Lord’s request. “Here I am.”