Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8
When God called Jeremiah to be a spokesman, the young man—probably in his late teens or early 20s—said, “Ah, Sovereign LORD … I do not know how to speak; I am only a child,” and hearing this, God said, “I’m sorry, Jeremiah, I must have made a big mistake.” Not so, but God did reach out and touch his lips and gave him the message He wanted delivered.
When God called Moses to speak on His behalf, Moses responded with a variety of excuses: he wasn’t eloquent; he had a speech impediment (perhaps a stutter); his brother Aaron was a lot better qualified as a talker than he. But God isn’t easily dissuaded when He wants you to do something. He’s not looking for super salespeople but honest, trustworthy men and women to tell our generation what God tells them.
In that very moving passage that we identify as Isaiah 6, a young man had an encounter with the glory of God. When Isaiah saw God’s glory, he cried out, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:6). Then God sent a heavenly creature with a live coal from the altar of heaven, and he touched his mouth. Then God asked, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” and Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me!”
Well, friend, you may have never audibly heard His voice, yet you still hear the echo of the question, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” It’s the twenty-first century, and our world has changed tremendously, yet the reality is that God has always worked through common, ordinary individuals to make His message known, and the strange thing about it, which is repeated over and over, is that God chooses unlikely candidates for success to deliver that message.
Making today personal, I’d like to ask, “What is the message, the mandate which God has sent you to deliver?” One thing is certain. Before Jesus walked up the slopes of the Mt. of Olives and ascended to heaven, He gave His followers a charge: “Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every person!” We often call it the Great Commission, but in many cases, it is the “Great Omission.” Is it still valid?
I am amazed with the brashness and the boldness of many who have a cultic message to deliver, one that promises success, wealth, and promotion. At the same time, I am profoundly appalled by the timidity of most Christians, fearing to mention the name of Jesus Christ lest they be considered bigoted, or their actions be thought of as proselytizing.
How you deliver the message, of course, is important: letting your neighborhood, your office, your home, your city know that God is not indifferent to our lives, that He sent His son on a mission of life to bring us back to Heaven, that there is forgiveness for your sins and failures, and hope for your despair and hopelessness.
The fact is: you are a missionary as God’s child with a mandate to share Good News! Remember God’s question to Isaiah, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for me?” Most of the time that doesn’t require traveling 10,000 miles across an ocean, going somewhere over there across from your home. But it does mean crossing the street, going down the hall, down the block. And when you realize He goes with you, it isn’t hard to respond, “Here I am, Lord. Send me!” And amazing things happen when you know God works through you to accomplish His purpose and will. It is just as true today as it was in Moses’s day long ago.
Resource reading: Isaiah 6:1-10
