"in the year that ..."

Things were going well for the nation of Israel. It was described as the Golden Age. Israel had a strong military, and the nation prospered. King Uzziah, said to have been the greatest king since King Solomon, sought God's guidance, and God blessed him.

When King Uzziah died, no doubt the Prophet Isaiah's heart was heavy. It must have been easy to put his confidence in the king and what he had accomplished. Isaiah might have thought, "What will happen to us now?" In that time of grief, Isaiah went to the Temple. There he turned his eyes AWAY from King Uzziah's empty throne and looked UP to the heavenly throne, which is never empty. 

It took Isaiah's heart being broken to cause him to look UP, and when he looked up, what did he see? "The Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." God was still in control! Isaiah was reminded to not place his trust in an earthly king but in the heavenly King.

We all have our "in the year that ..."—times that shake our faith. In the year my father died, in the year we had financial problems, in the year my husband had a stroke, my heart was broken. But like Isaiah, then I went to church. In the place of worship, surrounded by God's people, I was reminded to lift my eyes away from the pain and loss and see the Lord, high and lifted up. God had been there all the time, on His throne, in full control, waiting for me to look "unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 
Look full in His wonderful face, 
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.