Here I am God, Send Me!!!
Reflection: Today in Isaiah 6 we read of the famous call of Isaiah the prophet
with these words:
6 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. 2 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. 3 And they
were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At
the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was
filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I
am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my
eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”6 Then one of the
seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs
from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See,
this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 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 gets
a rare glimpse of God’s glory and it brings him to his knees. He says, “Woe
to me, I am ruined, I am a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah has been ushered into God’s presence,
and God’s holiness (His otherness) overwhelms him, and he is acutely aware of
his humanness. But even in this great
story we see the Gospel, the Good News.
The messenger of God, the angel, is sent with a coal to touch his lips
and atone for his sinfulness.
Then Isaiah
hears the words, “Whom shall I send? Who
will go for us?” And he answers, “Here I am send me.” Then we begin to read what this will mean for
Isaiah. It means he will go with a
message that will often be understood, and people will reject him for not
always telling them what they want to hear. In fact, he will be telling them
that God has provided a Savior in the odd form of the Assyrians, the new super
power from the North who will come from save them from Israel (the Northern
Kingdom), which had formed an alliance with Syria. The King of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) will
not want to hear what Isaiah says because it is not in his plans.
And just as
the Northern Kingdom fell away, so eventually the Southern Kingdom will fall
away. Isaiah will spend the rest of his
time warning the kings of Judah that unless they repent and follow God, a
similar fate will await them. Such is
the life of the prophet! So what is the
moral of the story, be careful when you say to God, “Here am I send me!”
Of course it
is a wonderful thing what Isaiah has said to God. Of course God would want Isaiah to have a
heart of openness to what God would want use him for. Of course every pastor in the world would
love to have 500 Isaiah’s who would say “Here am I send me!” But lest we get too romantic, often our being
sent is not always met with universal applause and approval.
The Apostle
Paul is another Isaiah who responded to God’s call to preach the Gospel to the
Gentiles. Today, we see him urging the
Galatians to continue on in the good work God had started in them. He says he is in the “pains of childbirth”
until Christ is formed in the Galatians.
And we all know the many travails Paul had as he responded to God’s call
and said, “Here am I send me!”
As we get a
glimpse of God’s holiness and realize that we are ruined before God. As we realize God has atoned for our sins and “touched
our lips”, in a sense, through what Jesus did for us on the Cross. We, like Isaiah, will hear the call of God on
our life and through what God has done for us we can utter the courageous
words, “Here I am God, send me!”
Psalm 78:40-55
40 How often they rebelled against
him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the wasteland!
41 Again and again they put God to the test;
they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power—
the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
43 the day he displayed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44 He turned their river into blood;
they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
their produce to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48 He gave over their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49 He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility—
a band of destroying angels.
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death
but gave them over to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;
he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
and grieved him in the wasteland!
41 Again and again they put God to the test;
they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power—
the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
43 the day he displayed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44 He turned their river into blood;
they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
their produce to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48 He gave over their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49 He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility—
a band of destroying angels.
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death
but gave them over to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;
he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
Isaiah 6,7
Isaiah’s
Commission
6 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. 2 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. 3 And
they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the
doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am
ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to
me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With
it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt
is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 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!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this
people:
“‘Be ever
hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long,
Lord?”
And he
answered:
“Until the
cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.
The Sign of
Immanuel
7 When
Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram
and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem,
but they could not overpower it.
2 Now the house of David was told,
“Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people
were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go
out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of
the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. 4 Say to
him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of
these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and
Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s
son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 “Let us invade Judah; let
us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king
over it.” 7 Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘It will
not take place,
it will not happen,
8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.’”
it will not happen,
8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.’”
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 11 “Ask
the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest
heights.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I
will not put the Lord to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you
house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try
the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will
give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will
call him Immanuel. 15 He will be eating curds and honey when he
knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16 for
before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land
of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The Lord will
bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike
any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”
Assyria, the
Lord’s Instrument
18 In that day the Lord will whistle
for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. 19 They
will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks,
on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. 20 In that
day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of
Assyria—to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also. 21 In
that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats. 22 And
because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All
who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. 23 In that
day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver
shekels, there will be only briers and thorns. 24 Hunters will
go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and
thorns. 25 As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you
will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become
places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.
Galatians 4:17-27
17 Those people are zealous to win
you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that
you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous,
provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.
19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of
childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could
be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
Hagar and
Sarah
21 Tell me, you who want to be under
the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is
written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the
free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to
the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine
promise.
24 These things are being taken
figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount
Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now
Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of
Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But
the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For
it is written:
“Be glad,
barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2
The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. Galatians 1:4
Lord Jesus, you’ve given us so much, yet from the beginning we chose to follow our own self-centered, thoughtless, and unloving desires. Forgive us all our forgetfulness of your great love and help us to accept the forgiven
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