And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7 ESV)
Lips
In our culture, lips are personal, private things. We greet strangers by shaking hands, not by touching their lips. Lips are sensitive, communicative, and important.
And here, Isaiah’s lips are the entrance point of God’s enablement of Isaiah to do his job.
God wanted Isaiah to speak for Him. And when Isaiah objects, knowing his inner faults, God answers Isaiah by the touch of His angel to purify Isaiah’s lips.
Because God intends Isaiah to speak for God. Because the creator God knows that the things we say with our lips are windows to our identity. Because God is approaching Isaiah personally, intimately, and intensely.
God fixes Isaiah by touching Isaiah’s lips.
And He did that because He loves His people, who needed Isaiah’s words. And He did that because He loved Isaiah.
He touches our lips, too. When we read His word (even Isaiah’s words), He touches our lips because He loves us. When we pray to Him, He touches our lips because He loves us. When we speak of Him to others, He touches our lips because He loves us.