This was a time of national crisis because Uzziah had been a godly and powerful king (792-740 BC). Uzziah, also known as Azariah, had been struck by leprosy as punishment for his presumptuous sin of burning incense in the temple and had remained leprous until his death (see 2 Chron. 26:16-21). The people needed to look beyond their frail and flawed human leaders to the Lord as their ultimate source of security. Isaiah’s vision reminded them that the Lord was the true King, who is high and lifted up above any human ruler.—Zondervan KJV Commentary
John, the beloved of our Lord, instructs us that "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:16).
But Jesus assures His disciples that "in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
Isaiah's vision also brought about spiritual introspection. He admitted that he was a "man of unclean lips" (v. 5). His admission, or repentance, speaks to the awareness God's light brings to our sinful state. Leaders will fail us and we will fail others, not necessarily because we are evil, but because we are flawed simply due to our sinful propensities.
The first step, then, is that he [Isaiah] is brought into that holy light in which he sees everything clearly, exactly as it is; and at once he cries out in dread alarm, "I am lost!" O unhappy man! do you say? No, for that is the path in which every one is led whom God intends to use. The light that He causes to shine ever reveals, in us all as at first, that all is a chaos, "waste and desolate" (Genesis 1:2), yet that light is always "good." So it was with Job (chapter 42), so with Daniel (chapter 10), so with Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9), so with John in Patmos (Rev. 1), and so with Isaiah. Saint, sinner; Jew, Gentile; king, peasant—all humbled to the same level of the dust in that Light.—F. C. Jennings
Isaiah "saw also the Lord...high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple" (v. 1). May we see the Lord in the fullness of His glory, for He is worthy to be praised.
Prayer: Holy, holy, holy, are you Lord. The whole earth is full of your glory. Forgive me for trusting others before placing my trust in you. I turn to you, my Lord and my strength. Amen!