“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.”” Isaiah 6:8 ESV.
Reflection: what response do you have to God’s calling?
We looked yesterday at the extraordinary vision Isaiah had, seeing Jesus Christ on the throne as King, hearing the voice of God, and even interacting with Him. But there is something very interesting about this exchange this “calling” of Isaiah to his mission, that we need to stop and think about today. Let’s take a moment to read the starting point once more. “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah 6:8a ESV. Notice very carefully here that God doesn’t tell Isaiah, “will you go?”, but rather poses this as a question, “who shall I send, who will go?” Which is pretty interesting since this seems to be an exchange only between God and Isaiah, right? So why is not God asking Isaiah directly?
If we are looking for any indication that God doesn’t want “slaves” or even “servants” that just do what they’re told, this is a good example. God desires hearts burning for Him, burning for His will and for His mission. Isaiah himself came to his own conclusion, “Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”” Isaiah 6:8b ESV. He didn’t even know fully what the mission was going to be, but he already knew it would be good. If would be to bring glory to God, even when he found out that it would be a difficult mission, humanly speaking.
Although this world is in darkness, the earth is filled with the glory of God. The seraphims declared over and about the Lord of hosts, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” Isaiah 6:3 ESV. And we might only get glimpses of this glory, but have to look for it. Seek it. Jesus said ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 ESV. It is a promise to us that we will see the glory of God, but we must seek it and pursue it. Remember, Isaiah sought the Lord after the earthly king Uzziah had died.
You might be thinking that God’s “calling”is only a very few people, like missionaries, pastors, and the like. But, is that correct? Remember what Jesus said to the crowd of thousands, at the sermon on the Mount ““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 ESV This is the same God, who called Isaiah, who called the masses to be light and salt, who is calling us today “who will go for us?”
As you read this today, it is Him calling. He chooses to call us, to use us, if we are willing. Let’s say as Isaiah did “Here I am! Send me.”
