Day 1: The Year Everything Changed
General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” — Isaiah 6:1 (NIV)
7 Day Devotional
Day 1: The Year Everything Changed
General • Refresh: A Summer Collection (Vol. 3) •
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” — Isaiah 6:1 (NIV)
Devotion
King Uzziah reigned for 52 years. An entire generation had grown up with his leadership as the only stability they’d ever known. When he died, it wasn’t just a king who was gone — it was an era. The throne of Judah sat empty and fear moved in. Uncertainty filled the space where security used to be.
And it is in that year — the year of grief, the year of instability, the year the ground shifted — that Isaiah sees the Lord.
Not after the crisis passed. Not once things settled and the new king was established and the nation found its footing again. It was in the year that King Uzziah died. The crisis was not the obstacle to his vision; it was the doorway.
This is one of Scripture’s most quietly profound patterns: the moments that shake our confidence in earthly things are often the moments God uses to show us what was always true. The earthly throne emptied, and Isaiah looked up. He saw that the true throne had never been vacant. Whatever this year has taken from you, whether a person, a season, a plan, a sense of security, it does not move God from His seat. He was there before it was taken, and He is still there now.
Reflection
What has “died” in your life this year that has left you feeling like the ground shifted?
Have you been staring at the empty throne rather than looking up at the one that has never been vacant? What has your gaze been fixed on?
Prayer
Lord, sometimes it’s easier to notice what is or feels empty. The thing that ended, the plan that fell apart, the security I thought I had. And in staring at it, I’ve let it fill my vision. Today I look up to You. You were seated before this happened and You are seated now. Let this year or season of change be the year I see You more clearly than ever before. Open my eyes to behold what Isaiah beheld. Amen.