Woe.

"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."

FYI.. The word "Woe", is a desperate Hebrew cry of emotional distress. So anytime you see this... Know its the equivalent of sending a text message like: @!$%&())#$()#)@)@(#(!  This particular verse comes out of Isaiah 6. Basically what happens that leads to Isaiah saying this is this:  Isaiah is a proud man from a proud culture that knows nothing but a comfortable, wealthy lifestyle. All of a sudden, he has an encounter with God. And its big (Check how many times Isaiah 6 says words like "filled", "full", "all", etc.). Isaiah, seeing now what LEGIT looks like, falls and sees how crappy he is. Then sees how crappy the people around him are as well. This all is a shock, considering he probably thought he was doing pretty good... I mean, most rich cultures think this-- Like ours (burn). Isaiah was broken. Isaiah was Unmade.

This story is the same as Luke 14. Where the rich are "invited" to a King-like banquet by a powerful man and the invited make excuses not to come. In their culture, this was a MAJOR burn. What did the man do? He "compelled" the sick, lame and poor to come. He compelled them... NOT invited, but compelled. (See Luke 14:24). He wanted the broken. He wanted the unmade.

Now look at David's cry to God after he had adulterous sex with Bathsheba and offed her husband in Psalms 51. Basically? David begged a perfect God for mercy for what he did. NOT grace but mercy (See Psalms 51:1). David begged God to purify him like the Seraph did for Isaiah with the burning coal. David begged out of being broken. David begged out of being unmade.

All that said... We live in a culture of comfortability. Of wealth. Of insurances. Of 401k's. Of Entertainment. Of riches. And of binge eating feasts at Chili's after we go and "celebrate Jesus" on Sunday mornings. Quick question: Where did the WOE go? We basically traded in our "Woe" for "Woah". David, Isaiah, Jesus with his parable... they all relay the following: We are 1, too full of other crap to see God like Isaiah.. 2, We are too full of excuses and self to feast with God on Sundays.. and 3, too stinking proud and misguided by our lives to EVER be broken like David A.K.A. "The man after God's own heart". Look at these real quick:

The last shall be first,  and the first last. - Matthew 20:16

Anyone who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:33

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. - James 4:6

What are you gathering by reading this blog? I'll tell you one thing I'm gathering. He wants the broken, the sinful, the prostitutes, the druggies, the hateful and the jacked up people with self realization to be at his banquet. And the invited? Like the blind-to-self Pharisees, the self-righteous preacher, the insurance laced worrier (Matt 6:27), the comfortable sunday worker, the binge eatin' entertainment junkies, the socializing church goer and the spiritually complacent communities... Wont.

I'm willing to give all. But hell.. I got NOTHING to even give, hah! I'm the worst sinner among us. I've lost almost anything worth losing in this past year and all by my own doing. In fact, I beat myself senseless with guilt every damn day. I struggle with putting mercy, let alone grace, into perspective as something I can have. I've been run out of churches, left by friends, slandered, gossiped about, etc. Yet somehow... I now fit the description of the people Christ compels to be at his banquet now? unreal. SEE Luke 14:21-24 if you have ISSUES with what I've said. And correct me in my lack of truth if present. Let Him reveal to me all error in this blog and break me more if there's still personal error to be realized (Psalms 7:3-5).

God IS good. Are you the broken and unmade failure he wants to work through though?