Woe

For me, writing is like eating vegetables. It takes lot of work to prepare, it’s not as fun or interesting as dessert, but in the end it makes you feel better.

Sometimes on the way home from school I stop at the vegetable stand. For a comparatively small amount of money, I can come home with several pounds of fruits and vegetables in mini plastic bags. My tendency is to dump everything on the counter and get to eating lunch or doing something more interesting that washing, chopping, and storing what I just brought home.

The last couple of weeks, I’ve had a lot of good spiritual input. Teachings from and encouraging conversations with foreigners, messages from the local church, personal times of prayer and study, and challenging podcasts from around the world have been “stirring up [my] sincere mind by way of reminder” (2 Peter 3:1). The easiest thing to do is to just let all of those good words be dumped into my intellect and spirit without taking the effort to sort out what the Spirit has been stirring. Here is today’s attempt to sort some vegetables…

Last week I spent an evening with two sisters in the faith. I was very excited to get to know these girls because most of the nationals that I spend time with don’t know Christ and I was excited to share in my new language and culture with people who share my heart. After a walk through downtown – the heart of Arab culture – we sat in the square and cracked sunflower seeds and chatted. As we did, one of them struck up a conversation with the woman next to us. I was so encouraged in my eavesdropping to hear this sister sharing – in a very relevant way – about Jesus and His sacrifice. An hour later she was telling me about other recent conversations she had on the same subject. Seeing her boldness sparked new passion in me.

On Sunday, my local pastor shared a challenging message from Isaiah. He talked about Isaiah’s six “woes” in chapter five – prophecies against the people and against all that was happening. We can correlate a lot of chapter five to our modern era and all of the evil we see. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil… woe to those who are wise in their own eyes…” (5:20-21). It’s easy for us to call out God’s destruction upon the evil of our day.

But in chapter six, Isaiah has an encounter with God Almighty. And the direction of his “woe” changes: “Woe to me…” (6:5). In his encounter with God, Isaiah sees his own sinfulness. He admits his sin and God makes atonement. Moments later God reminds Isaiah of mission. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (6:8) and his response is so immediate that it doesn’t even require a separate verse: “Here am I. Send me!” (6:8).

It’s easy for us to complain about what’s happening in the world – whether it’s on our own shores or beyond. The sin of others is so obvious. But have we encountered God and seen our own unclean lips? Have we expressed our willingness to go to our neighbors and go to the refugees and go to the terrorists? What would He do with me if I, like my bold sisters, made myself available on a daily basis?

But what will people think if I boldly proclaim this message? Jesus’ answer sobers me: “Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).

Here I am. Make me willing.