In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. – Isaiah 6:1 (NIV)
The call went straight to voice mail. I was on my way home from an overseas trip and I tried to call my husband at his office, but I couldn’t reach him. Normally the receptionist would have answered; it was the middle of the day after all. Instinctively, I knew something unusual was going on.
When I finally reached my husband, he told me the whole story. The partners of his firm had arrived at the office unexpectedly that morning and announced that the firm would be closing its doors. He and a few other employees would be offered transfers to California, but the rest would be offered severance pay.
I was stunned. We lived in south Florida, and California was a universe away. In one 10-minute phone conversation, my world came to a standstill. As a stay-at-home mom with two children in diapers, I immediately began running through scenarios of how we would make ends meet once my husband’s paycheck came to an end. My comfortable, secure life was about to change. Suddenly nothing seemed permanent.
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah’s world had suddenly come to a standstill too. King Uzziah died after having reigned for 52 years. Everything was upside down. But in spite of the upheaval Isaiah and the rest of the country would experience, Isaiah describes God seated on His throne in full splendor. A great contrast between a dead earthly king and the Heavenly King, alive and unshaken.
We all have earthly kings: jobs, homes, families, friends. Our sense of security is disrupted when we discover these kings are unreliable or fleeting. But just as the people in King Uzziah’s day were reminded that the Lord was still on the throne, we can be encouraged when we remember that He is our King as well. Others come and go, but our King of Kings never fails.
The day my husband’s job went away, my young family was shaken. Isaiah 6:1 reminds me that I can take comfort knowing that when earthly “kings” die, my God is still seated on His throne and He has my future safely in His grip.
Can you identify any earthly kings in your life that pale when compared with your living King of Kings?
[This article first appeared at Wilmington Word Weavers on July 24, 2014]
