Undone | Cultivating Awe, Living on Mission

Devotional

Day 1: Throne Room Tremors

Isaiah stood in a smoke-filled temple. Seraphim with six wings blazed above him, shouting “Holy, holy, holy!” The doorposts shook. Isaiah’s knees buckled. Awe isn’t optional—it’s the air heaven breathes. [00:59]

These fiery angels didn’t invent worship. They echoed heaven’s unending anthem. Their cries exposed Isaiah’s smallness, yet invited him into something vast. When God unveils His glory, it dismantles our illusions of control.

You face deadlines, laundry, and flat tires. But what if you paused to let beauty ambush you? Creation shouts His majesty in sunsets and storm clouds. Will you let today’s routine moments become doorways to wonder?

“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. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.”
(Isaiah 6:1-2, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to rip open the ordinary and show you one glimpse of His holiness today.
Challenge: Spend 10 minutes outside observing something created—a tree, a star, a child’s laugh—without checking your phone.

Day 2: Lips Touched by Fire

A seraph gripped a burning coal with tongs. No gentle remedy for Isaiah’s unclean lips—only fire. Pain preceded purity. The altar’s heat didn’t destroy Isaiah; it freed him to speak. [20:17]

God’s holiness exposes our brokenness, but never to shame us. That coal was grace in disguise. Jesus took the fire of judgment so we could receive mercy’s kiss. Your worst sin isn’t stronger than His scarred hands.

We edit our flaws and filter our failures. But God sees your secret struggles and says, “Let’s heal that.” What if you stopped hiding and let His grace cauterize one hidden wound?

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’”
(Isaiah 6:6-7, NIV)

Prayer: Confess one specific struggle aloud to God. Name it plainly.
Challenge: Write down a sin you’ve rationalized, then tear up the paper as you thank Jesus for forgiveness.

Day 3: Undone, Then Sent

Isaiah didn’t apply for the job. Fresh from repentance, he heard God ask, “Whom shall I send?” Charred lips found courage: “Here I am.” Awestruck people don’t negotiate terms—they volunteer for trenches. [30:59]

Missions begin in worship, not guilt. The same God who terreref="noreferrer">d Isaiah with holiness entrusted him with holy work. Your calling isn’t about capability—it’s about proximity to the One who calls.

You’ve prayed for purpose. But what if your next assignment starts with adoration? Before tackling your to-do list, stand silent before His throne. What mission makes your heart race when you think of His face?

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
(Isaiah 6:8, NIV)

Prayer: Tell God you’ll say “yes” to the next prompt He gives—even if it’s small.
Challenge: Text one person today: “How can I pray for you right now?”

Day 4: Birdsong in the Prison Yard

Andy played Mozart over Shawshank’s speakers. Men froze mid-stride. For 03:18, bars couldn’t cage hearts. Beauty always disrupts despair. [04:03]

God needs no permission to resurrect wonder. A flower in concrete, a kindness amid chaos—He smuggles glory into your grayest moments. Those Italian arias pointed to an eternal song: creation groaning for redemption.

You know your “prison”—the cycle of worry, the relationship gone cold. What broken record have you accepted as normal? Play Kingdom music there. What melody of hope could you hum over your dread?

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.”
(Psalm 19:1-2, NIV)

Prayer: Thank God for three “beauty interruptions” you’ve seen this week.
Challenge: Take a photo of something beautiful today and share it with someone with the caption “God’s glory spotted!”

Day 5: Becoming What We Behold

The seraphim kept staring. Each “holy” peeled another layer of God’s infinite worth. Isaiah walked out with soot on his lips and fire in his bones. Gazing changes the gazer. [36:55]

We mirror what we worship. Scrolling numbs, but worship awakens. Those who stare at screens grow distracted; those who stare at Christ grow radiant. His face is the mold; our lives are the metal.

Your phone tracks screen time. What if you audited your “glory time”—minutes spent lingering in God’s presence? What habit could you trade to gaze longer at His beauty?

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
(2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to ruin you for anything less than His transformative presence.
Challenge: Sing one worship song aloud today—not as routine, but as rebellion against apathy.

Sermon Summary

Isaiah opens a window, not to a metaphor, but to the real throne room where the Lord sits high and exalted, the train of his robe filling the temple, and the burning ones cry to one another, holy, holy, holy. The scene does not flatter human senses; it overwhelms them. The seraphim themselves, blazing and covered with eyes, cannot stop looking and cannot fully bear what they see. Their ceaseless song names what the sight demands: the whole earth is full of his glory. That vision exposes how easily a congregation can settle into worship without worshiping, singing words while the heart stays unmoved. Beauty, whether in a prison yard aria or the Grand Canyon, does not just give a feeling; it does work in people. Awe resets the soul into smallness, humility, and generosity, and the throne room is the source and summit of awe.

Fear of the Lord comes into focus here, not as dread of punishment but as trembling attraction before goodness. Isaiah’s confession, woe to me, I am undone, is the clean fruit of seeing holiness. Holiness means other-than, and when the Holy One is seen, self-importance collapses. Romans calls this kindness that leads to repentance, not scolding that drives into hiding. Jacob even calls God the Fear, not because God bullies but because God’s beauty is weighty enough to relocate a life.

The altar coal tells the gospel straight. A burning messenger touches unclean lips, and guilt is taken away, sin atoned for. In the vision, cleansing follows confession, and reconciliation opens a future. In the New Covenant, that coal is Christ’s cross. Because the veil is torn, faces are unveiled, and beholding becomes becoming. Psalm 115 warns that idols de-form worshipers into their lifeless image; 2 Corinthians 3 promises that beholding the Lord’s glory transforms believers into his image from one degree of glory to another.

Mission rises right here. The question, whom shall I send, meets a heart already captured, here I am, send me. Vocation is not grit; it is overflow. C. S. Lewis says the soul does not want only to see beauty but to enter it. So the church does not stand at a distance admiring; the church runs into the ocean. Creation helps the heart do this work. Skies preach, seas sing, sunsets wink, meals with friends testify that God is pursuing hearts. Awe can be cultivated. Put the life in the path of glory, behold the Lord, let humility grow, receive cleansing, and say yes.

Key Takeaways

1. Awe reorders the self toward God [06:56] Awe does not just decorate life; it relocates it. When the soul is rightly small inside something vast and beautiful, humility and generosity grow where defensiveness once lived. Isaiah’s throne room vision is the ultimate big thing, and it pulls a person out of the center so God can be. In that re-centering, holiness stops feeling like pressure and starts sounding like sanity. [06:56]
2. Fear of the Lord draws near [23:24] True fear is not flinching from a blow; it is trembling toward a goodness that is too much to take in. Holiness exposes sin without humiliating the sinner, which is why repentance can be honest and hopeful at the same time. The beauty of God produces distance from sin and nearness to God in one movement. Reverence becomes attraction, not avoidance. [23:24]
3. Confession meets cleansing at the altar [20:17] Isaiah names his uncleanness, and fire touches the very place of confession. Grace does not orbit around guilt; it lands on it and lifts it. In Christ, the coal becomes a cross, and atonement is not occasional but finished, freeing a confessing life rather than fueling a hiding life. Forgiven people don’t just feel better; they become usable. [20:17]
4. Beholding births mission, not grit [30:41] God’s question, whom shall I send, meets a person already moved by glory, not a volunteer muscling through duty. When eyes have seen the King, obedience stops sounding like a career plan and starts sounding like a reflex. The sending flows from seeing, so sustainability flows from adoration, not adrenaline. Presence fuels purpose. [30:41]
5. Cultivate awe in everyday beauty [39:17] Creation is preaching all day and all night, and God is not subtle about his pursuit. Sunsets, oceans, starlight, and even a good table with friends give small rehearsals of Isaiah’s room, if a heart will notice. Attentiveness turns ordinary moments into altars where love is awakened and fear of sin grows. Put the life where beauty speaks, and let worship do its deep work. [39:17]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:45] - Created for awe and wonder
[02:16] - Shawshank picture of beauty
[06:27] - Studies on awe and humility
[08:53] - Fear of the Lord, not terror
[12:17] - Isaiah’s throne room vision
[13:18] - Burning seraphim cry holy
[16:22] - Worship without worshiping exposed
[18:05] - Undone and honest repentance
[20:17] - Coal touches lips, guilt lifted
[23:24] - Kindness that leads to repentance
[26:17] - Beauty knocks self from center
[30:41] - Here I am, send me
[36:55] - Beholding transforms, idols deform
[41:49] - Creation declares His glory

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Isaiah 6:1-8 (ESV)
1 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. 2 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. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 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!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Observation questions

In Isaiah 6:3, the seraphim cry “holy, holy, holy” while covering their faces and feet. What does their posture suggest about encountering God’s holiness?
How does Isaiah’s response to seeing God’s glory (“Woe is me!”) contrast with his later declaration, “Here I am! Send me”?
The sermon mentions that awe “resets the soul into smallness, humility, and generosity” [06:56]. What specific examples of this “reset” are described in Isaiah’s vision?
According to the sermon, how does creation “preach” God’s glory in everyday life? [41:49]

Interpretation questions

Why might the seraphim cover their faces and feet in God’s presence, even though they are sinless beings? How does this deepen our understanding of reverence?
Isaiah’s confession of sin (v.5) comes after seeing God’s holiness, not before. How does this order challenge common assumptions about repentance?
The sermon states, “Awe does not just decorate life; it relocates it” [06:56]. How does Isaiah’s vision illustrate this “relocation” of priorities and identity?
Romans 2:4 says God’s kindness leads to repentance. How does the coal touching Isaiah’s lips (v.7) embody this principle?

Application questions

The sermon warns against “worship without worshiping” [16:22]. What practical step could you take this week to engage more authentically with God during times of prayer, singing, or Scripture reading?
Isaiah’s vision left him “undone” and eager to serve. When have you last experienced a moment of awe that shifted your perspective? How might you intentionally create space for such moments?
The altar coal in Isaiah 6 symbolizes Christ’s cleansing work. What area of your life needs the “burning coal” of grace—a place where guilt or shame still lingers—and how can you receive Christ’s finished work there?
Creation “winks” with God’s glory through sunsets, meals with friends, or nature [39:17]. What ordinary moment this week could you intentionally treat as an “altar” to notice and respond to God’s pursuit?
The sermon says mission flows from being “captured” by God’s beauty [30:41]. How would your approach to serving others change if it started with beholding God’s holiness rather than guilt or obligation?
Psalm 115 warns that idols deform us. What subtle “idols” (approval, comfort, control) might be dulling your awe of God? How could you replace their influence with intentional worship?

Sermon Clips

26s

“``Not because I've been told that I'm supposed to do good works, but because I've encountered god, and he's transformed me, and now I'm about it. This is who I am. Jesus, what do you want me to do? Big, small, doesn't matter. I'm in. I want to my life is yours. I've seen the king. I see who you are. My life belongs to you.”

37s

“Isaiah doesn't see god and first look at, oh, look at all these people's sin. God, you're good. I see who you are. Look at their sin. His first response is, woe to me. I am ruined. I have sinned. God, forgive my sin. He's not oblivious to the sin of others. I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people who gossip and slander. But he starts with, God, me. Change me. Work in me. He's changed.”

33s

“Awe is such a powerful thing in us that one minute, one single minute of standing in a grove of towering trees led people to become measurably more helpful and ethical. Isn't that wild? The researchers concluded that awe imbues people with a different sense of themselves. Get this, one that is small, one that is more humble, and a part of something larger. These same researchers said that most of us are awe deprived.”

41s

“the wonder, the fascination. He is good. He is magnificent. He is other than. That's what the word holy means. Set apart completely other than. And Isaiah sees this. He sees God's goodness. He sees God's beauty, and his response is, oh, that ain't me. Oh, I'm nothing like that. I'm ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips, but my eyes have seen the king. His response to seeing god's beauty, his holiness is, oh, God forgive me. God, shine your light on me that I would see.”

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Undone | Cultivating Awe, Living on Mission | Dan Perkins