The Gift of Steadfastness

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 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. And one called to another and said:

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 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!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.
Isaiah 6:1-7

. . .

As I read this I got stuck on verse 5. ”Woe is me! For I am lost” Other translations use the word undone in place of lost. The poet inside of me likes that better. When Isaiah saw himself in light of the incredible otherness of God he called out, “I am undone!”

Undone: not done, accomplished, or completed

This feeling resonates deeply in my soul. Suffering has a way of placing a magnifying glass on our “undoneness” doesn’t it? As my heart and mind were reeling in the wake of back to back miscarriages, I could not escape the constant reminders of sin and deficiency in my life. Whenever life afforded me a moment to pause and reflect, my failures were staring me in the face.

In my selfishness, I continually failed to put my husband’s needs in grief above my own.

There were many days when I failed to look up and trust in God’s goodness and grace.

In the midst of my own grief, I failed to recognize and acknowledge the ways other were suffering around me.

Again and again, I failed to see opportunities that the Lord had provided for me to use my story of loss as a platform for the gospel.

The more I focused my attention on these failures in my life, the more they morphed into my identity. I began to define myself by my failures rather than by who God says I am in light of the atonement that was achieved for me on the cross. Can you relate?

All too often we allow ourselves to get stuck in the “undone.” The more we marvel at the majesty of God, the more we will become acutely aware of our own sinfulness. While this is a necessary, God-honoring step of growth, God never intended us to wallow in the woe-is-me stage of life. Instead, the undone in our lives should direct us ever closer to the One who alone is able to fashion completion in us.

James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Steadfast: resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering

This is the other side of undone. When you realize how hopelessly and utterly lost you are without a restored relationship with the God of the universe, and surrender to His intentional and compassionate work in your life. It is our commitment to faithfully pursue the Lord in our brokenness that enables us to push through the “undone.” The Potter is willing and waiting to take the fragmented clay of our lives and mold it into something beautiful. As steadfastness has its full effect on our lives, He takes all of our brokenness and fashions it for His glory.

As I look back through years of trials and testing, I can see the evidence of God’s steadfastness having its full effect on me. In fact, it is because of these trials and testings that steadfastness has been increasingly produced in my life. Steadfastness has been one of God’s precious gifts to me in my suffering, and it’s available to you too. As you continually move forward in faith, repenting of your sin and clinging to our loving Father, steadfastness will find its way into your heart resulting in a completion that can only be accomplished through the saving power of Christ Jesus.

“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:6

So let us run to the cross, you and me, beholding the beauty of God, surrendering ourselves to the sanctifying work He longs to accomplish in us, and rejoicing over the steadfastness that is produced in our lives through our trials.