Day 163 – When the Woe Turns Inward

Isaiah 4–6
Matthew 23

It's easy to see what's wrong with everyone else. Isaiah 5 gives us the song of the vineyard. God plants the best vines, clears the stones, builds a watchtower, and then finds only bad fruit. He looked for justice and saw bloodshed. He looked for righteousness and heard cries of distress. Isaiah unloads a string of woes on people who pile up houses, who call evil good and good evil, who are wise in their own eyes. Then the next chapter turns the mirror around. Isaiah sees the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and hears the seraphim calling holy, holy, holy. His first words aren't a woe for someone else. Woe to me, he says. I am ruined. I am a man of unclean lips. Only after a coal from the altar touches his mouth does he hear the question. Whom shall I send? Here am I, he answers. Send me. Matthew 23 is Jesus pronouncing woes on teachers who never made that turn. They measured out their mint and dill and neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness. And still the chapter ends in grief, with Jesus longing to gather them like a hen gathers her chicks.

At the heart of these chapters is a simple idea. A real sight of God's holiness turns our verdicts about other people into honest conviction about ourselves. And conviction is what makes us willing to be sent.

So how do we walk this out today?

First, spend a few minutes sitting with God's holiness. Don't ask Him for anything. Just consider who He is, and notice what that surfaces in you.

Second, take one criticism you've been making of someone else. Turn it around, and ask honestly where some version of it is true of you.

Third, find one area where you've been tending the outside of the cup. Your image, your reputation, how you come across. Attend to the inside instead, in prayer or in an honest conversation with someone you trust.

Let this stay with you today. Only the person who has said woe to me can be trusted to say here am I. So before you name what's wrong with everyone else, let God's holiness show you what needs cleansing in you.

Thank you for joining me today. May God give you honest eyes, a humble heart, and the willingness to go wherever He asks. Until tomorrow, keep your gaze on His holiness and your heart open to what He shows you.